Mount Adams, Washington
Named after the 2nd President of the United States, John Adams.
Native American legends abound with descriptions of the
brothers Wy'east (Hood) and Pahto (Adams) battling
for the fair La-wa-la-clough (St. Helens).
-- Excerpt from:
Scott, et.al., 1997,
Geologic History of Mount Hood
Volcano, Oregon --
A Field-Trip Guidebook: USGS Open-File Report 97-263
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Northwest Indians told early explorers about the
fiery Mount St. Helens. In
fact, an Indian name for the mountain,
Louwala-Clough, means "smoking mountain".
According to one legend, the mountain was once a beautiful maiden,
"Loowit". When two sons of the Great Spirit "Sahale" fell in love with
her, she could not choose between them. The two braves, Wyeast
and Klickitat fought over her, burying villages and
forests in the process. Sahale was
furious. He smote the three lovers and erected a
mighty mountain peak where
each fell. Because Loowit was beautiful,
her mountain (Mount St. Helens) was a
beautiful, symmetrical cone of dazzling white.
Wyeast (Mount Hood)
lifts his head in pride, but Klickitat (Mount Adams)
wept to see the beautiful
maiden wrapped in snow, so he bends his
head as he gazes on St. Helens.
-- Excerpt from:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Gifford Pinchot National Forest
"Mount St. Helens" Brochure, 1980
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Both St. Helens and Hood
got their "English" names long before Adams,
whose name survives
from an 1839 scheme by Hall J. Kelly to make
the Cascades the Presidential Range.
He was inspired, according to Cheryl,
by Lewis and Clark's naming Mount Jefferson
in Oregon after the
president who supported their journey
across the continent. Kelly, however,
intended the name Adams to go to Mount Hood -- he left the
mountain in Washington out of the plan
entirely. And the person who mapped the
mountains mixed up Kelly's names and also put the name
Mount Adams 40 miles in the wrong direction --
where there happened to be a mountain ready to bear the name.
The Native Americans, of
course, knew it was there all along --
they called the mountain Pahtoe.
"Mount Adams" stuck firmly after 1853,
when the Pacific Railroad Expedition put the
name on their map. As for the grand Presidential Range
scheme -- well, Cheryl said, "very few of the names took."
-- Excerpt from:
Klickitat County Public Utility District Website, 2002,
Jeanie Senior interview with U.S. Forest Service archaeologist Cheryl
Mack, Mount Adams Ranger Station, Trout Lake, Washington
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Mount Baker, Washington
In 1791, the renowned British explorer
George Vancouver left England. His mission was to survey
the northwest coast of
America. After sailing around the Cape of Good Hope and
wintering in the Hawaiian Islands, Vancouver and his
crew reached the Pacific
Northwest coast in 1792. While anchored in Dungeness Bay
on the south shore of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, third
lieutenant Joseph Baker
made an observation which Vancouver recorded in his journal:
"About this time a very high conspicuous craggy mountain ...
presented itself, towering above the clouds: as low down as
they allowed it to
be visible it was covered with snow; and south of it,
was a long ridge of very rugged snowy mountains, much less
elevated, which seemed to
stretch to a considerable distance ... the high
distant land formed, as already observed,
like detached islands, amongst which the lofty
mountain, discovered in the afternoon by the
third lieutenant, and in compliment to him called by
me Mount Baker, rose a very conspicuous
object ... apparently at a very remote distance."
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-- Excerpt from:
U.S. National Park Service, North Cascades National Park Website, 2002
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Mount Bailey, Oregon
Mount Bailey, (Diamond Lake Ranger District; Umpqua National Forest) While the current name is not of Native American origin, (actually, this
mountain was originally know as Old Baldy, and was probably mistakenly wrote down as Old Bailey), this mountain was known as Youxlokes to
the Klamath, which meant "Medicine Mountain". According to legend, medicine men and priests often feasted on the summit and communed with
the upper world.
-- Excerpt from:
U.S. Forest Service, Umpqua National Forest Website,
2002
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Belknap Shield Volcano, Oregon
The name Belknap refers to early settlers along the
McKenzie River. R.S. Belknap developed Belknap Springs and his
son, J.H. Belknap, was involved in the toll road over the McKenzie
Pass in the early 1870s.
