Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/548

 ring to the Sauk or Sac Indians. Saginaw post office was established March 4, 1898, with Laura Weaver first postmaster.

SAHALE FALLS, Hood River County. These falls are on the Mount Hood Loop Highway not far from the crossing of White River. They bear the Chinook jargon word for high. The name was bestowed on the falls by George Holman of Portland, as a result of a prize competition conducted by the Portland Telegram, in which it was judged that Mr. Holman had suggested the best name. The word sahale is composed of three syllables with the accent on the first.

Saint BENEDICT, Marion County. In 1881, a Benedictine monk, the Rev. Adelhelm Odermatt, came to Oregon and soon established a Benedictine community, which is now known as St. Benedicts Abbey. This community was first started at Gervais, but in 1884 it was moved to the town of Mount Angel. Since it was less than a mile from the Mount Angel post office, the authorities would not establish a new post office for the abbey. In 1903 a new abbey was completed on the butte southeast of Mount Angel town and in 1914 the post office of Saint Benedict was established at the abbey. The first postmaster was Wendel Neiderprum. Father Odermatt came from Engelberg, Switzerland. He translated this name into Mount Angel, thus naming the town and the butte. Saint Benedict was named for the founder of the Benedictine Order, who was born in Nursia, Italy, in the year 180, and died at Monte Cassino, Italy, in 543. For additional information see under the name MOUNT ANGEL. The butte on which St. Benedicts Abbey is built has an elevation of 485 feet.

Saint HELENS, Columbia County. The town of Saint Helens was founded by Captain H. M. Knighton, a pioneer of 1845. Available records seem to indicate that Knighton, who was a mariner, was born in New England, which may have been the reason he first applied the name Plymouth to the new townsite. There is a tradition that this name was suggested by a prominent rock which Knighton found on the river, bank. It made a natural wharf. The name Plymouth appears in an advertisement in the Oregon Spectator, July 22, 1847. The Rev. George H. Atkinson mentions the little Plymouth community on June 18, 1848, and says there were but two people there. See OHQ, volume XL, page 180. Theodore Talbot calls the place New Plymouth in his Journals, page 88, on May 13, 1849, and mentions two houses. On August 25, 1849, Knighton signed a deed in which he refers to "Plymouth and now called Kasenau." This new name was in compliment to Chief Cassino, a prominent Indian who lived nearby. This name is spelled in many ways. For Omar C. Spencer's article about Chief Cassino, see OHQ, volume XXXIV, page 19. It is hard to determine the exact status of the name Kasenau mentioned by Knighton, because within a year he was using the name Plymouth for the post office. See below. Also on May 6, 1850, Knighton refers to "Casenau now called St. Helens" at the very time he was using the name Plymouth for his post office. In any event, the name of the place was changed to Saint Helens in the latter part of 1850, apparently because of the proximity of Mount Saint Helens, Washington. Saint Helens is advertised in the Oregon Spectator, November 28, 1850, as a terminus of a proposed railroad from Lafayette because of its deep water for ships. Vancouver named the mountain in honor of Baron Saint Helens (Alleyne Fitzherbert, 1753-1839), British ambassador to Spain in 1790-94, who negotiated the Nootka treaty in Madrid. For in-