to a charge of murder in the second degree. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, but was pardoned after a time. A remarkable fact about the murder transpired at the trial. After Linn was killed, he was buried and a fire built over his grave. As they sat by the fire, one of the assassins performed on the Jew's harp while the other furnished vocal music. They did not have the aid of the radio in those days.
Aldrich Point, Clatsop County. This point was named for R. E. Aldrich who at one time lived there and had a small mercantile establishment. In pioneer days it was known as Cathlamet Point for the Cathlamet Indians. For information about that name see under Cathlamet Bay.
Alecs Butte, Yamhill County. Alexander Carson, generally known as Alec Carson and sometimes called Essen, was a well-known western hunter and trapper in very early days. Mrs. Alice B. Maloney has put together some bits of his biography which are printed in OHQ, volume XXXIX, page 16. Carson was on the upper Missouri River as early as 1807. He was for a time a member of Wilson Price Hunt's party traveling west in 1810. In 1814 he appears to have been trapping in the Willamette Valley and was classed as a "freeman" or free American trapper not connected with the British fur companies. He was in Peter Skene Ogden's brigade that trapped the Snake country in 1824-25. Indians killed him at the small hill now known as Alecs Butte in 1836. This butte is about a mile and a half south of Yamhill, west of the Tualatin Valley Highway and east of North Yamhill River. In 1944 it was part of the William Fryer farm. The compiler has an original letter from T. J. Hubbard of Fairfield to James W. Nesmith, dated September 24, 1858, telling about the murder of Carson. The substance of the letter is that in April or May, 1836, Carson, then sick, spent two or three weeks at Hubbard's home. He had with him his Nefalitin (Tualatin) Indian trapper Boney, Boney's wife and Boney's son, twelve or fourteen years old. Carson had confidence in the Indian. When he was well enough to travel, the party of four set out and camped the first night at Ellicks Butte (now Alecs Butte). In the night Boney compelled his son to murder the sleeping Carson with a shotgun. Other Indians were at the camp and they plundered Carson's property. Click-kowin, a part Tillamook Indian, had a hand in the murder and shared in the plunder. He was later shot by Waaninkapah, chief of the Nefalitins. Hubbard said he never knew why Boney committed the crime, which was the first to mar the friendly feeling between Indians and whites in the Willamette Valley.
Alexander Butte, Douglas County. Alexander Butte is northwest of Dillard, and has an elevation of about 1600 feet. It was named for David Alexander, an early settler, who lived near its foot.
Alfalfa, Deschutes County. Alfalfa is a well-known district in Deschutes County about fifteen miles east of Bend, named for the forage crop grown there under irrigation. Alfalfa post office was established January 29, 1912, with Sibyl C. Walker first of several postmasters. The office was closed December 26, 1922, and the business was turned over to Bend. The compiler does not know who named the place, but the name is appropriate.
Alford, Linn County. Alford is a station on the Southern Pacific line between Halsey and Harrisburg. It bears the name of Thomas Alford, a pioneer of 1850, upon whose donation land claim it is situated. The station was originally known as Muddy, on account of Muddy Creek, which flows nearby. The name of the creek appears in the Oregonian as
