The 2005

Co-Hosted by
The Oregon Geographic Names Board
and
The Oregon Historical Society
Dr. John C. Pierce, Executive Secretary

Mr. Lewis L. McArthur, Conference Chairman
Ms. Cynthia B. Gardiner & Ms. Mary McArthur, Assistant Chairs

Conference Theme
“the three C’s of GNIS:  Current, Complete, and Correct”

Download & Print the 2005 Final Report

Conference Program

NOTE: As you scroll through the program please notice that some text is underlined meaning that it is linked to a downloadable pdf file or the PowerPoint presentation. If you are using a dial-up connection, the download time can take several minutes.

 Monday, October 10
(Meet at Hilton Hotel Main Lobby at 8:45 am)
 (Optional Event)

9:00 am— 5:00 pm             Field Trip to Mt Hood and Columbia River Gorge (Includes lunch at
                                       Timberline Lodge)

Tuesday, October 11
Hilton Executive Tower — Salons I & II

1:00 — 5:00 pm                 Registration 

1:30—3:30 pm                   Oregon Geographic Names Board 2005 Fall Meeting

5:00—7:00 pm                   Welcome Reception — State Senator Betsy Johnson

7:00 pm                           Dinner on your own

Wednesday, October 12
University Club — Fireside Room
1225 SW 6th

7:30 am                           Registration

8:30 am                           Conference Opening: Lewis L McArthur, COGNA 2005 Conference Chair

8:45 am                           COGNA Executive Committee Welcome
                                           T. Wayne Furr, COGNA Executive Secretary

9:00 am                           Opening Address:  “The Discovery and Naming of Offshore Oregon Coast and Undersea Features”
     Albert Theberge, Advisory Committee for Undersea Features of the US
     Board on Geographic Names

10:00 am                          Break

10:30 am                          Names on Maps — GNIS/Commercial Mapping Applications
    Stuart Allan, Allan Cartography, Benchmark Maps, Medford,
    Ken Kato, University of Oregon — Infographics Lab, Eugene,

Noon                                Lunch on your own

1:30--5 pm                        Board Meeting:  Domestic Names Committee of the US Board on
                                                               Geographic Names

5—7 pm                             Reception — Oregon Historical Society, 1230 SW Park Ave
                                                           “Lewis & Sacajawea” Choral

Thursday, October 13
Hilton Executive Tower — Salons I & 11

 
7:30 am                             Registration

8:30 — 12:00 pm                 State/Federal Roundtable

Noon                                 Lunch on your own

1:00—2:30 pm                     State/Federal Roundtable (continued)

2:30 pm                              Break

3:00 — 4:00 pm                   Squaw Name Replacement Update:
                                         Phil Cogswell, Sharon Nesbitt Oregon Geographic Names Board

4:00 — 5:30 pm                   COGNA Business Meeting

Friday, October 14
Hilton Executive Tower — Salons I & II

 
7:30                                      Registration

8:30 — 10:00 am                     Partnership with the National Map: Dwight Hughes, GNIS Programmer

l0:00—10:30am                       Break

10:30 — 12:00 pm                   US Forest Service GNIS Maintenance Program Betsy Kanalley

Noon                                     Lunch on your own

1:00—2:00 pm                        GNIS with State and Local GIS
                                                Cy Smith, State of Oregon GIS Coordinator
                                                Max Woodbury, Metro GIS
                                                Group Mackenzie, Architecture and Planning

2:00 — 3:00 pm                       GNIS Maintenance: Lewis L McArthur, Oregon Geographic Names Board

3:00—3:30 pm                         Break

3:30 — 4:00 pm                       Why is that Creek called a School?  Jane Messenger, Missouri Board on 
                                             Geographic Names

4:00 — 5:00 pm                       Toponymic Interest Groups and Small Breakout Sessions

6:00 pm                                  Banquet — Main Hilton Hotel — Pavilion Ballroom East
          Banquet address: History of the Ft Clatsop Replica
          Thomas Vaughan, former Executive Director Oregon Historical
          Society

 Saturday, October 15
Meet at Hilton Hotel Main Lobby at 8:15 am

Field Trip to Astoria — Following Lewis & Clark’s Footsteps

ON THE TRAIL OF LEWIS & CLARK
Cogna 2005 Toponymic Tour
Lewis McArthur, Field trip leader

Portland was named by a coin toss between Asa Lovejoy of Boston and Francis Pettygrove of Portland, Maine. Pettygrove won.

Willamette River. This is the longest river entirely in the state of Oregon and arguably the longest north flowing river in the lower 48 states. It takes its name from a place on the river near Oregon City called “Walampt.” In the middle 1800s there was considerable controversy over the spelling but when Wilkes used the form Willamette in 1841 it became the favorite. It was missed by Lewis & Clark in 1805 but Clark explored the lower reaches on the return trip. He called it the Mulknomah for a small group of Indians living on the east bank opposite Sauvie Island. The expedition's maps use the form Multnomah. The use of two names for the river below and above the falls did not persist.

Montgomery Park. This is on the high ground overlooking the.1905 Lewis & Clark Exposition. After we drop down to the flat, we will see what was Guild Lake on the right. It is now an important warehouse and distribution area.

