Dr. McKay was the son of Thomas McKay. For biography of Dr. McKay, see Pendleton East Oregonian, January 2, 1889.
McKay CREEK, Washington County. This stream drains a considerable area north of Hillsboro. It was named for Charles McKay, a pioneer settler, who took up a donation land claim nearby. The stream has also been known as Johnson Creek and Davis Creek, because it passes through land once owned by early settlers with these names. The USGS, however, used the form McKay Creek when it mapped the Hillsboro quadrangle, and C. G. Reiter, city manager of Hillsboro, informed the compiler in October, 1927, that McKay Creek was the name generally used in the county.
McKay DAM, Umatilla County. McKay Dam is so called because it dams McKay Creek. For the origin of the name McKay Creek, see under that heading. McKay Dam is part of the Umatilla reclamation project and is situated about seven miles south of Pendleton. The dam was built for the purpose of storing water in McKay Creek and the reservoir created by the dam has a capacity of about 73,000 acre feet. This water will be used to supplement the natural flow of Umatilla River for irrigating 38,000 acres of land near Echo, Stanfield and Hermiston. The post office of McKay Dam was established about 1923, and was discontinued in the summer of 1925. For additional details about this dam see New Reclamation Era for September, 1925.
McKEE, Marion County. McKee station north of Mount Angel was named for a pioneer family of the neighborhood.
MCKENZIE BRIDGE, Lane County. McKenzie Bridge has long been an important crossing of McKenzie River, and was named for the stream. For many years the post office was called McKinzie Bridge, and after much protesting, postal authorities agreed to correct the spelling, which was done in November, 1918. One of the enthusiastic supporters of the McKenzie road project was John Templeton Craig who is buried in McKenzie Pass. In the '60s Craig lived like a hermit near what is now McKenzie Bridge, and the location was called Craigs or Craigs Pasture. See under Craig Lake, and also OHQ, volume XXXI, page 261. It is said that the location of McKenzie Bridge was once called Strawberry Prairie.
MCKENZIE CANYON, Deschutes County. This canyon lies between Sisters and Lower Bridge. It is said to have received its name, not because of any local settler named McKenzie, but because the road west from Lower Bridge up this canyon led to McKenzie Pass.
MCKENZIE Pass, Lane, Linn and Deschutes counties. Authorities who are presumed to know about such matters have informed the writer that nowhere are there such remarkable evidences of comparatively recent vulcanism as in central Oregon. The writer is prepared to believe this, and is of the opinion that the lava fields and flows of McKenzie Pass present the most unusual aspect of nature that he has ever seen. Fortunately the development of an excellent highway over McKenzie Pass brought these lava flows within view of many people who knew little of them. McKenzie Pass is named for McKenzie River, and beside being well known for its unusual lavas, is also historically interesting by reason of the construction by pioneer citizens of Oregon of a toll road over the Cascade Range at this point. After toll collecting was abandoned, the road over the summit languished until active reconstruction was taken up about 1920. The road was relocated and widened, and