-- Excerpt from:
Oregon Department of Transportation Website, 2002
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Crater Lake, Oregon
(Also see Mount Mazama below)
In the spring of 1853, eleven miners from Yreka, California stopped in for
supplies at Isaac Skeeter's mercantile store in Jacksonville, Oregon
(approximately 90 miles south of Crater Lake). They began bragging that they
knew how to find the legendary "Lost Cabin" gold mine. Skeeters quickly
gathered up ten other Oregonians and set out, using the information overheard
in his store. The trip was financed by John Wesley Hillman, a 21 year old who
had recently returned home from a successful trip to the California goldfields.
On June 12, three members from this party came upon a large body of water
sitting in a huge depression. Hillman exclaimed that it was the bluest water he
had ever seen. Skeeters suggested the name "Deep Blue Lake." Lack of
provisions soon drove the miners down the mountains and back to Jacksonville
where they reported the discovery of the lake. However, without the prospects
of gold and fear of the unknown region to the north, there was no interest in
confirming this discovery. It was soon forgotten.
In 1862, another party of Oregon prospectors explored this area of the Cascade Range, including Crater
Lake. The leader, Chauncy Nye, subsequently wrote a short article for the Jacksonville Oregon Sentinel.
His article stated, "The waters were of a deeply blue color causing us to name it Blue Lake". This piece is
the first published description of the lake.
Hostilities between settlers and Native Americans developed in the area. In response,
the U.S. Army
established Fort Klamath seven miles southeast of the present park boundary in 1863. This led to the
construction of a wagon road from Prospect in the Rogue River Valley to the newly established Fort
Klamath. On August 1, 1865, the lake was "rediscovered" by two hunters attached to the road crews.
Several soldiers and civilians journeyed to see the now-legendary lake. One of the participants, Sergeant
Orsen Stearns, was so awestruck by what he saw that he climbed down into the caldera and became the
first non- Native American to reach the shore of Crater Lake. Captain F. B. Sprague soon joined him and
suggested the name "Lake Majesty."
In July, 1869, newspaper editor Jim Sutton and several others decided to visit Lake Majesty and explore it
by boat. By August, a canvas boat had been constructed and lowered onto the lake. Five people reached
Wizard Island and spent several hours exploring the cinder cone. Sutton wrote an article describing the trip
for his Jacksonville newspaper. Instead of Lake Majesty, Sutton substituted the name "Crater Lake" for the
crater on top of Wizard Island.
William Gladstone Steel devoted his life and fortune to the establishment and
management of Crater Lake National Park. His preoccupation with the lake began in
1870. In his efforts to bring recognition to the park, he participated in lake surveys that
provided scientific support. He named many of the lake's landmarks, including Wizard
Island, Llao Rock, and Skell Head. Steel's dream was realized on May 22, 1902 when
President Theodore Roosevelt signed the bill giving Crater Lake national park status.
And because of Steel's involvement, Crater Lake Lodge was opened in 1915 and the
Rim Drive was completed in 1918.
-- Excerpts from:
U.S. National Park Service,
Crater Lake National Park Website, June 2001
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Glacier Peak, Washington
The stunning snow-capped volcanoes of Washington State
have long been recognized by Native Americans in
their language and legends, and they immediately caught
the eyes of U.S. and European explorers in the late
18th and early 19th centuries. By the 1790s, Mounts Baker,
Rainier, and St. Helens were noted and named in
the first written descriptions of the Columbia River
and Puget Sound regions. In 1805 Lewis and Clark noted
Mount Adams. By the mid-19th century each of these
four volcanoes had their place on a published map.
Glacier Peak wasn't known by settlers to be a volcano
until the 1850s, when Native Americans mentioned to
naturalist George Gibbs that "another smaller peak
to the north of Mount Rainier once smoked." Not until 1898
did Glacier Peak appear on a published map
under its current name.