Linnton. Linnton was laid out in 1843 by M  M  McCarver and Peter Burnett and named for Senator Lewis F Linn of Missouri, the father of the donation land claim law. Burnett was later the first governor of California.

Multnomah Channel. This waterway separates Sauvie Island from the mainland. Broughton named it Calls River, Lewis & Clark Wapato Inlet and Wilkes Warrior Branch. For a long time it was Willamette Slough but locals and commercial interests had the name changed to Multnomah Channel.

Sauvie Island. Named for Laurent Sauve, a Canadian employee of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s dairy farm on the island. Lewis & Clark called it Wapato Island and Wilkes Multnomah Island.

Fort William. This is the approximate location of Nathaniel Wyeth’s 1834-5 trading post established to compete with the Hudson’s Bay Company. He was not successful. Why Wyeth selected the name is unknown. Fort William Bend is on the Sauvie Island side of the river.

Scappoose. This community was founded in the early 1870s. It is an Indian word meaning gravelly plain.

Saint Helens. Founded in 1845 and named Plymouth, ostensibly for a prominent rock in the Columbia River. The founders had high hopes that its deep water port would become the major shipping point on the river. About 1850 the name changed to Saint Helens for the mountain in Washington. Vancouver named Mount Saint Helens for Baron Saint Helens, British Ambassador to Spain who negotiated the Nootka Treaty in Madrid.

Deer Island. The island was named by Lewis & Clark. It is separated from the mainland by Deer Island Slough.

Goble. Daniel Goble settled here in 1853. From 1884 until the Columbia River railroad bridge was built in 1907 Gable was the southern terminus for the train ferry on the Portland Seattle line.

Trojan. This is the location of Portland General Electric’s decommissioned nuclear generating plant, It is not named for the mighty power of the atom but for a 1920s railroad station serving the Trojan Powder Company.

Rainier. Eminence post office was established here in 1851. The next year it was changed to Rainier for the mountain in Washington. Vancouver named Mount Rainier for Admiral Peter Rainier of the Royal Navy. There was a long time effort to change the name to Mount Tacoma, a rough approximation of the Indian name.

Here the highway leaves the river and climbs west to the headwaters of Beaver Creek, One of many in Oregon. We cut of f a large north loop in the river and thus miss.

Port Westward. This was the site of an important ammunition shipping point in World War It. It is now an electrical generating facility and the location of a proposed liquefied natural gas distribution point.

Clatskanie. Here Beaver Creek flows into the Clatskanie River. The Indian word here for a route of travel was “tiats-kani and Whites mistakenly applied it to the river and shifted it on to the community.

Marshland. This place was settled in 1862 by a man named Bryant. Skunk Cabbage Ridge is just above and Bryant thought the descriptive Marshland would be preferable.

Westport. John West, a Scot, settled here in 1850. He became a lumberman and cannery operator.

Wauna. Here is located a large paper mill. The community was established in the early 1900s and carries an Indian name for a mythological deity associated with the Columbia River. The name was first applied to a high bluff near Bonneville Dam east of Portland.

Columbia Crest. We leave the river and ascend a ridge with a descriptive name. At the summit is Bradley Wayside, a state park. The Bradley—Woodward Lumber Company had a large mill at Bradwood below on the river.

Hunt Creek. We cross this creek just west of Bradley Wayside. It is named for Henry Hunt who built the earliest sawmill on the lower Columbia in 1844 at Hunts Mill Point to the north.

Big Noise Creek. In the early logging days there was a sluice gate on this stream to control flow. The gate made an excessive noise and the creek is so name.

Knappa Junction. We miss the community of Knappa where Aaron Knapp resided in the 1870s.

Svensen. Svensen and Svensen Island in the Columbia River were named for early seafaring man Peter Svensen who settle nearby.

Fernhill. The community. post office and railroad station have used both one and two word forms. Fern Hill post office was established in 1879 but closed in 1881. Gernhill office opened in 1901 and lasted until 1922. Convoluted toponomy for such a small community.

Cathlamet Bay. This was the name of a small tribe of Indians who lived on both sides of the river. Cathlamet is the anglicized version of Kalama, Calt—har-mar or calamet.

John Day River. John Day was a member of the Astoria overland party led by Wilson Price Hunt. Day was Virginia backwoodsman of little distinction who had the misfortune to run afoul of Indians near the more important John Day River in central Oregon. John Day’s name somehow become applied to a variety of features while his companion, Ramsey Crooks, an important member of the Astor party has passed into near obscurity.

Tongue Point. This was the first interior geographic feature in Oregon named by whites. It was named by Lt William Broughton of Vancouver’s command on October 20, 1792. It has had a variety of uses beginning after World War I when a submarine base was authorized but never completed. During World War II it was the home of the Astoria Naval Air Station. Later it housed a Federal Job Corps Center and is now the focus of proposed industrial development.

