Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/562

This page needs to be proofread.


SERVICE BUTTES, Umatilla County. Service Buttes, which lie about eight miles southwest of Echo, have an extreme elevation of 1685 feet. Service Canyon is southwest of the buttes, and Service Spring to the north. These features are named for the serviceberry, otherwise called shadbush or Juneberry. The bush is of the Amelanchier family. The name is probably the most mispronounced botanical word in the West, the uneducated invariably making it sarvis berry. Service CREEK, Wheeler County. This is the name of a post office near the mouth of Service Creek, a tributary of John Day River. The creek was formerly called Sarvis Creek, spelled as pronounced colloquially. The post office was established on May 23, 1918, with the name Sarvicecreek and with May Tilley first postmaster. At the request of the compiler of these notes the name was changed to Service. creek on December 4, 1918. The 1941 Postal Guide lists the office as Service Creek, the change to two words having taken place early in 1929.

SEUFERT, Wasco County. Seufert station is east of The Dalles. It bears the name of the two Seufert brothers, Frank A. and Theodore J. They were natives of New York, and came to Oregon in the early '80s. They were engaged in various branches of the packing business, principally of salmon and fruit. For biography of Theodore J. Seufert, see History of Central Oregon, page 327.

SEVEN DEVILS, Coos County. In describing the coast south of Cape Arago, George Davidson in the Coast Pilot of 1889 says: "The hills are covered with dense forests and underbrush, and are cut by deep ravines running at right angles to the shore-line. From the number of these ravines the coast is locally known as 'the Seven Devils"." R. R. Monbeck of the USGS furnished the compiler with information about this name in 1943 and it seems apparent that the name Seven Devils was originally applied because of the difficulty in cutting the coast trail across these ravines. The earliest mention of these ravines that the compiler has seen is in the Harrison G. Rogers journal in The AshleySmith Explorations on July 4, 1828: "The travelling pretty bad, as we were obliged to cross the low hills, as they came in close to the beach, and the beach being so bad that we could not get along, thicketty and timbered, and some very bad ravines to cross."

SEVENMILE CREEK, Coos County. Sevenmile Creek flows into Coquille River about seven miles upstream from the river's mouth and is so named on that account.

SEXTON MOUNTAIN, Josephine County. This mountain is a prominent peak north of Grants Pass. The Pacific Highway skirts its westtern flank. William M. Colvig of Medford wrote the compiler on July 1, 1927, as follows: "In about the year 1853 a widow by the name of Nidav settled on a location at the foot of the mountain. She kept a wayside tavern on the road and travelers were delighted to enjoy the restful hospitality of the place. In the '50s she married David Sexton and the stopping place became known as Sextons. Their son Charles Sexton now lives there."

SEXTON MOUNTAIN, Washington County. Edward S. Sexton was born in Ohio in 1822, and settled on land southwest of what is now Beaverton in the spring of 1853. Sexton Mountain was named for him. It is erroneously spelled Saxton on some maps.

SHADY Cove, Jackson County. Shady Cove is on Rogue River between two and three miles south of Trail. The post office is on the