FOREST, Klamath County. This post office is said to have been named for the fine stand of timber adjacent. The compiler is quite prepared to believe the statement. In 1902 the pine forests of the vicinity must have been magnificent. Forest post office was about seven miles west of Keno on the old Ashland road. It was just east of Spencer Creek. Forest post office was established May 20, 1902, with Nathan S. High first postmaster. The office was discontinued to Keno, March 4, 1908. Forest post office was about three miles northeast of a later office called Wampus. Both places were on the old Pokegama-Klamath Falls freight and stage road as well as on the road to Ashland. Both probably owed a good share of their existence to the business between Klamath Falls and Pokegama.
FOREST CROSSING, Crook County. Forest Crossing of Crooked River is at the south end of Lone Pine Flat just north of O'Neil, in the extreme northwest corner of the county. The locality was named for Francis Forest, who was born in Polk County, Oregon, in 1857, and settled in Crook County in 1876. For biography, see Illustrated History of Central Oregon, page 784.
FOREST GROVE, Washington County. At a meeting of the trustees of Tualatin Academy (Pacific University), January 10, 1851, the name Forest Grove was adopted for the community. The name Vernon was first proposed and rejected. J. Quinn Thornton moved to adopt the name Forest Grove and the motion was passed. Previously that part of the county was known as West Tualatin Plain. It seems probable that the name Forest Grove was the idea of Thornton himself. Thornton arrived at his homestead in the Willamette Valley in November, 1846, and he named his claim Forest Grove. See Thornton's Oregon and California in 1848, volume I, page 239. The words Forest Grove seem to have stuck in his mind. Postal authorities inform the compiler that Tualatin post office was established February 1, 1850, with David Hill first postmaster. The name was changed to Forest Grove on December 31, 1858. David Hill was the founder of Hillsboro, and information about him will be found under that heading. The compiler has been unable to learn why Hill was postmaster of a community apparently situated several miles away. However, post offices were frequently moved considerable distances in pioneer days. Tualatin post office was just south of the present site of Forest Grove. For early history of Forest Grove by Fred Lockley, see Oregon Sunday Journal, March 22, 1931.
FORT BAILEY, Josephine ounty. This was one of the camps or so-called forts used in the campaign against the Rogue River Indians in 1855-56. Data about its location are conflicting, but the statement by Victor, in Early Indian Wars of Oregon, page 368, is probably correct. It is to the effect that the fort was five miles south of Cow Creek. That means that it was on Wolf Creek, at or close to the present community of Wolf Creek. It was apparently named for Captain Joseph Bailey of the Oregon Mounted Volunteers. Bailey was from Eugene. Fort Bailey is sometimes described as at Grave Creek, but Fort Leland is known to have been the post at that place.
FORT BIRDSEYE; Jackson County. Fort Birdseye was one of the stockades used by the settlers during the Rogue River Indian uprising of 1855-56. It was on the south bank of Rogue River near the mouth of Birdseye Creek, at the David Birdseye place. In 1856 some of the logs from the stockade were used to build the Birdseye cabin. A D.A.R.
