Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/394

328 Sherar took a party to the mines in 1862. The post office of Bakeoven was established December 1, 1875, with Mrs. Ellen Burgess first postmaster. It was discontinued October 30, 1913.

, Baker County. Baker was originally known as Baker City and it was, of course, named for Baker County. The post office was first established on March 27, 1866, with William F. McCrary as postmaster. In 1911 the name of the post office was changed to Baker to conform to the new style adopted by the incorporated community. For complete information about the origin of the name see the information under and also an editorial in The Oregonian, November 13, 1925, page 14.

Auburn was originally the principal metropolis in Baker County and was situated about 6 miles westerly from the present site Baker. There is nothing left on modern maps to recall the location of the mining camp of Auburn, except the Auburn Ditch now used for irrigation purposes.

. Baker County was created September 22, 1862, by the state legislature (General Laws of 1862, page 112). It was made from the eastern part of Wasco County. It was named for Edward Dickinson Baker (1808-61) who was elected United States senator from Oregon in 1860. He was killed at Balls Bluff. His biography appears in The Oregonian January 15, 1875, by Tom Merry; May 31, 1908, by Clark E. Carr; January 19, 1896. He first came to Oregon in December, 1859, and, in the following February, moved his family to Oregon. For the narrative of his death, ibid., July 16, 1893, page 4; January 7, 1892; June 1, 1895, page 9; April 25, 1878, page 4; October 21, 1906, page 49; tribute to his strong oratorical power, ibid., April 5, 1899, page 3, by P. B. Johnson; reminiscences of Baker, by George H. Williams, ibid., July 29, 1906, page 41; Baker's speech in Union Square, New York, in April, 1861, ibid., May