Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/74



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BIRCH GULCH, Wallowa County. Birch Gulch drains into Snake River in township 4 north, range 49 east. The place is named for the birch trees that grow there. These trees are probably the red birch, sometimes called the water birch, Betula fontinalis.

BIRD BUTTE, Clackamas and Wasco counties. This butte is in the Cascade Range, north of Frog Lake. It was named for George Bird, a forest ranger, who bled to death nearby as the result of an accident.

BIRDSEYE CREEK, Jackson County. This stream flows into Rogue River two miles south of the town of Rogue River. It was named for David Birdseye, a pioneer settler near its mouth.

BIRKENFELD, Columbia County. Anton Birkenfeld, a native of Germany, settled in the Nehalem Valley in 1886 and founded the community of Birkenfeld about 1910. The place was named for him.

BISHOP CREEK, Columbia County. This stream, tributary to Tide Creek from the southwest, is sometimes shown on maps as Bashop Creek. In 1943, Wales Wood of Saint Helens wrote that the correct spelling was Bishop. Wood got his information from James Anlicker of Goble, member of a pioneer family of Columbia County, who was conversant with the matter.

BISHOP MEADOWS, Wallowa County. These meadows are in township 3 north, range 42 east and were named for Oliver N. Bishop who settled in the middle Wallowa Valley in the '80s. He wintered stock on the meadows, as there was a good crop of wild hay there.

BISSELL, Clackamas County. In 1927 it was reported by old residents that this town was named for W. S. Bissell who was postmaster general of the United States from 1893 to 1895. Wilson Shannon Bissell was born in New London, New York, in 1847, and when appointed to the cabinet was a practicing lawyer at Buffalo, where he was a partner of Grover Cleveland. During his incumbency as postmaster general a number of improvements were made in the postal service, including a cut in transcontinental mail time, and the turning over to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing the work of printing postage stamps, previously done by private agencies. In 1902 he was made chancellor of the University of Buffalo, and died in 1903.

BITTER LICK, Jackson County. Bitter Lick is in the north part of the county about four miles northwest of Persist. The name is descriptive, and was given because of the strong taste of a fairly large spring. Bitterlick Creek, which took its name from the lick, flows southward into Elk Creek at a point close to Bitter Lick.

BLACHLY, Lane County. Blachly is three miles from Triangle Lake, a well-known place in the Coast Range. Residents of the neighborhood formerly received their mail at Franklin post office, now discontinued. The office at Blachly was established June 27, 1892, and named for William Blachly, a local resident. William Blachly was born in Illinois in tas na Becau 026 ve SATELE thank chem Pi 2. The mon posterio to 3117224 1934. See the Oregonian, February 19, 1934, page 8.

BLACK BUTTE, Deschutes and Jefferson counties. This imposing butte is one of the most important landmarks in the Deschutes Valley, not only on account of its characteristic dark color, but also on account of its symmetry. It stands well apart from the peaks of the Cascade Range, and has an elevation of 6415 feet, with a Forest Service lookout at the summit, which is in Jefferson County. From its north base flows the Metolius River, full bodied from a giant spring. It is not known who named Black *19