June 23, 1855; see also April 4, 1903. For notes on Ashland in 1855, ibid., February 2, 1855. Ashland Mills post office was established on May 17, 1855, with Abel D. Hellman first postmaster, Hellman and associates built a sawmill before they built the flour mill and supplied lumber to the Jacksonville mines. For further information, see article by Fred Lockley in the Oregon Journal for May 2, 1928, editorial page. The name of the post office was changed to Ashland June 14, 1871.
Ashwood, Jefferson County. Near Ashwood is a butte known as Ash Butte because of the volcanic ash deposits on its sides. When the post office was established about 1898, the word Ash was combined with Wood to form the name. This was done to honor Whitheld T. Wood, who settled in the vicinity in the '70s. His son, James Wood, was the first postmaster.
Aspen Lake, Klamath County. Aspen Lake is west of Upper Klamath Lake, and is fed by streams from the east side of Aspen Butte. These features and others so named in the state are distinguished by the presence of that beautiful tree, the quaking aspen, or Populus tremuloides. In The American Fur Trade of the Far West, General H. M. Chittenden says: "Another species of the genus populus was the Populus tremuloides, the quaking asp, or the tremble of the French. The superstitious voyageurs thought this was the wood of which the Cross was made and that ever since the crucifixion its leaves have exhibited that constant tremulous appearance which has given rise to the name. The wood of the quaking asp was preferred by the trappers as a fuel for cooking, because it had little odor and did not taint the meat."
Astoria, Clatsop County. The name Astoria is full of historic significance, for about it is woven the story of the discovery, exploration and development of the great Oregon country. It was near here that Captain Robert Gray discovered the mouth of the Columbia River and gave to the United States its claim to the title of the territory. It was near here that Lewis and Clark passed the winter of 1805-6 and it was here that the first commercial settlement of Americans was made on the Pacific Coast in 1811. This settlement was the direct result of the organization of the Pacific Fur Company in 1810 by John Jacob Astor of New York, and it was fitting that his name should be given to the company's initial enterprise. John Jacob Astor was born in Germany in 1763, and after four years in London, came to New York when he was 20. By his energy and industry he grew to be a leading figure in the commercial life of the city, where he died on March 29, 1848, leaving a large fortune. The bibliography of John Jacob Astor's relations with Oregon is unusually large. Washington Irving's Astoria, published in 1836, is picturesque in style, but gives a good general account of Astor's enterprise. The first chapters of Scott's History of the Oregon Country treat of the founding of Astoria quite fully, and include many references invaluable to those interested in the matter. The Astor party on the ship Tonquin arrived off the mouth of the Columbia River on March 22, 1811, and after two disastrous days of strenuous effort, succeeded in landing in the estuary. Three weeks later, April 12, the party began to build a post and bestowed upon it the name of the originator and chief owner of the enterprise. The place was called Astoria until the fall of 1813, when it was taken over by the British, and rechristened Fort George. See Carey's History of Oregon, page 246. Fort George it remained until it was nominally