-- Excerpt from:
Mastin and Waitt, 2000,
Glacier Peak -- History and Hazards of a Cascade Volcano:
U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet058-00
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Mount Hood, Oregon
Native American legends abound with descriptions of the
brothers Wy'east (Hood) and Pahto (Adams) battling
for the fair La-wa-la-clough (St. Helens).
-- Excerpt from:
Scott, et.al., 1997,
Geologic History of Mount Hood
Volcano, Oregon --
A Field-Trip Guidebook: USGS Open-File Report 97-263
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Northwest Indians told early explorers about the
fiery Mount St. Helens. In
fact, an Indian name for the mountain,
Louwala-Clough, means "smoking mountain".
According to one legend, the mountain was once a beautiful maiden,
"Loowit". When two sons of the Great Spirit "Sahale" fell in love with
her, she could not choose between them. The two braves, Wyeast
and Klickitat fought over her, burying villages and
forests in the process. Sahale was
furious. He smote the three lovers and erected a
mighty mountain peak where
each fell. Because Loowit was beautiful,
her mountain (Mount St. Helens) was a
beautiful, symmetrical cone of dazzling white.
Wyeast (Mount Hood)
lifts his head in pride, but Klickitat (Mount Adams)
wept to see the beautiful
maiden wrapped in snow, so he bends his
head as he gazes on St. Helens.
-- Excerpt from:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Gifford Pinchot National Forest
"Mount St. Helens" Brochure, 1980
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Mount Hood, 3,426 meters (11,245 feet) high,
is the fourth highest peak in the Cascades and the highest in Oregon.
It was named after a British admiral and first described in 1792 by William Broughton,
member of an expedition under command of Captain George Vancouver (Broughton,
1929).
The first geologic reconnaissance primarily described the existing glaciers (Hague, 1871).
-- Excerpt from:
Swanson, et.al., 1989, IGC Field Trip T106:
Cenozoic Volcanism in the Cascade Range and Columbia Plateau,
Southern Washington and Northernmost Oregon:
American Geophysical Union Field Trip Guidebook T106
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Mount Jefferson, Oregon
Named by Lewis & Clark in 1806, after President Thomas Jefferson,
who authorized their expedition.
March 30, 1806 -
From a point near the mouth of the Willamette River,
Lewis and Clark named Mount Jefferson.
-- Excerpt from:
U.S. Forest Service, Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests Website, 2002
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Lassen Peak, California
History here generally describes the period from 1840,
even though Jedediah Smith passed through in 1828 on his overland trek to the West Coast.
California's gold rush brought the first settlers.
Two pioneer trails, developed by William Nobles and Peter Lassen, are associated with the park.
In 1851, Nobles discovered an alternate route to California, passing through Lassen.
Sections of the Lassen and Nobles Emigrant Trail are still
visible. Lassen, for whom the park is named, guided settlers near here and tried to
establish a city. Mining, power development projects,
ranching, and timbering were all attempted.
The area's early federal protection saved it from heavy logging.
-- Excerpt from:
U.S. National Park Service Website - Lassen Volcanic National Park, December 2000
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Mount Mazama, Oregon
(See Crater Lake above)
From the unabridged Webster's dictionary:
From mazame (see mazama) from Nahuatl "mazatl" (deer)
"A name applied by early writers to various
American ruminants supposed to be the Rocky Mountain Goat."
The club founders thought that the strongest climber in the mountains
(the goat) was an appropriate symbol. The southern Oregon
mountain that collapsed and became Crater Lake (Mt. Mazama)
was named for the club.
-- Excerpt from:
Mazamas FAQ, Mazamas Website, 2002
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Mount McLoughlin, Oregon
John McLoughlin was one of the most influential
figures of the fur trade and settlement periods
of Pacific Northwest history. Chief Factor of
the Columbia District of the British Hudson's
Bay Company, he reigned as a benevolent autocrat,
befriended Americans, and eventually became an
American citizen at Oregon City. ...
John McLoughlin has been honored in many ways for the role
he played in Oregon's early history. In 1905 the Oregon
Legislative Assembly renamed the 9,495 foot Mount Pitt in
southern Oregon to Mount McLoughlin. The United States
Board of Geographic Names recognized that change in 1912.
