Mill Creek, Marion County. This stream joins the Willamette River in the north part of Salem. It was named for the pioneer sawmill established on its banks as part of the operations of Jason Lee's Methodist mission, which was begun on Mission Bottom in 1834. The sawmill was probably built in 1840-41. The canal from North Santiam River, augmenting the flow of Mill Creek, was finished in 1857. The stream in the south part of town, sometimes called South Mill Creek, is largely artificial and is not the original Mill Creek.
Mill Creek, Umatilla County. Mill Creek is for the most part a stream of the state of Washington, but not far from its source in the Blue Mountains it flows through Oregon for several miles. The Rev. Myron Eells is authority for the statement that Dr. Marcus Whitman rebuilt his flour mill in the Walla Walla Valley in 1844, and the next year went up the stream about 20 miles into the Blue Mountains and built a sawmill, which caused the stream to be called Mill Creek. Eells' Marcus Whitman, page 135.
Mill Creek, Union County. Mill Creek, near Cove, is so called because one of the pioneer sawmills of Grande Ronde Valley was built on the stream by James M. De Moss. See under De Moss and North Powder.
Mill Creek, Wasco County. The neighborhood of Mill Creek, which flows into the Columbia River at The Dalles, was called Quenett by the local Indians, which was a name for salmon trout. When the government decided to establish Fort Dalles, an officer was sent to build a sawmill to be operated by mule power. Upon his arrival he found a small waterpower site and built a mill on this stream, now known as Mill Creek, just north of the present site of the bridge on Ninth Street. The writer is informed that the officer was court-martialed and discharged from the service for disobeying orders and not using mule power. Dr. William C. McKay is authority for the statement that the mouth of Mill Creek was called Will-look-it by the Indians. This meant looking through an opening or gap.
Miller, Malheur County. Miller was a mining community about eighteen miles north of Brogan. Miller post office was established July 18, 1913, with William Miller first and only postmaster, and the office was given his name. The office was closed March 31, 1917, with papers to Rye Valley. Miller was in the extreme north end of the county, and a change of county lines between Baker and Malheur counties may have put the locality in what is now Baker County.
Miller, Sherman County. Miller is the railroad station and community on the south bank of the Columbia River just east of Deschutes River. It was named for a pioneer family of the vicinity. There is a Miller Island in the Columbia River, but it is in Klickitat County, Washington. The locality of Miller has had several names at various times. It was once called Deschutesville and later Fultonville in compliment to Colonel James Fulton of Sherman County. For a time the railroad station now known as Miller was called Deschutes. For the history of the name Deschutes as applied to places in Oregon, see under the heading Deschutes and also under Ainsworth.
Miller Butte, Marion County. This butte, elevation 556 feet, is about two miles west of Marion. It was named for a family of pioneer settlers. The head of the family was Charles Miller. At the exposition at
