The Oregon Geographic Names Board: One Hundred Years of Toponymic Nomenclature

Abstract

CHAMP CLARK VAUGHAN The Oregon Geographic Names Board One Hundred Years ofToponymie Nomenclature A RELATIVELYUNKNOWN COMPONENT of theOregonHistorical Society is celebrating itscentenary thisyear. The Oregon Geographic Names Board, Oregon's official geographic names authority, was established with a stroke of the pen, when Governor George Chamberlain signed an executive order on October 1,1908.Although thevastmajority of thepublic may not be conscious of itsexistence and responsibilities, the board's ongoing involve ment in controversy ? spurred by the use of the term squaw in geographic names, for example ? has had wide publicity. Because many people view the term squaw as having a derogatory or offensive connotation and ithas therefore been banned by theOregon Legislature, the board has embarked on an enormous task of eliminating theword from 172 geographic names inOregon by generating suitable replacement names.1 Contentious issues like this one increase the visibility of theOregon Geographic Names Board, and although its long history isfilledwith fascinating chronicles, theboard's impact on Oregon and itspeople is far greater than those individual stories. In assessing the origins of both existing and proposed geographic names inOregon, their cultural significance cannot be overstated. The names of places and geographic features reflect the culture ofmany peoples and gen erations, which the board must comprehend and respect in order to carry out its toponymie mission. The Oregon GeographicNames Board (OGNB) was originally known as theOregon Geographic Board. The board latermodified itsname to help state itsprimary purpose, supervising the naming of geographic features in Oregon. A number of state agencies rotated the responsibility ofmanaging the OHQ vol. 109, no. 3 ? 2008 Oregon Historical Society Chush Falls is locatedonWhychus Creek within theThree Sisters Wilderness. Chush isa Sahaptin word meaning 'water'. Chush Falls was not officially named until 2006 but had oftenbeenmistakenly referred toas aSquaw Creek Falls." Upper Chush Falls, locatedupstream,was theofficialSquaw Creek Falls before itsname was changed in2006. board until 1959,when Governor Mark Hatfield transferred itto theOregon Historical Society (OHS). The move was logical because thehistorical society had served as custodian of theboard's records and correspondence since 1909. OHS's first museum curator,George H. Himes, who also served on theOregon Geographic Board, most likely initiated the early custodial arrangement.2 The origins of geographic names inOregon are particularly complex. Long before thefirstnon-Indians arrived,Native peoples had already named numerous geographic features and cultural sites. Because their languages were not written, most of those names were never recorded, and many did not survive.3 European and American mariners who explored the Pacific coastline and, to amuch greater degree, nineteenth-century explorers, fur trappers, missionaries, and immigrants casually assigned names to geo graphic features, using a wide assortment of commemorative, associative, and descriptive terms. Prime examples include theColumbia River, named in 1792 by Captain Robert Gray for his ship, Columbia Rediviva; Mount Hood, named in 1792 by Lieutenant William Broughton of Captain George Vaughan, The Oregon Geographic Names Board 413 Vancouver's command, to commemorate British naval officerAdmiral Sir Samuel Hood; French Prairie, anonymously named in themid 1800s for the early French Canadian settlers as an associative name; and Black Butte in Deschutes County, anonymously named in the 1850s as a descriptive name relating to the forest-covered volcano's dark appearance.4 The newcom erswere likely unaware thatmany of the geographic features already had aboriginal names, or if theywere aware, they customarily ignored them. Regardless of the fact that the names selected were often duplicated else where, misapplied, misspelled, and in some cases derogatory, they became official simply because theywere recorded on maps. The resultwas public controversy and confusion among map users. No one made a serious attempt to standardize and document geographic names in Oregon until after the federal government took the first step. Recognizing that the geographic names issue was becoming a nationwide problem, particularly in theWest, President Benjamin Harrison created theUnited States Board on Geographic Names (USBGN) on September 4, 1890. The USBGN is comprised of employees from several federal agencies involved in a wide variety of programs, including everything from map making and land management to commerce and national defense. Origi nally, the USBGN primarily adjudicated unsettled questions concerning specific geographic names. In 1906, however, President Theodore Roosevelt extended USBGN's...