Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/589

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SPRING Hill, Benton County. Spring Hill is a prominent landmark west of the old wagon road between Albany and Independence. It has several tops, the highest 519 feet in elevation. A fine spring fed a water trough by the roadside, and for many years travelers pulled up their tired horses for a drink.

SPRING VALLEY, Polk County. Spring Valley is in the northeast corner of the county, between the Eola Hills and Willamette River, and has been so called since pioneer days. The name is descriptive. Spring Valley post office was established March 5, 1852, with Sanford Watson postmaster. Solomon Allen became postmaster November 30, 1854. When. Watson was postmaster, the office was at his home on the extreme west edge of the valley in the north part of section 26, township 6 south, range 4 west. When Allen became postmaster, he moved the office to his home near the middle of section 33, township 5 south, range 4 west, about two miles southeast of Amity and a considerable distance from Spring Valley. The office was closed on September 1, 1855. See under

VALFONTIS.

SPRING VALLEY, Wheeler County. A post office with the descriptive name Spring Valley was established on the Wasco County list February 28, 1876, with Henry H. Wheeler first and only postmaster. The office was discontinued April 14, 1880. Old maps show the place in the extreme northeast corner of what is now Wheeler County, on the south bank of John Day River between Spray and Kimberly. H. H. Wheeler, for whom Wheeler County was named, was a prominent pioneer character of the John Day country. His biography appears in History of Central Oregon, page 688. In 1864 he started the stagecoach service between The Dalles and the newly discovered mining area near Canyon City. In the early '70s he located in the John Day Valley where he was associated with French Brothers in the stock business at the place called Spring Valley. About 1880 he bought property at a point six miles northwest of Mitchell, where he lived until he sold out in 1904 and retired to Mitchell, where he died in 1915.

SPRINGBROOK, Yamhill County. Springbrook was for several years called Hoskins, for Cyrus E. Hoskins, a pioneer settler. When the post office was established June 30, 1893, it was impossible to use the name Hoskins because of confusion with a place of the same name in Benton County. Hoskins' farm was known as Springbrook and the name of the community was therefore changed to Springbrook. Hoskins was one of the pioneer horticulturists of the state.

SPRINGFIELD, Lane County. Springfield appears to have been named from a natural spring, which sent up its water in a prairie or open field. In the early '50s the spring and the land near it were fenced off, and the place came to be known by its present name. Elias Briggs was the first settler there in 1849. During many years he ran a ferry on the Willamette River. The town is described in the Oregonian, April 23, 1903; also ibid., September 4, 1867, by Preston W. Gillette. Springfield post office was established May 15, 1868, with Albert G. Hovey first postmaster.

SPRINGVILLE, Multnomah County. The following note by Leslie M. Scott in Scott's History of the Oregon Country, volume II, page 328, is a good summary of the history of Springville: "Springville was south of Linnton, one mile, and north of Portland, six miles, at the place known (1922) as Claremont. At that place C. B. Comstock and Lafayet