Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/538



Rocky Top, Marion County. This conspicuous mountain is near Niagara. It was named in 1863 by Thomas J. Henness, a pioneer of the North Santiam Valley, because of its formation at the summit. See the Salem Capital Journal, June 18, 1927, page 1. Ropeo, Harney County. This railroad station is named with the Spanish word for roundup. It is a cattle shipping point. The correct pronunciation is with accent on the "e." Rodeo is on the Union Pacific Railroad just southeast of Burns. Rodgers CREEK, Marion County, Rodgers Creek rises in the hills south of Salem and flows eastward to join Battle Creek near Turner. The Pacific Highway East crosses this stream a little to the east of Jackson Hill. Rodgers Creek has been known as Taylor Creek, but on April 12, 1940, the USBGN adopted the name Rodgers Creek. The name of the stream commemorates Clark and Sarah Adams Rodgers, pioneers of 1852, who were married in Marion County in 1856 and settled near the banks of the stream in 1857. In 1939 residents of the vicinity petitioned to have the name Rodgers Creek officially adopted, and this petition was approved by the county commissioners and by various state agencies.

RODLEY BUTTE, Douglas County. Rodley Butte, elevation 6838 feet, is about two miles west of the north end of Diamond Lake and bears the name of Oscar Rodley, a fire guard of the U. S. Forest Service who was drowned while swimming in Diamond Lake on July 14, 1928. He was brought up near Lookingglass and was a graduate of Lookingglass High School and had worked for the Forest Service several seasons. The name Rodley Butte was adopted by the USBGN on January 8, 1930, in place of Bald Butte on the theory that there were more than enough Bald buttes in Oregon to meet existing needs.

ROGNES, Wallowa County, Rognes post office was short lived. It was established in August, 1909, with Louis O. Roggs postmaster and was discontinued in November, 1910. It was situated in the north part of section 10, township 2 north, range 44 east, about 18 miles airline north of Enterprise. The office was named for Rognes Sever, a Norwegian Lutheran minister, who lived in the locality.

ROGUE RIVER, Curry, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine and Klamath counties, Rogue River rises in the extreme northwest corner of Klamath County at Boundary Springs near the northern boundary of Crater Lake National Park. On December 20, 1904, Max Pracht wrote a letter to the Oregonian giving a well-known but incorrect version of the origin of the name Rogue River, ascribing it to the French word Rouge on account of the alleged red color of the water during food seasons. This letter was printed in the Oregonian for December 22, 1904, page 11. Harvey W. Scott wrote a spirited reply to the Pracht letter, giving the real source of the name and printing it on the same page with the communication. The reply is as follows: "This is fanciful, purely so, though the 'Rougestory is old. There would have been reason for calling the Klamath River Rouge River, or Red River; for its waters are much discolored by the marshes of the lake basin which it drains. But Rogue River is one of the clearest of streams, and even in food its waters are not red. An old French map has been mentioned-though no such map is known to be in existence-whereon the Klamath and Rogue rivers are united and called Rouge-Clamet, or Red Klamath. But Rogue River, as an individual