Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/258

238 sawmill was established in the timber north of the fort and extra good pine lumber was cut and practically all of the buildings were built of this lumber. There never were many of them, probably two small houses for officers, a barracks, some sheds or barns with log corrals for the horses. I can remember as a boy seeing some of those logs still lying around the corral, but the houses were all torn down and moved away by the settlers just as soon as the fort was abandoned. I have been told there was really no stockade." The Illustrated History of Baker, Grant, Malheur and Harney Counties, page 633, says Fort Harney was abandoned June 14, 1880. It seems to have been used in the Indian disturbances of 1878. By order of the president, the Fort Harney military reserve of 640 acres was created January 28, 1876, but on September 13, 1882, this was reduced to 320 acres. The compiler has a statement from the late J. J. Donegan of Burns to the effect that the rest of the reserve was restored to public entry March 2, 1889, "and the fort was abandoned." War Department records say that the soldiers marched out June 13, 1880, and Donegan's statement means that the land was abandoned as military property in 1889. A post office with the name Camp Harney was established August 10, 1874, with William T. Stevens first postmaster. The writer has been unable to learn why postal authorities did not use the official name as adopted by the War Department. The name of the office was changed to Harney September 16, 1885, with Robert J. Ives postmaster. The office was doubtless moved to the new community at that time.

, Josephine County. Fort Hayes was a gathering place for settlers during the Rogue River War of 1855–56 and was close to what is now the Redwood Highway southwest of Grants Pass. Walling, in his History of Southern Oregon, page 452, says that Fort Hayes was at the Thornton place, about nine miles north of Kerby. James T. Chinnock of Grants Pass is of the opinion that the fort was near the south end of Hayes Hill, probably at what is also known as Anderson Station. The compiler has not been able to get more definite information. Members of the Hayes family were early settlers in the Illinois Valley and the fort was named for them.

, Umatilla County. Fort Henrietta was built by a detachment of the First Oregon Mounted Rifles under the command of Major Mark A. Chinn in November, 1855, in the Yakima War. Chinn named the fortified post Fort Henrietta, in compliment to the wife of Major Granville O. Haller of the United States Army. The fort was a stockade one hundred feet square, built of large split timbers, with two bastions of round logs, and an outside stock corral enclosed with rails found on the ground. See Victor's Early Indian Wars of Oregon, page 439. Fort Henrietta was near the west bank of Umatilla River not far from the present (1942) site of the Catholic Church in the town of Echo. Statements that the fort was near Well Spring do not seem to be substantiated by the records.

, Polk County. Fort Hill, just northeast of Valley Junction, was named because Willamette Valley settlers built a blockhouse on its summit in 1855–56. The federal government sent troops to this place and established Fort Yamhill on August 30, 1856. See under for additional information. The blockhouse was later moved to Grand Ronde Agency and still later to Dayton and set up in a public park.