-- Excerpts from:
Oregon State Archives, 50th Anniversary Exhibit Website, John McLoughlin: Father of Oregon,
June, 2001
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Newberry Caldera, Oregon
Newberry Crater is named for Dr. John Strong Newberry,
a physician and naturalist, who accompanied the 1855 Topographic Corps Expedition,
mapping future railroad routes. Paulina Peak is named for a
Snake Indian chief who led raiding parties against white settlers in the 1850s and
1860s.
-- Excerpt from:
Newberry National Volcanic Monument Website, Deschutes National Forest, 2000
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Mount Rainier, Washington
Northwest American Indians knew the mountain long before
European explorers reached the
waters of the Pacific Ocean. For generations,
they knew the mountain as Takhoma, Tahoma,
Ta-co-bet and several other names.
Many of the names mean "big mountain" or "snowy peak,"
or "place where the waters begin." ...
On May 8, 1792, Captain George Vancouver
of the British Royal Navy anchored his ship
near today's Port Townsend, Washington. He
wrote in his log, "... the round snowy
mountain ... after my friend Rear Admiral
Peter Rainier, I distinguished by the name
of Mount Rainier ..."
-- Excerpt from:
U.S. National Park Service Website, Mount Rainier National Park,
2002
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Mount Rainier, or "Tahoma"
as it was named by the Northwest Native Americans,
was named after then
Rear Admiral Peter Rainier, R.N.
in 1792 by Captain George Vancouver.
Born in 1741, Peter Rainier entered the Royal Navy in 1756.
He served on the HMS OXFORD, YARMOUTH,
NORFOLK, and BURFORD. In 1790 he commanded the MONARCH
and early in 1793 commissioned the SUFFOLK
which had 74 guns.
In 1799 Peter Rainier was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral.
He was stationed in the East Indies as Commodore
and Commander-in-Chief until 1804.
After his return to England and his retirement
from active service, he continued to
be consulted by the ministry on questions relating
to the East India station. In 1805 he was advanced to the rank of
Admiral. He became a member of Parliament in 1807 and died in 1808.
-- Excerpt from:
U.S. Navy Website,
USS Rainier (AOE-7), 2002
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Mount Shasta, California
Peter Skene Ogden's Snake Country Journals, entry of February 14, 1827:
"Tuesday 14th.
Wind blew a gale. If the ship destined for the
Columbia be on the coast in this stormy weather, I should feel anxious for her. Having 40
beaver to skin and dress I did not raise camp. It is a pleasure to observe
the ladys of the camp vying who will produce on their return to Ft. Vancouver the
cleanest and best dressed beaver. One of the trappers yesterday saw a domestic
cat gone wild. It must have come from the coast. All the Indians persist
in saying they know nothing of the sea. I have named this river Sastise River.
There is a mountain equal in height to Mount Hood or Vancouver, I have
named Mt. Sastise. I have given these names from the tribes of Indians."
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Peter Skene Ogden was a chief trader with the Hudson's Bay Company. In the
period 1824-1829, he led five trapping expeditions to the "Snake Country" --
the upper reaches of the Columbia.
--
Excerpt from:
Peter Skene Ogden's Snake Country Journals, February 14, 1827,
as copied by Miss Agnes C. Laut in 1905 from original in
Hudson's Bay Company House, London, England, courtesy Oregon Historical Society,
in digital format at
Library of Western Fur Trade Historical Source Documents Website,
June 2001
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According to legend, about 1821, a Spanish explorer reported
that while climbing Mount Diablo near San Francisco he saw
Mount Shasta. He called it "Jesus and Maria" because of the
double peaks.
About this time the Russians probably viewed
Mount Shasta from the coast near Fort Ross. Hudson Bay
Company trapper,
Peter Skene Ogden left Fort Vancouver and
journeyed through central Oregon, trapping beaver. The
trappers wanted fur from beaver, otter, and martins to export
to England. They succeeded over the course of several years
to dramatically reduce the population of these small
fur-bearing animals. To this day it is rare to see these animals.
Ogden noted in his journal on February 14, 1827: "I have
named this river Sastise River. There is a mountain equal in
height to Mount Hood or Vancouver; I have named Mt.
