Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/572



named for a mining claim nearby which was located by some Portland men. Silver Lake, Lake County. Silver Lake is about six miles east of Silver Lake town. It formerly had an area of about 20 square miles, but is now quite dry. The lake apparently bears a descriptive name, but it is not known who first applied it. Residents of central Oregon attribute the name to John C. Fremont, but the compiler cannot find that Fremont had anything to do with it, and certainly did not see or name Silver Lake on his first trip into Oregon in 1843. The Klamath Indian name for Silver Lake was Kalpshi. This appears to have been derived from the word kalapsh, meaning a decayed log, and was used because of the presence of petrified wood near the lake.

SILVER LAKE, Lake County. Silver Lake post office was established on December 9, 1875. It was first in the home of G. C. Duncan at a point considerably east of the present site of the town of Silver Lake. Duncan was the first postmaster. The office was discontinued in March, 1880, and reestablished in July, 1882, at the ranch of C. P. Marshall one and one-half miles west of where the town now stands. The most important happening in the history of the community was a fire which occurred on December 24, 1894, in which 43 people lost their lives in the burning of one building. Silver Lake town was named for Silver Lake, six miles to the east. See under that heading. Silver Lake town has an elevation of 4345 feet. For history of the community, see History of Central Oregon, pages 853-57. Silver Point, Clatsop County. Silver Point is sometimes erroneously referred to as Sylvan Point. This small promontory on Cannon Beach was called Silver Point because of the characteristic color of the weathered spruce trees on its face. The land adjacent to the point was platted and recorded as Silver Point Cliff on April 21, 1894. On February 16, 1898, Sylvan Park was platted and recorded a half a mile north of Silver Point. In 1929 Rodney L. Glisan, long familiar with the geography of this part of Oregon, recommended that the name Silver Point be adopted, and this style was also favored by the compiler of these notes. On December 4, 1929, the USBGN adopted the name Silver Point rather than Sylvan Point. Silver WELLS, Crook County. The compiler has had an inquiry for the history of the place called Silver Wells. A post office with this name was established on the Wasco County list August 16, 1878, with Joseph J. Brown postmaster. The office was finally closed in 1881. It was on Camp Creek south of the east end of Maury Mountains. The name is intended to be descriptive, probably of the white sand near the wells.

SILVERTON, Marion County. Silverton took its name from the fact that it is situated on Silver Creek. The early history of the community is given in Down's A History of the Silverton Country, page 223. The first settlement was at a locality called Milford, where James Smith and John Barger established a sawmill about 1846. This was about two miles up stream from the present site of Silverton. Down says that the town of Silverton itself dates from 1854, but that the name did not come into use until the following year. Various milling and mercantile establishments along Silver Creek as far south as Milford were finally concentrated in Silverton, the other locations being abandoned. The name Bargerville was suggested for the new community in honor of John Barger, a nearby