Astoria. This was the first permanent American settlement on the Pacific Coast established in 1811 by the Astor enterprise, Pacific Fur Company. in 1847, it was the first post office on the Pacific Coast. The post was turned over to the British in 1813 and renamed Fort George. In 1818 it was returned nominally to the United States. The Hudson’s Bay Company maintained the post until 1825 when Sir George Simpson had John McLoughlin move the operation to present day Vancouver, Washington.

Coxcomb Hill. Overlooks Astoria from the south and is the site of the Astoria Column. donated by the Great Northern Railway in 1926. It was first known as the Astor Column but changed by time. Coxcomb hill is descriptive but the name is unknown.

Columbia River. Robert Gray entered the Columbia River on May 11, 1792 and named it for his ship Columbia Rediviva. It is the “Great River of the West” or “Oregon” mentioned by Carver.

Desdemona Sands. This shoal in the river is named for the bark Desdemona that grounded there in 1856.

Youngs Bay. William Broughton named Youngs River for Sur George Young of the royal navy. The bay’s name comes from the river.

Fort Clatsop. Named by Lewis & Clark.

Note: Since our visit to Fort Clatsop was a few days after it had burned, some photographs are from the 1992 trip.

Warrenton. We miss this community to the north. It was named for D. K. Warren.

Skipanon River. Lewis & Clark called this stream Skipanarwin. The meaning is not explained.

Camp Rilea. In 1927 this was a National Guard training post named Fort Clatsop. It was used by federal troops in World War II. It reverted to state of Oregon and was renamed in 1959 to honor Major General Thomas E Rilea.

Ocean Home Farm. This was the home of the Tagg family who operated summer facilities for vacationers. It is important to your pitchman as the McArthur family spent several summers here in he early 1920s.

Gearhart. An upscale beach—front community platted in 1890 as Gearhart Park and named for Philip Gearhart who settled on a dlc in 1850.

Neawanna Creek. This is the anglicized version of an Indian word whose meaning is unknown. There has been much controversy over the proper spelling.

Seaside. Nothing could be simpler. The name was given to Ben Holladay’s hotel, Seaside House, in 1873 and gradually applied to the growing community.

Tillamook Head. The name comes from the Killamook Indian Tribe. They were the ones Gray met in 1888 when he first landed on the Oregon Coast.

Clark’s Mountain. This is the high of Tillamook Head. Over the years there has been much controversy of what the Journals call “Clark’s Point of View.” There is no spot on the head where Clark’s description of the north and south vistas can both be seen so the assumption is that Clark was describing what he saw as he traversed the head. It is the fifth natural feature to contain the apostrophe.

Cannon Beach. So called because After the wreck of U S S Shark in 1846, a piece of the deck including a cannon washed up on the beach. Curiously, the actual landfall of the wreckage was some miles to the south.

Ecola State Park and Ecola Creek. This is near where William Clark came in 1806 to view the beached whale. The Indian word for whale was Ekoli. The stream flowing into the ocean on the north end of Cannon Beach was known for many years as Elk Creek.

Necanicum River. This is an Indian word with the initial “Ne” indicating place. One source says “a gap in the hills” another “an Indian village or lodge.” Clark called it Clatsop River.

Saddle Mountain. On the north. Wilkes gave it the descriptive name in 1841. Lewis & Clark mention but do not name it.

North Fork Nehalem River. Our first encounter with this important stream. More later.

Elsie. Named for Elsie Foster, a relative of the postmaster. Jewell. Named for Marshall Jewell, the second postmaster.

Nehalem River. Named for the Nehalem Indian tribe who lived near its mouth. It is the largest stream in the immediate area. We follow it upstream then turn east while it makes a huge loop to the north before we cross it at Timber Junction, many miles away. Its headwaters are south of us now where it also is running east before turning north to start the great circle.

We are passing through the area of the Tillamook Burn. A series of forest fires in the 1930s burned 400,000 acres of virgin timber. Much was cut and salvaged prior to and during World War II. In the 1950s, there was a major replanting program. Professionals and volunteers from civic organizations, Boy Scouts and others all contributed.

East of the last crossing of Nehalem River we come to the summit of the Coast Range and start the decent to the Tualatin Valley.

Staleys Junction. I have a personal interest. I spent many years in the steel building business and for a long time our major product was steel service stations. In the early 1950s I sold a building here to a man named Staley. His name is now affixed to the highway junction.

Manning. Named for Martin Manning, an early resident.

The Wilson River Highway from Tillamook comes in on our right. From here to Portland we travel the Sunset Corridor, home to Intel and numerous other hi-tech business. In the 1840s it was the choice land and was occupied by some of Oregon’s early pioneers. Now it is suburbia personifiee.

Sylvan. We leave the Tualatin drainage and drop down into Portland on what has long been called Canyon Road. A plank road was built up this canyon in 1849. This access to the farming community was an important factor in Portland’s development.
 

For additional information contact

COGNA 2005 Executive Committee

Mr. Lewis McArthur, Chairman
Ms. Cynthia Gardiner & Ms. Mary McArthur, Assistant Chairs
Mr. James R. Anderson, Past Chairman
Mr. T. Wayne Furr, COGNA Executive Secretary
Mr. Roger L. Payne, Executive Secretary, US-BGN
Mr. William Bright, Chairman Elect