''Oregon Geographic Names'' is a compilation of the origin and meaning of

place names Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper nam ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, published by the

Oregon Historical Society The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) is an organization that encourages and promotes the study and understanding of the history of the State of Oregon, within the broader context of U.S. history. Incorporated in 1898, the Society collects, pres ...

. The book was originally published in 1928. It was compiled and edited by Lewis A. McArthur. , the book is in its seventh edition, which was compiled and edited by Lewis L. McArthur (who died in 2018).

Content

In its introduction, it identifies six periods in the history of the state which have contributed to the establishment of local names: * The thousands of years of Native American life; * The period of Spanish,

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

, French and early American exploration, with arrivals by sea and overland, exemplified by the activities of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

and the

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...

; * The pioneer period, up to and particularly including the days of the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...

; * The period of

Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, was a conflict initially fought by European colonial empires, the United States, and briefly the Confederate States of America and Republic of Texas agains ...

and mining claims inspired by the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

and later facilitated by the Mining Act of 1872; * The period of

homesteading Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is characterized by subsistence agriculture, home preservation of food, and may also involve the small scale production of textiles, clothing, and craft work for household use or sale. H ...

between 1875 and 1925, which affected nine million acres (36,000 km²); and * The modern period of

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

s The seventh edition contains 6,252 entries, with references to another 2,679 names scattered throughout the text. Entries are listed in alphabetical order, beginning with ''A B Crossing'', a railroad station in Coos County, and ending with '' Zwagg Island'', an island near

Brookings, Oregon Brookings is a city in Curry County, Oregon, Curry County, Oregon, United States. It was named after John E. Brookings, president of the Brookings Lumber & Box Company, who founded the city in 1908. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 censu ...

Edition history

The first three editions were edited by Lewis A. McArthur and published by

Binford & Mort Binford & Mort Publishing is a book publishing company located in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1930, the company was previously known as Metropolitan Press and Binfords & Mort. At one time they were the largest book publisher in th ...

; Lewis L. McArthur took over from his father as of the fourth (1974) edition, which was the first to be published by the

Press. The seventh edition also includes a

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

with a complete biographic and geographic index as well as various maps of Oregon locations. Lewis L. McArthur died in 2018. His daughter, Mary McArthur, reportedly took over editorship for the book's upcoming 8th edition. According to Champ Vaughan, past president of the Oregon Geographic Names Board, no other state has a book quite like it.

Bibliography

Notes

References

{{reflist, 30em Geography of Oregon Atlases 1928 establishments in Oregon