Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/468



Caledonia, but the Oregon deposit has not yet been successfully worked. Nigger BEN MOUNTAIN, Jackson County. Nigger Ben Mountain, elevation about 4500 feet, is in the Siskiyou Mountains, a little to the southwest of Ruch and the Applegate River. The name is very old, and appears to have been derived from a Negro named Ben who operated a small blacksmith shop near the river and accommodated miners by sharpening picks and other tools. In his spare time Ben worked a tunnel on a small prospect he had developed. There are a number of stories about Ben, most of them probably apochryphal. Ben's last name appears to have been lost to posterity. Nish, Sherman County. Nish is a railroad station near Moro. It was named for Alexander Nish who was born in Scotland February 15, 1847, and came to the United States in 1852. He served during the Civil War and later settled in Sherman County. It is said that his name was originally McNish or MacNish, but he changed his name at the time he entered the army. Nixon, Linn County. This is a station on the Oregon Electric Railway southwest of Halsey. C. H. Stewart of Albany told the compiler that it was named for a pioneer resident, Samuel Nixon. Noah BUTTE, Coos County. Noah Butte is east across Coos Bay from the town of Coos Bay and north of Coos River. Members of the Noah family were early settlers in the county and the butte was named for one, but the compiler does not know which.

NOBLE SCHOOL, Marion County. Noble School and the Noble district, about three miles southeast of Scotts Mills, were named for William Noble, who settled on the Abiqua some time prior to 1848. He sold out to Samuel Allen in the spring of that year, and went to Oregon City, where he soon died. See Down's History of the Silverton Country, page 41. Noble post office served this section from February, 1893, to May, 1908. Charles W. Roberts was the first postmaster of a series of six.

NOEL CREEK, Douglas County. Noel Creek flows into Smith River from the north a few miles northeast of Gardiner. It bears the name of Stephenson C. Noel who came to Oregon from Missouri. In pioneer days he and some companions left Eugene on a prospecting expedition and finally reached lower Smith River. Noel settled on the stream that now bears his name. See Reedsport Courier, April 10, 1936.

NOFOG, Douglas County. Nofog post office bore a strictly descriptive name. It was on the upper reaches of Cavitt Creek about due east of Roseburg. Nofog post office was established June 7, 1915, and Hezekiah J. Robinett, the first and only postmaster, named the place because of the clear atmosphere. The office was discontinued February 28, 1918. The compiler has an interesting letter by Victor Boyd of Roseburg, written in February, 1948, about his experiences teaching school in 1903-04 in a log building on the Cavitt place. Except for the window sash, floor, desks and seats, the whole school building was hand split from cedar logs. Mr. Boyd writes that at one time eight of the seventeen pupils were from the family of S. W. Furnell. Robinett later bought the Furnell home.

NOHORN CREEK, Clackamas County. This steam is in the southern part of the county and flows into the Hot Springs Fork of Clackamas River. Nohorn is the popularized version of the name Nachand. John Nachand was a pioneer prospector of eastern Clackamas County, with