Sastise. I have given these names, from the tribes of the
Indians." However historians believe he saw the Rogue River
and Mount McLoughlin. Early maps portrayed today's Mount
Shasta variously as Mount Pitt, Mount Jackson, and Mount
Simpson and said that it was over 20,000 feet above sea level.
For the most part, the explorers and fur trappers traveled
through the area but did not stay for any length of time.
--
Excerpt from:
Mount Shasta Chamber of Commerce Website, 2002
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Mount St. Helens, Washington
Native American legends abound with descriptions of the
brothers Wy'east (Hood) and Pahto (Adams) battling
for the fair La-wa-la-clough (St. Helens).
-- Excerpt from:
Scott, et.al., 1997,
Geologic History of Mount Hood
Volcano, Oregon --
A Field-Trip Guidebook: USGS Open-File Report 97-263
|
Northwest Indians told early explorers about the
fiery Mount St. Helens. In
fact, an Indian name for the mountain,
Louwala-Clough, means "smoking mountain".
According to one legend, the mountain was once a beautiful maiden,
"Loowit". When two sons of the Great Spirit "Sahale" fell in love with
her, she could not choose between them. The two braves, Wyeast
and Klickitat fought over her, burying villages and
forests in the process. Sahale was
furious. He smote the three lovers and erected a
mighty mountain peak where
each fell. Because Loowit was beautiful,
her mountain (Mount St. Helens) was a
beautiful, symmetrical cone of dazzling white.
Wyeast (Mount Hood)
lifts his head in pride, but Klickitat (Mount Adams)
wept to see the beautiful
maiden wrapped in snow, so he bends his
head as he gazes on St. Helens.
-- Excerpt from:
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Gifford Pinchot National Forest
"Mount St. Helens" Brochure, 1980
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Mount St. Helens
was named for British diplomat Alleyne Fitzherbert (1753-1839),
whose title was Baron St. Helens. The mountain was named by
Commander George Vancouver and the officers of
H.M.S. Discovery
while they were surveying the northern Pacific coast from 1792 to 1794.
Mount St. Helens was recognized as a volcano at least as early as 1835;
the first geologist apparently viewed the volcano 6 years later. James
Dwight Dana of Yale University, while sailing with the
Charles Wilkes U.S. Exploring Expedition,
saw the peak (then quiescent) from off the mouth
of the Columbia River in 1841.
Another member of the expedition later described
"cellular basaltic lavas" at the mountain's base.
-- Excerpt from:
Foxworthy and Hill, 1982, Volcanic Eruptions of 1980 at Mount St. Helens,
The First 100 Days: USGS Professional Paper 1249
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Mount Thielsen, Oregon
Mount Thielsen was also known as Big Cowhorn.
This mountain was known as
Hischokwolas to Indians of the area.
This rugged horn-like mountain is unique
and very distinguishable.
(Diamond Lake Ranger District;
Umpqua National Forest).
-- Excerpt from: U.S. Forest Service, Umpqua National Forest Website,
2002
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About 1872 it was named Mount Thielsen
by John A. Hurlburt of Portland,
in honor of Hans Thielsen,
prominent pioneer railroad engineer and
builder.
-- Excerpt from: Lewis A. McArthur, 1982,
Oregon Geographic Names: Western Imprints,
The Press of the Oregon Historical Society.
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Three Sisters, Oregon
The Three Sisters appear as the "Three Sisters" on
Preston's map of Oregon of 1856. The name was probably
originally applied by members of the
Methodist Mission in Salem in the early 1840's,
and the individual peaks were given the names
"Mount Faith", "Mount Hope", and "Mount Charity",
beginning from the north.
-- Excerpt from:
U.S. Forest Service Website, Deschutes National Forest, 2002
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The town of Sisters derives its name from the
three prominent Cascade peaks that grace the
southwestern skyline: Faith, Hope, and Charity,
collectively known as the Three Sisters.
A very old story suggests that the mountains were
named in the 1840s by members of a Methodist
mission based in Salem. Others credit trappers who
frequented the region in the early part of the
19th century.
-- Excerpt from:
Deschutes County Landmarks Website, 2002, The City of Sisters History
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