er's mother was a daughter of Simmons, and his father, Francis Marion Nighswander taught school at Grand Prairie in 1873. Modern maps show Meadow View as an Oregon Electric Railway station about five miles south of Junction City, and also on the Pacific Highway.
GRAND RAPIDS, Clatsop County. In August, 1892, articles of incorporation were filed in the Clatsop County records at Astoria for the Grand Rapids Improvement and Development Company. The compiler has been told that the enterprise was named for Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a program of lumbering and furniture manufacturing was planned. The community was to be at the bend of Nehalem River about four miles south of Jewell and Grand Rapids post office was established December 28, 1892, with Horace M. Spencer first postmaster. The compiler has not found any record of a platted townsite with the name Grand Rapids and knows of no rapids in the river at that point that might warrant the name. However, the post office continued to operate until July 7, 1897, when it was closed out to Vinemaple. It seems apparent that Grand Rapids office was reestablished May 12, 1902, with Fred Springer postmaster, but available records give no postal history. At one time the Tidepost Timber Company maintained an office, machine shop and roadhouse in the neighborhood.
GRAND RONDE, Polk and Yamhill counties. This name, as applied to a valley and two communities in western Oregon, is universally misspelled, but the style is so firmly fixed in the public mind that there seems little chance to change it. The USBGN tried to secure the use of Grande Ronde but without avail. The French word ronde, meaning circle or roundness requires the adjective agreement grande, and the two words together may be taken as describing a fine large valley of excellent appearance, more or less hemmed in by hills. This valley and the one in Union County were named by French-Canadian trappers because of their aspect, but the valley in eastern Oregon is always called Grande Ronde. For many years there was a Grand Ronde Indian Reservation in Polk and Yamhill counties. There were 1064 Indians on this reservation in the census of 1867. The Grand Ronde Agency, which was in Yamhill County, was closed in the fall of 1925, but a community remains. See editorial in the Oregonian, November 18, 1925. Meanwhile a new community has been built about a mile and a half south in Polk County, called New Grand Ronde. Grand Ronde post office was established February 16, 1861, with Benjamin Simpson first postmaster. The office was first at the site of Fort Yamhill, about a half mile north of what is now Valley Junction. About 1894 the office was moved to Grand Ronde Agency in Yamhill County, and in the early '20s it was moved to New Grand Ronde in Polk County, now on the Salmon River Highway. The post office has always been called Grand Ronde. In 1895 Butler post office was established at the locality of Fort Yamhill.
GRANDE RONDE VALLEY, Union County. This imposing valley has given its name to Grande Ronde River and also to La Grande. In this part of Oregon, the French name has retained both final "e's. Grande Ronde, in eastern Oregon, is mentioned as early as 1827 by Peter Skene Ogden. In the copy of his journal at the Oregon Historical Society he says: "Saturday (September] 14th at 7 A.M. we started advanced one mile and reached Clay River or commonly Called Riviere deGrande Ronde. This river discharges in the South branch of
