[or-roots] changing name - Creek

[cklooster at aol.com]

http://www.ohs.org/research/oregon-geographic-names-board.cfm

This is the link to information about the Oregon geographic names board which?acts in an?advisory capacity to the federal board with regard to place names in Oregon.? The federal board has the final authority on name designations.

I can attest to the difficulty of the process.? Years ago when I worked for the US forest service there was a forester who seemed to be on a naming quest.? Whenever he discovered a lake or stream or other geographic feature that had no officially recognized name, he spent hours at his desk drafting proposals which he then submitted to the Oregon geographic names board.? The frustrating (to me) part of this was that many of the places he submitted names for already had names that were used by local people but those names had never been formally recognized by the board.? I realized at that time that only a bureaucrat would have the time and inclination to submit all the paperwork required to have a name considered.? This explains why features are sometimes named after people who have no historic (or other) link to the place.

In Alaska people have been trying for years to have the name of the mountain changed from Mt. McKinley back to the original name, Denali...which is the name Alaskans use for the mountain. ?McKinley never visited Alaska and wasn't even President when the mountain was named for him.? The state of Alaska has officially changed the name?to Denali, but the final authority lies with the federal board and the federal board can't act on the proposed name change because Congressman Ralph Regula from?Canton, Ohio,?former?President McKinley's hometown, is able to block the change legislatively.??Clearly there are political ramifications in the name game.

Carla


-----Original Message-----
From: Nancy Lee Adams <nancydean at columbia-center.org>
To: or-roots mail list <or-roots at listsmart.osl.state.or.us>
Sent: Wed, 20 Aug 2008 5:03 pm
Subject: [or-roots] changing name - Creek



Hi -

?

Does anyone know how to go about changing the name of a creek in Jackson Co., Oregon? When I was on vacation in Rogue River, OR. we went to the water master, surveyor and?county clerk & none of them knew where to go to change the name of a creek. daaaaa? how dum can they be. The creek is on family property?&?been in our family for over 100 years. We have grandfather water rights filed 1901 & updated 1909?with the document that reads we do. The creek was named after the stepfather & not the real father who got the land 1st in 1898.? 

?

The water master said no one has water rights in Jackson Co., OR. He is so wrong!

?

Thanks, Nancy? 



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