Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/479



name was used in early days. There are a number of varieties of wild onion growing in Oregon and the compiler does not know what sort grows on Onion Peak.

ONION SPRINGS MOUNTAIN, Jackson and Josephine counties. Onion Springs Mountain is an important geographic feature at the north joint corner of the two counties. It is a main triangulation point of the

USC&GS, and has an elevation of 5240 feet, according to that survey. The name comes from the presence of the wild onion, Allium acuminatum, which grows near the springs. This mountain is sometimes called King Mountain, but that is not its official name. There are a number of geographic features in western Oregon named for the wild onion.

ONTARIO, Malheur County. The following quotation is from the History of Baker, Grant, Malheur and Harney Counties, page 545: "Ontario was so named at the request of James W. Virtue, one of the founders, who wished thus to honor the place of his nativity – Ontario, Canada. In 1883, William Morfitt, Daniel Smith, James W. Virtue and Mrs. Mary Richardson, all of Baker City, exercised desert land rights under United States laws and took up four adjoining sections of desert land." In 1927 Robert E. Strahorn told the compiler that he laid out the town in the early '80s, presumably in connection with the construction of the Oregon Short Line Railroad, and that the name Ontario had been selected by a landowner before he got there. James W. Virtue was a prominent citizen of Baker and one-time sheriff. Inquiries made at Baker in April, 1943, to members of his family, elicted the fact that he was born in Ontario, Canada, and came to Oregon in the '60s. Family tradition is to the effect that he spent some time at what is now Ontario, Oregon, and named the townsite. Ooskan BUTTE, Lake County. This butte southeast of the Paulina Mountains was named by the Forest Service with the Chinook jargon word for cup or bowl, indicative of the crater in the top. Opal City, Jefferson County. Opal City was named for Opal Springs in the Crooked River Canyon not far away.

OPAL SPRINGS, Jefferson County. Opal Springs are the largest of the remarkable springs on the lower reaches of Crooked River. They issue in a sand-lined basin that contains small opal-like pebbles, and from this they have received their name. They discharge over 80 million gallons of water a day. Ophir, Curry County. The name Ophir occurs in the Bible, and refers to a region celebrated for its proverbially fine gold. Efforts to localize the place have not been successful. The compiler has been unable to learn who named the place on Euchre Creek in Curry County, or when the name was applied, but the word is said to have been chosen because of fine gold in the black beach sands nearby. Ophir post office was established on the Curry County list on June 5, 1891, with Elizabeth J. Burrow first postmaster. It has not been in continuous service, but was operating in April, 1948.

ORCAL, Jackson County. Orcal was a station on the Southern Pacific, near the Oregon-California line. The name was coined by railway officials who took the first parts of the names of the two states. The station was not in service in 1945.

ORD, Lane County. Ord post office was named in compliment to Ord, Nebraska. Horace N. Fiske was first postmaster of Ord in Oregon,