Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/407

, Coos County. G. A. Bennett, a pioneer of Coos County is authority for the statement that the land upon which the city of Marshfield was built was once a part of a claim taken up by Wilkins Warwick in 1855, and that it was the general understanding of Oregon pioneers that Warwick named part of his claim for Marshfield, Massachusetts. The records of Coos County show that Warwick sold part of his claim on March 11, 1856, to Andrew J. Davis for $3000, and the description of this property states that the land is particularly "known and designated as the Marshfield claim at the mouth of Wapello Slough." Wapello Slough is now known as Isthmus Slough as it leads to the isthmus over which there was a trail to Beaver Slough on the Coquille River side of the county. There is another version of the history of the name, according to S. B. Cathcart, also a pioneer resident of Coos County. Cathcart wrote that the name was applied by J. C.Tolman, who settled on the claim prior to Warwick, and inasmuch as he was a great admirer of Daniel Webster, Tolman named the Marshfield claim after Webster's home in Massachusetts. While the details of these two stories differ somewhat, it is apparent that Marshfield, Oregon, was named about 1854 for the Massachusetts community. Tolman later was surveyor-general of Oregon. Marshfield did not make progress until John Pershbaker started lumber and shipbuilding industries there in 1867. In that year there were but two buildings at the place. (Dodge's Pioneer History of Coos and Curry Counties, page 154.) For description of the town in 1902, see the Oregonian, December 25, 1902; description in 1903, ibid., September 3, 1903, page 14; description in 1890, ibid., January 1, 1891. On November 16, 1943, an election was held on a proposal to consolidate Marshfield, North Bend and an unincorporated area between the two places with the name Coos Bay for the new municipality. The proposal carried in Marshfield but lost elsewhere, hence did not go into effect. However, at the general election a year later, November 7, 1944, the people of Marshfield adopted a new charter and a new name, City of Coos Bay. The change in name was confirmed at a special election held December 28, 1944, and the name Marshfield, in use nearly a century, became a thing of the past. This change did not affect the community of North Bend.

, Columbia County. When Z. B. Bryant settled on the marshy prairie west of Clatskanie about 1862, the place was known as Skunk Cabbage Flat. The post office of Marshland was established about 1873, and it is understood that Bryant selected the name as being more suitable than Skunk Cabbage Flat. It is quite descpriptive.

, Coos County. Mart Davis Creek is a small tributary of Millicoma River. It was named for an early settler on its banks, J. M. Davis, better known as Mart. The name Mark Davis Creek is wrong.

, Marion County. These buttes, north of Detroit, were so named because some trappers caught a number of martens there. Charles C. Giebler of Detroit furnished the compiler with this information, adding that the name is not an old one.

, Tillamook County. Marx post office was established April 9, 1904, with Franklin C. Varner first of two postmasters. The office was about two miles southeast on Neskowin Creek from the place called Neskowin, on the Varner ranch. Varner was a great admirer of Karl Marx the German Socialist and named the office for him. Maps showing the name Mary and Marks are wrong. The Marx office was later moved northwest