Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/577



digmirat this poinlar insect. The as the etymo Lake on je first white settlers in the vicinity and operated a rived shingle camp. Skeeters was one of the party that discovered Crater Lake on June 12, 1853. The name Skeeter Flat is wrong, as the etymology has nothing to do with the unpopular insect. The Forest Service maintains a guard station at this point called Mosquito Guard Station which seems to carry dignity a little too far.

SKELL HEAD, Crater Lake National Park, Klamath County. A point on the east shore of Crater Lake named by Will G. Steel in 1908 for a Klamath Indian deity of the plains, represented by the marten.

SKELLEY, Douglas County, See under KELLEHER.

SKINNER BUTTE, Lane County. This butte is between the main business section of Eugene and Willamette River and has an elevation of 681 feet. It was named for Eugene F. Skinner, who settled at its foot in 1846. For references to Eugene F. Skinner and his family, see under the heading EUGENE. The University of Oregon at one time maintained an observatory near the east end of the top of this butte.

SKIPANON RIVER, Clatsop County. Lewis and Clark called this stream Skipanarwin Creek on their charts, and for a century most maps used that form and Skeppernawin Creek. These spellings did not lend themselves to easy use, and for many years the stream has been locally known as Skipanon, a fact that the USBGN finally took notice of, and included in a decision: Skipanon Creek. Subsequently (April 1, 1925) the decision was changed to Skipanon River, which fits the universal Oregon use. Preston's map of 1856 uses the form Skippenon Cr. There is a station named Skipanon on the railroad south of Warrenton. Skipanon was originally known as Lexington. Lexington was surveyed in 1848 by W. Hall and the plat recorded April 19, 1854. It was part of the Jeremiah G. Fuller donation land claim. The place was also known as Upper Landing. Silas B. Smith is authority for the statement that the Clatsop Indian name Skippernawin referred to a point at the mouth of the stream rather than to the stream itself, OHQ, volume I, page 321. See under WARRENTON. Lexington post office was established November 28, 1850, with David E. Pease first postmaster. It was discontinued February 24, 1853. It was in operation again with other postmasters from April, 1856, to September, 1857. Skipanon post office was in service from August, 1871, to April, 1903.

SKOOKUM LAKE, Clackamas County. This small lake on the north slope of Thunder Mountain drains into Fish Creek, a tributary of Clackamas River. It is named with the Chinook jargon word which originally meant a strong or powerful malign deity, and later came to mean simply strong or stout. When used in connection with localities, the word skookum generally indicated a place inhabited by a skookum, or evil god of the woods. It sometimes meant a place used as a burial ground. There are several geographic features in Oregon described with this name. Indians avoided skookum places and considered them haunted. A Skookum Chuck did not mean a strong, swift stream, but a place to stay away from. The modern meaning of the word skookum is quite different from the earlier connotation. In contradistinction to a skookum, a hehe was a good spirit and a Hehe Chuck was a fine place for games, races and other sports and festivities.

SKOOKUMHOUSE BUTTE, Curry County. Indians near the mouth of Rogue River built a fort or stockade on the south bank of the stream