Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/345

 eral places, including Syracuse and Santiam City, about two miles down. stream from Jefferson. He left Santiam City and took up a claim upstream and started his own community. He built his ferry in 1851, but it appears that he was still serving as postmaster at Santiam City in the summer of 1852. Jefferson Institute was established in the vicinity of the ferry, and the name of the institute was eventually adopted by the community, probably on account of the strength of the Democratic party in the neighborhood. The institute was of course named for Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States. For early history of Conser and the community of Jefferson, see article by Jesse Steiwer Douglas in

OHQ, volume XXXII, number 4. Milton Hale, a pioneer of 1845, was apparently first to sense the strategic importance of this general locality. He established Hale Ferry on the Santiam River, below the present site of Jefferson. He also established Syracuse on his claim on the south bank. Santiam City sprang up on Samuel S. Miller's claim on the north bank. Conser seems to have been ubiquitous. Moving from the vicinity of Scio, he became first postmaster at Syracuse when that office was established on October 4, 1850. Jacob L. Miller became postmaster on March 14, 1851. On July 27, 1852, the name was changed to Santiam City with Jacob Corson postmaster, an obvious misprint in the postal records for Jacob Conser. Samuel S. Miller became postmaster on October 16, 1852. Postal records of this office are confusing, because Syracuse office is listed in Marion County, but the community was of course in Linn County. Santiam City office was listed in Linn County on October 16, 1852, and the community is supposed to have been in Marion County. Douglas, in OHQ, volume XXXII, number 3, mentions the complex history of these two places and Conser's activities. Conser's new community gradually drew business up river and Syracuse and Santiam City faded from the picture. The post office was changed to Jefferson on June 13, 1861.

JEFFERSON COUNTY. Jefferson County was created December 12, 1914, and the territory comprising it was taken from Crook County. It was named for Mount Jefferson, which is one of the principal geographic features in the district, and stands at the west end of Jefferson County. For details concerning the name of Mount Jefferson see under that name. Jefferson County has a land area of 1794 square miles.

JEFFERSON Park, Jefferson and Marion counties. Jefferson Park is a place of peculiar beauty, wedged in across the Cascade Range by Mount Jefferson on the south and by the almost perpedicular walls of a great rock barrier to the north. The floor of the park is about a mile wide north and south, and probably three miles long from east to west. It was formerly known as the Hanging Valley, a name lacking in descriptive quality and appropriateness. The present name of Jefferson Park is much more suitable and is now well established. It was of course suggested by the mountain. The park is about 5900 feet above the sea, and the views to be had from it of the glaciers on the north slope of Mount Jefferson and of the great canyon of the Whitewater to the east must be seen to be appreciated. For excellent pictures of the park and other information see Mineral Resources of Oregon, volume II, No. 1, and Mazama for December 1925.

JEFFRIES CREEK, Lincoln County. This stream, which flows into Big Creek just north of Newport, was named for a homesteader who settled in the northeast quarter of section 5, township 11 south, range 11 west.

JENNIES PEAK, Wheeler County. This point, elevation about 4000