Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/472

 dian discovered that he had been jobbed, he is said to have exclaimed, 'Him no tie,' and therefrom the place received its name."

Noyer CREEK, Clackamas County. This creek north of Barton was named for Peter Noyer, who took up a donation land claim nearby in pioneer days. His land office certificate was number 3876.

NUGGET, Douglas County. This post office was named Nugget because of gold mines in the vicinity.

NYE, Umatilla County. Nye post office was about eight miles southwest of Pilot Rock near the present three-way highway junction. This junction is still referred to as Nye and the general impression is that the locality was named for A. W. Nye, a well-known early resident of Umatilla County. The post office was established March 9, 1887, with Henry C. Wright first postmaster. The office was discontinued June 30, 1917.

Nyssa, Malheur County. This post office was established June 15, 1889. The name was first applied to a station when the railroad was built, but the town was not incorporated until about 1903. Accurate information about the application of the name is not available. It is said that a Greek section hand named the place for a town in Greece, but the compiler has been unable to find such a place in any modern atlas. Another version is that it is an Indian name for sage-brush. In botany, Nyssa is the name of the tupelo tree commemorating one of the so-called water nymphs. Apparently these nymphs had a hand in rearing young Bacchus. What connection there is between all this and the name of the town, the compiler has been unable to learn.

OAK, Coos County. On February 28, 1901, a post office named Oak was established about eight miles by road southeast of Myrtle Creek near the banks of Middle Fork Coquille River, probably very close to Endicott Creek which flows in from the north. Solomon S. Endicott was the first and only postmaster. The office was closed August 22, 1902. It was named for the forest growth of the locality.

OAK CREEK, Benton County. Oak Creek is near Corvallis. There are many geographic features in Oregon named for oak trees. Sudworth, in Check List of Forest Trees of the United States, page 105, lists but one oak in northern Oregon, Quercus garryanna, Oregon white oak, and most of the features named for the oak are named because of the nearby existence of this species. Quercus kelloggii, California black oak, is listed as growing as far north as McKenzie River, and Quercus chrysolepis, canyon live oak, is listed as far north as Cow Creek.

OAK CREEK, Douglas County, Oak Creek, a locality about ten miles northeast of Roseburg, took its name from the stream on which it is situated. The stream name is very old and came of course from the oak trees which are so prominent in that part of the county. Oak Creek post office was established October 18, 1878, with Jeptha Thornton first postmaster. In 1896, when postal officials were in the throes of efficiency, the name was consolidated to Oakcreek, but the general public continued to use the style Oak Creek. The writer does not know when the post office was closed, but apparently it was some time between 1910 and 1912.

Oak GROVE, Clackamas County, Harvey G. Starkweather, a resident of this neighborhood, is authority for the statement that the name of Oak Grove was suggested by Edward W. Cornell, a member of the survey. ing party that platted the townsite in the early '90s. The company developing the property had not been able to secure a satisfactory name