Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/247



of the name is unusual, but certainly not improbable. In December, 1942, Millard Martin, postmaster at Ada, wrote the compiler that about 1894 two men passed through the neighborhood on the way from North Fork Smith River to the Siuslaw country with the intention of buying cattle. One of the men had the misfortune of breaking his leg, and the two were forced to retire to a cabin about a half mile from the present site of Ada post office and wait for the injury to heal. This made a long and tiresome wait, and the injured man wished repeatedly for his fiddle to help him pass the time. This expressed desire caused the nearby stream to be called Fiddle Creek. .

FIELDER CREEK, Jackson County. This creek and Fielder Mountain west of Evans Creek, were named for Thomas Fielder, a pioneer settler.

FIELDS, Lane County. Fields, a station on the Cascade line of the Southern Pacific Company, was named for two members of the Lewis and Clark party, Joseph and Reuben Fields. It is sometimes said that Fields station was named for L. R. Fields, for many years an operating official of the railroad company in Oregon, but such is not the case, as is shown by the company records.

FIELDS, Harney County. Charles Fields took up a homestead where Fields post office is now situated. He established a "station and kept the travel and freight haulers." He sold out to John Smyth in 1911, and when the post office was established in 1913, Smyth had it named for Fields.

FIELDS PEAK, Grant County. This peak, elevation 7360 feet, and Fields Creek nearby were named for Harvey Fields, a pioneer stockman. Fields Peak is about eight miles southwest of Mount Vernon.

FIFE, Crook County. Fife is in the southeast part of the county. The compiler is informed that the place was named for the county of Fife, Scotland, former home of the first postmaster. This postmaster was Thomas Balfour. The office was established May 17, 1890.

FIFTEENMILE CREEK, Lake County. Fifteenmile Creek was so named because the old road crossed it about that distance northeast of Fort Bidwell, California. The stream heads east of Goose Lake and flows southeast nearly to the California state line, where it receives the waters of Twelvemile Creek. It flows east and north and flows into Twentymile Creek. The flow from these streams eventually reaches the Warner Valley,

FIFTEENMILE CREEK, Wasco County. This is the stream that flows through Dufur, and it received its name in pioneer days because the road from The Dalles crossed it about 15 miles from The Dalles. The road also crossed Fivemile Creek and Eightmile Creek before it reached Fifteenmile Creek. The Dalles-California Highway extends along all of these streams between The Dalles and Dufur. The three streams combine before they flow into the Columbia, and the name Fifteenmile Creek follows through to the Columbia, even though at its mouth it is only about four miles from The Dalles. The mouth of Fifteenmile Creek is at Seufert, and there is a substantial concrete viaduct carrying the Columbia River Highway over the creek at that point, known as Seufert Viaduct. Old maps show Fifteenmile Creek as Nansene Creek, and there was once a community of that name in Wasco County, but the compiler has been unable to secure inforination about the word Nansene. This is probably the same stream mentioned by Fremont on November 25, 1843, as Tinanens Creek. Nansene post office was established May 17, 1880, with William C. Adams first postmaster. The office has been discontinued.