Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/442

 that Mount Hood was named for other members of the Hood family, cannot be substantiated. It is certain that the mountain was named for Samuel Hood. He was Lord Hood, a baron, when he signed the original instructions for Vancouver's voyage. The mountain could not possibly have been named in honor of Alexander Hood, Lord Bridport, younger brother of Lord Hood and also an admiral. Alexander Hood was not raised to the peerage until after 1793, and never had the title Lord Hood, but instead that of Lord Bridport. He was a viscount when he died in 1814, after a long and distinguished life. Lord Hood and Lord Bridport had two famous cousins, also named Samuel and Alexander Hood, but in reverse order. Alexander was the elder of this pair and died in action at sea in 1798, but never received a title. His younger brother, Sir Samuel Hood, had a remarkably successful naval career, but was not a peer. It will be seen from the above that there was but one Lord Hood in 1792. when the mountain was named, and that was the first Samuel. It will also be seen that the statement that Mount Hood and the famous British warship Hood were named for the same man is difficult to prove. There have been several ships named Hood. In 1935 the compiler secured a copy of the picture hanging in the wardroom of H.M.S. Hood, and it turned out to be of Vice-Admiral Sir Samuel Hood and not that of Lord Hood. Alexander Hood, Lord Bridport, seems, from his biography, to have done more sea fighting than the other three, and was raised to the peerage even though his brother was already a peer. The Oregonian has an editorial on the name Hood on June 1, 1941, which says that the ships and the mountain are named for the same man, but offers no definite evidence and in fact fails to mention Admiral Alexander Hood, Viscount Bridport, who is obviously one of the most important of the family group.

Lewis and Clark saw Mount Hood for the first time on Friday October 18, 1805, and wrote: "saw a mountain S. W. conical form Covered with Snow." On October 25 Clark wrote ata point near The Dalles, "The Pinical of the round toped mountain which we Saw a Short distance below the forks of this river is S. 43° W. of us and abt 37 miles, it is at this time toped with Snow we called this the falls mountain or Timm mountain. [this the Mount Hood or Vancouver.]" Timm was a name given to a point at The Dalles of the Columbia, said to have been applied because the word sounded like the noise of falling water. It is obvious that Clark meant to write this the Mount Hood of Vancouver, and it is also obvious that he and Lewis must have had a reasonably accurate knowledge of Vancouver's discoveries, though it seems they did not have Vancouver's engraved charts. See Coues' History of the Expedition of Lewis and Clark, volume I, page xxiv. The fur traders had many other things to occupy their attention, and did not go in for mountaineering, and for the most part, neither did the pioneers. There are many references to Mount Hood in early day journals and diaries, but nothing of importance, except Hall J. Kelley's plan to change the name to Mount Adams (see under ), until Joel Palmer made one of the earliest attempts by a white man to climb the mountain, on October 12, 1845, See the volume containing Palmer's journals in Thwaites' Early Western Travels, page 132, and also under and  in this book. David Douglas, the botanist, is said to have attemped to climb the moun-