Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/349



Lake. It was named for one Tom Johnson, who took up a homestead along the stream and ranged cattle here.

JOHNSON MOUNTAIN, Coos County. Johnson Mountain is in the southwest part of the county and Johnson Creek flows around it on the south. These two geographic features were named for a pioneer miner, "Coarse Gold" Johnson, who discovered gold nearby in rich nuggets in 1854. The Coos Bay News, August 31, 1887, contains an item to the effect that George Bailey had recently found the remains of a man in the woods south of Sixes River. The remains were identified as those of "Coarse Gold" Johnson, who discovered gold on what was later called Johnson Creek.

JONES CREEK, Josephine County. Jones Creek is a tributary of Rogue River, about two miles east of Grants Pass. John K. Jones was a pioneer settler near the banks of this stream and it was named in his honor. He and his wife were killed by Indians, and their heirs subsequently owned the claim.

JONESBORO, Malheur County. This station was named for William Jones, a local cattleman. The place is between Juntura and Harper, on the Union Pacific Railroad.

JONT CREEK, Polk County. Jont Creek is a small stream that rises in the extreme south border of the county and flows northeastward through Airlie. It was named for one Jont Williams, an early day homesteader in the vicinity.

JOPPA, Washington County. The Pacific Monthly and Official Gazette, date uncertain, but probably about 1880, contains the following: "Joppa is not the celebrated place where the timber was floated to build King Solomon's Temple, but a discontinued post office eight miles northwest of Forest Grove. A migratory peddler was the postmaster. The authorities in Washington City having learned that he carried the post office in his pocket, concluded it was rather an inaccessible place for the numerous population of Joppa to obtain their mail, and discontinued the office." The compiler has not been able to get much additional information about this post office except that it was established March 13, 1874, with Alvin C. Brown the first of three postmasters. The office was closed July 5, 1876. It has been impossible to get the exact location of the office. It seems probable that the office was named by a biblical enthusiast. The original Joppa was one of the most ancient seaports of the world, on the coast of the Holy Land about 35 miles northwest of Jerusalem. The spelling of the more modern community on the coast of Palestine is generally given as Jaffa.

JORDAN CREEK, Lane County. Jordan Creek flows into Coyote Creek about four miles upstream from Crow. Some maps show this stream with the name Jorden Creek, but in December, 1945, Merle Nighswander, an old timer of the vicinity, wrote the compiler that the correct spelling was Jordan. Mr. Nighswander added that the name was that of an earlyday squatter on the banks of the creek.

JORDAN POINT, Coos County. When the USGS mapped the Coos Bay quadrangle in 1895-96, it applied the name Jordan Point to a feature on the east side of Coos Bay just north of the mouth of Kentuck Slough. This name was supposed to be derived from James Jordan, an early settler who ranged Kentuck Slough as a hunter for the North Bend mill. See Dodge's Pioneer History of Coos and Curry Counties,