Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/79

 au 19

County.be far froscovery, bthe name ect. As on Novenpost officekmi was also", Creek may be found in Scott's History of the Oregon Country, volume

III, page 336. It is generally thought that the discovery must have been on a tributary of either the John Day or Malheur River, though suggestions that the locality was near Steens Mountain and also Tygh Valley have also been advanced. Columns have been written on the subject. As far as the writer knows there is nothing to connect the name of the stream in Harney County with the gold discovery, but it is used to preserve the tradition, and may not be far from the true locality.

BLUEJOINT LAKE, Lake County. This is one of the lakes of the Warner Valley. It was named for the bluejoint grass that grows nearby in great profusion.

BLY, Klamath County. Bly was a word of the Klamath Indians meaning up or high. According to Captain 0. C. Applegate of Klamath Falls, it meant the old village up Sprague River from Yainax. White people appropriated the name and applied it to a town east of the Klamath Indian Reservation. A. S. Gatschet in his Dictionary of the Klamath Language (U. S. Geographical and Geological Survey, Washington, D. C., 1890) gives the word as p'lai, and says that it meant among other things the Sprague River Valley and sometimes simply the Sprague River as distinguished from the lower country along the Williamson River. P'laikni were people living high up, or along the upper reaches of Sprague River. Plaikni was also used to mean heavenly, or the Christian God. A post office called Sprague River was established in this vicinity on November 12, 1873, with John W. Gearhart first postmaster. The name of the office was changed to Bly January 31, 1883.

BLYBACH, Tillamook County. Blybach post office was on Nehalem River, about four or five miles east of what is now Mohler, about a half a mile east of the place later called Foss and just east of the E. H. Lindsey ranch. It was established September 5, 1892, and was named for the postmaster, Hattie Blybach. The office was closed March 5, 1896.

BOARDMAN, Morrow County. Boardman is a station on the Union Pacific Railroad not far from the Columbia River. It was named for Sam Boardman, a well-known resident of Oregon. Boardman has an elevation of 250 feet. S. H. Boardman was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, and for some years followed the construction and engineering business. In 1903, while stationed at Leadville, Colorado, he became interested in the Pacific Northwest and came to Oregon. He got a job with A. M. Drake at Bend, but on the way to central Oregon, he ran into smallpox at Shaniko, and lost interest in the Deschutes country. He returned to Portland. In the same year he filed on a homestead where the town of Boardman is now situated. For thirteen years Sam and Mrs. Boardman snuffed sand and worked to develop irrigated land. At odd times he was engaged in railroad and highway construction and Mrs. Boardman taught school to help with the expenses. The town was platted in 1916. S. H. Boardman was continually interested in the phenomena of nature. and as a result of employment by the Oregon State Highway Department about 1916, he put his attention to roadside improvement and state park development. He has been engaged in this activity for many years and the splendid results of his work are too well known to require comment. Boaz MOUNTAIN, Jackson County. Boaz Mountain, elevation about 3500 feet, is in the south part of township 39 south, range 3 west. It was named for Kinder Boaz who homesteaded nearby in 1876. The name is sometimes spelled Boaze in official records.