it was an error, that is an end to the business. However, if the office was actually in what was then Grant County, the question arises as to whether it was in what is now Grant or in what is now Harney. Grant, Harney and Crook counties come together in this locality. In early days the locality of Hardin was also called Twelvemile, probably because it was that distance from Paulina.
HARDING, Clackamas County. George A. Harding, for more than half a century a much-respected resident of Oregon City, was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1843, and after a short visit in California, arrived in Oregon in 1857. He was a director of the Willamette Valley Southern Railway Company, and this station on that line was named for him on that account. He died September 23, 1926.
HARDMAN, Morrow County. Hardman is an old community. The post office was established in 1881. The place was named for a pioneer family engaged in the stock business. Dave Hardman was first postmaster.
HARDSCRABBLE Hill, Linn County. Hardscrabble Hill is the northeast part of a butte about two miles southwest of Jefferson. Hardscrabble Hill itself has an elevation of 369 feet and is close to the west bank of Santiam River. This hill and other features in the state bearing the same name are so called because of the poor character of the soil and the difficulty of cultivating it. See also Hungry Hill and NEEDY.
HARDTACK ISLAND, Multnomah County. Hardtack Island is just southeast of Ross Island in Willamette River in the south part of Portland. It was once part of Ross Island, and probably still is at low water. It was known as Hardhack Island about 1905 on account of the Spiraea douglasii which grew there, but the influence of boating and yachting visitors overcame the botanical name and substituted one of nautical significance. Hardtack Island has been adopted as the official name by
USBGN. See also under Ross ISLAND. Riverward from the south end of Ross Island is a gravel bar which was platted in 1868-69 as Toe Island, because of its shape. The three islands of the Ross Island group were charted as Oak Islands by Wilkes in 1841. Henry E. Reed, who had a wide knowledge of Portland history, was of the opinion that the name Hardtack Island was probably originally applied to Toe Island because of the well-known difficulty in tacking or bringing a sail-boat about at that point on the river. Wind and currents were unobliging. There is not much of Toe Island left today. Whatever may have been the original application of the name Hardtack Island, it is now universally applied to the island southeast of Ross Island and east of what is left of Toe Island. The compiler remembers very well that about the beginning of the century the name Hardhack Island was used, but that name has not prevailed. The early plats show the name Ross Island covering both of the larger islands, Ross and Hardtack.
HARDY CREEK, Lane County. Hardy Creek is a tributary of South Fork McKenzie River. It was named for Charles A. Hardy, an attorney of Eugene, who built a hunting and fishing lodge near the mouth of the stream. Hardy Ridge nearby derives its name from the same source. Charles Albert Hardy was born in Michigan in 1874, graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1896 and died at Portland on November 29, 1937. Hare, Clatsop County. In the early '90s Levi Knapp, well-known
