Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/336



known as the Igo Grange." Igo post office was established in February, 1891, with James J. Fix postmaster. The office was closed in December, 1892, with papers to Condon. Old maps show Igo in the south part of township 3 south, range 20 east.

IKT BUTTE, Deschutes County Ikt is the Chinook jargon word for one. The name was applied by the Forest Service to a butte northwest of Paulina Mountains, at a time when several buttes were named with the Indian series of numbers.

ILLAHE, Curry County. This is the Chinook jargon word meaning land or earth and is also used to connote country. George Gibbs states that it is derived from the Chinook Indian word ilahekh. There are of course various spellings, but the government has adopted Illahe as a standard. Besides the post office in Curry County, there are other features bearing the name, including a place on North Umpqua River, Illahe Hill about four miles southwest of Salem, and Tenasillahe Island in the Columbia River.

ILLINGWORTH, Tillamook County. Illingworth post office was on Wilson River about fourteen miles northeast of Tillamook, and was named in compliment to members of a local family. The office was established in June, 1896, with James R. Harris first postmaster. The office was closed in December, 1899.

ILLINOIS RIVER, Josephine County. C. H. Stewart, of Albany, wrote the compiler in 1927 that Illinois River was named as the result of the early discovery of gold thereon by the Althouse brothers of Albany. These brothers, Samuel, John and Philip, were pioneers of 1847, emigrating from Peoria, Illinois, and settling in Albany, where they made their homes. They mined on Althouse Creek and Illinois River in southern Oregon in the early days of the placer diggings.

ILLUMINATION Rock, Clackamas County. On this rock occurred the first successful illumination of Mount Hood. This illumination was part of the Independence Day celebration in Portland on July 4, 1887. Will G. Steel organized a party that carried one hundred pounds of red fire to this rock and the light was seen as far as the mountain was visible.

IMBLER, Union County. This place was named for the Imbler family, pioneer settlers. The post ofhce was established April 27, 1891, with Albert E. Imbler first postmaster.

IMNAHA RIVER, Wallowa County. Imnaha is a beautiful name for a stream that rises in the Wallowa Mountains, and flows to Snake River through one of the deepest river gorges on the continent. The word was used by William Clark, on a map issued with the original Lewis and Clark journals in 1814, in the form Innahar. As far as the writer knows, Captain Bonneville was the first white man to go into the Wallowa country. For information about this exploration, see under BONNEVILLE. He was in the vicinity of Imnaha River in January and February, 1834. It is difficult to follow Bonneville's march as described by Irving, for the geography of the country is obviously confused, but the general character of the landscape is very well described, and Irving's somewhat extravagant style is quite suitable to the remarkable rock formations and almost bottomless canyons the traveler encountered. Beside the river, there is a post office named Imnaha. J. H. Horner of Enterprise, the authority on Wallowa County history, told the writer in 1927 that Imna was the name of a sub chief and that it was the custom among the In