Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/662

 tary of East Fork Coquille River about one mile east of Gravelford. It was named for a pioneer family of the Coquille Valley.

WELCHES, Clackamas County. Welches was named for Samuel Welch, who took up a homestead nearby in 1882. The post office was established in 1905.

WELLEN, Jackson County. Wellen is the neighborhood of the home of H. von der Hellen. He named it for the estate of his ancestors in Germany.

WELL SPRING, Morrow County. Well Spring has been well known since the days of the immigrations. It is south of Boardman and close to Juniper Canyon, and the exact location may be found on the USGS map of the Blalock Island quadrangle. Well Spring is mentioned in several early journals written on the Oregon Trail, and was probably named because it was enlarged into a well. The compiler has been unable to associate the name of anybody called Wells with the spring.

WELLS, Benton County. Wells was named for a man locally known as "Red" Wells, who owned a donation land claim nearby in pioneer days. Wells post office was established February 24, 1880, with James Gingles first postmaster. The railroad station was put in service about the same time, but some years later the name of the station was changed to Wellsdale to avoid confusion with another Wells on the Southern Pacific railroad. Wells post office was continued with that name until February, 1936, when it was closed to Corvallis. The station name is still Wellsdale as of 1946.

WEMME, Clackamas County. Wemme is a place on the Mount Hood Loop Highway about four miles west of Rhododendron, named for a public spirited citizen of Portland, E. Henry Wemme, who was instrumental in getting the Barlow Road into the possession of the State of Oregon. This road was for many years a toll road, but in 1912 Wemme bought it for $5400. After making a number of desirable improvements, Wemme died, but not before making arrangements to bequeath the road to the public. It is now incorporated in part in the Mount Hood Loop Highway. Wemme post office was established June 21, 1916, with Leonard A. Wrenn first postmaster.

WENAHA RIVER, Wallowa County. This stream is also called Salmon River, but that name is unsatisfactory because of the more important Salmon River nearby in Idaho. J. H. Horner of Enterprise informed the compiler that the name Wenaha is derived from the Indian family or sub-tribe name Wenak, with a ha added to indicate the land governed by the sub-chief Wenak. See under IMNAHA.

WENAKA, Wallowa County. This place was to have been called Wenaha, but postal authorities at Washington mistook the spelling and changed the "h" to "k."

WENDLING, Lane County. Wendling was named for Geo. X. Wendling, a prominent Pacific Coast lumberman and at one time a director of The Booth-Kelly Lumber Company. The post office was established in 1899 and the first postmaster was Geo. H. Kelly.

WENDSON, Lane County. Wendson is a railroad station northeast of Cushman. The name was condensed from that of the WendlingJohnson Lumber Company

WESLEY, Benton County. Wesley got its name from the given name of the first postmaster, Wesley C. Keeton. The office was established in