Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/434



Foster Company, about five or six miles northeast of what is now the town of Stanfield. It was on the old stage road northwest of Pendleton. It was on what were called the Meadows, a considerable area near the Umatilla River in the northern part of the county, not exactly defined. Moosmoos CREEK, Clatsop County. This stream flows into Youngs River about a mile north of Youngs River Falls. Moosmoos is the Chinook jargon word for cattle, which have been plentiful in the locality for many years.

MORGAN, Morrow County. The original name of this post office was Saddle for Saddle Butte about three miles to the south. Saddle post office was established November 20, 1882, with Ozwell T. Douglas postmaster. The name of the office was changed to Douglas on December 31, 1890. About 1906 the name was changed to Morgan, apparently in compliment to Alfred C. Morgan, a local resident who had been postmaster. For a time there was a discrepancy between the names of the post office and the railroad station, but it is probable that one of the changes listed above composed the difficulty.

MORGAN BUTTE, Wallowa County. This butte is in the southeast part of the county. It was named for Albert Morgan, a sheepman.

MORMON Basin, Baker and Malheur counties. Mormon Basin was named in 1862 at the time of the eastern Oregon gold rush. A party of prospectors from Salt Lake City found pay dirt and the basin was named either by or for these miners. About the same time a group of miners from the Humboldt River region found gold in another part of the basin, and the name Humboldt Basin was at once applied in compliment to this group. The Nevada miners had been working at Auburn with poor results and were on their way back home when they made a strike in Humboldt Basin. See Fred Lockley's article in Oregon Journal, April 29, 1932. The two names, Mormon Basin and Humboldt Basin, were used concurrently for a time, but the style Humboldt Basin gradually gave way to Mormon Basin and modern usage is well crystallized in favor of the latter name. The stream draining the area is generally called Mormon Basin Creek. For postal history of the locality, see under Hum BOLDT Basin.

MORMON FLAT, Wallowa County. This flat is in the east part of the county. It was named for W. H. Winters, an early settler, who was of the Mormon faith. He was drowned in Snake River. Moro, Sherman County. Moro is the county seat of Sherman County, and has an elevation of 1807 feet. It is generally believed that Henry Barnum was the first resident of the place, settling there in 1868, and establishing a trading post some eleven years later. There are several stories as to how the town got its name. One version is that it was named for Moro, Illinois, by Judge O. M. Scott, who formerly lived in that place. Another version is that it was named for Moore Brothers, who were interested in the townsite. Still another story is that it was named Moro for the Moors, which seems unlikely to the compiler. The reader may take his choice.

MORRISON, Clatsop County. This station was named for Robert W. Morrison, an early settler. It was on Clatsop Plains. Robert W. Morrison was born in Kentucky in 1811, came to Oregon in 1844 and died in May, 1894.

Morrow COUNTY. Morrow County was created February 16, 1885,