Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/409

 stream Mouse River in 1845-46. Cal Thrasher, a Benton County pioneer, is authority for the statement that Marys Peak in early days was called Mouse Mountain, a translation of an Indian name. See editorial page of the Corvallis Gazette-Times, September 20, 1935. The name Marys River appears in an act passed by the Oregon legislature December 12, 1846, and it was apparently in public use at that time. There are at least two stories about the origin of the name Marys River. One is to the effect that it was applied by Adam E. Wimple, an early settler from Oneida County, New York, for his sister, who had never been in Oregon. Wimple murdered his girl wife, Mary, August 1, 1852, whom he had married the year before, and he was hanged at Dallas October 8, 1852. She had attacked him with a pistol. For narrative of the murder, see the Oregonian, August 8, September 11, 25, 1852. The other story is that the stream was named by Wayman St. Clair for Mary Lloyd, daughter of John Lloyd, who came to Oregon from Clay County, Missouri, in 1845, and in 1846 settled near the present town of Monroe in Benton County. She was said to be the first white woman to cross Marys River, in 1846 (George H. Himes.) She married John Foster in Benton County, June 20, 1846; died in August, 1854. Lloyd was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina; died in Benton County, Oregon, January 6, 1880. His house is said to have been the farthest south in the Willamette Valley at one time. Wayman St. Clair was a member of the territorial legislature in 1850-51, representing Benton County in the lower house; also in 1854. He was an immigrant of 1845. He and John Lloyd were alternate captains of the last party that followed the Meek Cutoff. In the winter of 1847 Joseph C. Avery began to lay out a town at the mouth of Marys River, and the place was called Marysville. In 1853 the name was changed to Corvallis. See under that heading. Marysville was probably named for the stream, although there may have been additional reasons. Mrs. John (Mary) Stewart, one of the first settlers, said that Avery told her he would apply the name Marysville in her honor. See Corvallis Gazette-Times, June 7, 1935.It has been suggested that French-Canadian employees of the Hudson's Bay Company may have named the stream Saint Marys River, but there seems to be no contemporary record of the event.

, Grant County. In the early '70s the Mascall family settled in the John Day Valley near Dayville. The ranch was the headquarters for the first fossil hunters, and the name Mascall formation is now widely used by geologists.

, Deschutes County. This butte, elevation 4881 feet, is about eight miles southwest of Lapine. It bears the name of John N. Masten who at one time ran a sawmill on Little Deschutes River about two miles east of the butte.

, Coos County. Matheny Creek is just west of Myrtle Point. It was named for James H. Matheny, who took up a land claim on its banks in pioneer days.

, Morrow County. Matlock Canyon drains into North Fork Butter Creek in township 1 north, range 28 east, on the extreme east edge of the county. The canyon was named for three Matlock brothers who settled and lived in the canyon. The spelling Mattlock is wrong.

, Gilliam County. The history of the locality called Matney is meagre. Matney post office was established about four miles southeast