Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/452



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but that station is now Alford. There is another Muddy Creek, of similar characteristics, draining the western part of the Willamette Valley and flowing into Marys River south of Corvallis.

MUDDY STATION, Linn County. A post office with the name Muddy Station was established February 24, 1874, with William Landreth postmaster. Thomas Alford, Sr., became postmaster on November 5, 1874, and the office was closed February 19, 1875. Muddy Station was a place on the Oregon & California Railroad about four miles northeast of Harrisburg at the place where the railroad crossed Muddy Creek. Most old maps show the place as Muddy, but the official post office name was Muddy Station. Some time after the turn of the century the name of the station was changed to Alford in compliment to Thomas Alford mentioned above. Alford was a pioneer of 1850 and a well-known resident of Linn County. For a biography of Alford, see Historical Atlas Map of Marion & Linn Counties, 1878, page 55, wherein it is stated that the village of Liverpool was situated on Alford property. See under LIVERPOOL.

MUDJEKEEWIS MOUNTAIN, Klamath County. Mudjekeewis Mountain, maximum elevation 6616 feet, is in the Cascade Range, on the west border of Klamath County, about four miles south of the southwest corner of Crater Lake National Park. It was named for the Indian deity, Mudjekeewis, spirit of the four winds, made famous by Henry W. Longfellow as the father of Hiawatha. As applied to the feature in Jackson County, the name is relatively modern. It may have been used because the mountain is in an unusually windy situation or because some forest ranger landed in the clutches of poetical romance.

MUGWUMP LAKE, Lake County. One of the Warner Lakes. Will G. Steel told the compiler it was named Mugwump because it was so changeable from wet to dry and back again. Muir CREEK, Wallowa County. Muir Creek is a small stream in a canyon draining into Snake River in township 1 north, range 51 east. It was named for a Scotch prospector, one Muir, who worked in the canyon with a fellow countryman,

MULE, Harney County. Mule post office was established February 11, 1895, with James F. Mahon postmaster. It was in operation until February 14, 1901. It was reestablished May 13, 1903, with Lucy R. Mahon postmaster, and continued until January 14, 1906. In December, 1945, Archie McGowan wrote the compiler in substance as follows: "Mule post office was at the ranch home of James F. Mahon, early pioneer and noted mule breeder at his famous Anderson Valley ranch 55 miles southeast of Burns. The ofhce was likely discontinued in 1901 because of lack of patrons. Its re-instatement in 1903 with Lucy R. Mahon, wife of James F. Mahon, was justified by the last wave of homesteaders that spread over the West. Mahon was a prominent Democrat and the appointment of his wife as postmaster by Theodore Roosevelt in 1903 was likely political. During the last years of the post office, Vahon had one John Hoss working on the ranch, who of course was a patron of the office. It was quite common to note letters and other mail addressed to John Hoss, Mule, Oregon. I think Ripley has used this item in his pictures."

MULE CREEK, Curry County. Mule Creek is in the extreme northeast corner of the county and flows into Rogue River. Many vears ago William H. Packwood told the compiler that the stream was named in the summer of 1852 when a company of soldiers from Fort Orford was trying