Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/574



P. Sink who was born in Illinois June 2, 1847, and came west in 1876. He took up a homestead in Spanish Hollow in 1882.

SINKER MOUNTAIN, Lane County. Sinker Mountain, elevation 4752 feet, is the highest point on Alpine Ridge between Christy Creek and Fall Creek. George H. Kelly of Portland told the compiler that the peak received its name as the result of a camping experience of some hunters who were there forced to eat biscuits made with soda, popularly known as sinkers.

SINNOTT, Morrow County. Sinnott post office was established in the southwest corner of the county, on one of the headwaters of Rock Creek, and about six miles south of Hardman, on April 29, 1916. Scott H. Osborn was the first postmaster. Sinnott post office was discontinued effective February 28, 1918. Sinnott was named in compliment to Nicholas Sinnott of The Dalles, a representative in Congress from Oregon from 1913 to 1928, who doubtless assisted in getting the post office established. N. J. Sinnott was one of Oregon's most esteemed citizens. He was born at The Dalles December 6, 1870, and was graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1892. He was admitted to the bar and practiced law at The Dalles. He was a member of the Oregon state senate in 1909 and 1911. His service in Congress at Washington was brought to a close by an appointment to the United States Court of Claims. However, his term on the court was cut short by his death on July 20, 1929. Sisi BUTTE, Clackamas County. Sisi Butte, elevation 5614 feet, is a prominent point in the Cascade Range in the southern part of the county, just west of Lemiti Butte. Sisi is the Chinook jargon word for blanket or cloth. Gibbs gives the form pa'see-sie, but it is the same word. In 1927, Dee Wright, who was a walking encyclopedia about Cascade Range place names, told the compiler that he had never been able to get a good explanation as to why the name was applied to Sisi Butte, although Indians told him that it was correct.

SISKIYOU, Jackson County. The name Siskiyou as applied to a post office did not appear until April, 1895, well over a half a century after Hudson's Bay Company trappers had named the pass through the Siski. you Mountains. The compiler does not know the exact location of the first Siskiyou post office, which was in charge of Alice E. Ager, but for many years this office was near the Southern Pacific Company station Siskiyou at the northeast end of the Siskiyou tunnel and very close to the Pacific Highway. This post office was closed October 31, 1932. The compiler has been asked about where the golden spike was driven on completion of the Siskivou line of the Southern Pacific Company. In March, 1947, G. H. Kilborn, superintendent of the Southern Pacific Company's Shasta Division at Dunsmuir had a search made of the old records and reported that the golden spike was driven on December 17, 1887, at about 5:04 P. M. on the east side of the track at the south end of the Ashland yard at mileage 428:8. The spike was driven at survey station 1154 + 05. The driving of this spike completed the Siskiyou line of the Southern Pacific, SiSKiYOU MOUNTAINS, Jackson and Josephine counties. George Gibbs, in his Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon, 1863, gives the following version of the origin of this name: "Siskiyou. Cree. A bob. tailed horse. This name, ludicrously enough, has been bestowed on the range of mountains separating Oregon and California, and also