Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/560



SEAL Rocks, Lincoln County. These form a ledge of partly submerged rocks extending parallel to the coast for about two miles and a half and a distance of half a mile from the beach. The highest rock rises about twenty feet above water. The Coast Pilot uses the name Seal Rocks, and that was the style used in pioneer days for the locality along the shore about ten miles south of Newport. There is one large rock at the shoreline and several smaller ones. The place was called Seal Illahe, Chinook jargon for seal place or seal home. The post office, which is on the Oregon Coast Highway, is named for the rocks, but is called Seal Rock. This form of name is not completely descriptive and seems to refer only to the large rock at the shoreline. The post office was established April 25, 1890, with J. W. Brasfield postmaster. In those days the rocks were well covered with seals and sealions.

SEASIDE, Clatsop County. Silas B. Smith, in OHQ, volume I, page 321, says that the Clatsop Indian village at the site of what is now Seaside was called Ve-co-tat. The name Seaside came from Ben Holladay's famous hostelry and resort, the Seaside House. The first post office in the locality seems to have been Summer House, established December 1, 1871, with A. J. Clontire first postmaster. The name was changed to Seaside House on July 23, 1873, with Charles H. Dexter postmaster. The name was changed to Seaside on March 29, 1882. The old Seaside House was about a mile south of the present business section of Seaside. Seaside was at one time divided into two municipalities, east and west of the Necanicum, but they are now consolidated. Lewis and Clark sent a detail of men who established a salt-making cairn at the present site of Seaside about January 1, 1806. This site is now in possession of the Oregon Historical Society. For a description of the cairn in 1899, see the Oregonian, August 19, 1899, page 8. For narrative of Lewis and Clark expedition to the salt cairn, by L. B. Cox, ibid., June 17, 1900, page 8.

SEATON, Lane County. Seaton was an early-day post office in western Lane County, a little to the north of what was later Mapleton. Seaton office was established November 13, 1885, with William W. Neely first postmaster. The name Seaton was suggested by a Mr. Anthony, in compliment to a place in England called Seaton. There are several places in England called Seaton and the compiler has no means of knowing which one Mr. Anthony had in mind in 1885. Mrs. Julia A. Bean was appointed postmaster at Seaton April 1, 1889, and the name of the office was changed to Mapleton on March 26, 1896. It is believed that the office was moved to the present site of Mapleton in 1889, seven years before the name was changed.

SECOND LAKE, Linn County. Second Lake is the name applied to the second of a series of four lakes on the east bank of Willamette River northeast of Albany, and it is so named because of the position it occupies.

SEEKSEEKWA CREEK, Jefferson County. Seekseekwa Creek is a tributary of Deschutes River and drains the south part of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. Indians have informed the compiler that the word is from the Piute language and means a variety of coarse rye grass that grows near the stream. The spelling Psuc-see-que is used in Pacific Railroad Surveys Reports, volume VI, and there are several other forms. The USBGN has adopted Seekseekwa, which is probably the best of the lot.