for the locality of Sweet Home was Buckhead. This name, savoring of pioneering days, finally gave way to Sweet Home. There is nothing to indicate the date of this transition, but the post office of Sweet Home was established on March 13, 1874, with John B. Hughes first postmaster. It is apparent that Governor West could not have had much to do with the boisterous behavior of the young men of Buckhead which he so well describes. The calendar proves otherwise. In December, 1926, B. H. Watkinds told the writer that the place was called Sweet Home in the '40s by Lowell Ames, Sr., but in October, 1927, C. H. Stewart of Albany wrote that this could not be true, because Ames did not arrive in the vicinity of Sweet Home until about 1860. Ames may have applied the name to his homestead. A letter in the Sweet Home New Era, March 28, 1930, by Mrs. (. Feigum, a well-known local resident, says that the name Sweet Home was first applied in the form Sweet Home Valley. The first community to be called Sweet Home was in the east part of what is now the town. Buckland was the name of a saloon on Ames Creek west of the community. It was decorated with a large pair of antlers over the front door. Mrs. Feigum says that about 1880 the community buildings were moved west to Ames Creek and the name Sweet Home supplanted the name Buckhead.
SWEETBRIER, Multnomah County. Sweetbrier post office was established January 10, 1900, and was in service until August 31, 1901, with Robert G. Combs postmaster. This office was a little to the west of the center of section 1, township 1 south, range 3 east, about a half a mile south of the Base Line Road at the 15-mile post on the old road down to Sandy River. This was before the Base Line extension was cut through. The office was named for the well-known Sweet Briar farm then owned by Emmet B. Williams, Portland attorney, and in 1947 owned by Mr. Williams' daughter, Mrs. Lenore W. Althaus. Variations in the form of this name for one of the most popular bushes in Oregon are familiar to most people. Sweet Briar Farm is the style in the registration certificate held by Mrs. Althaus. Frequently one meets the forms Sweetbriar, Sweet Brier and Sweetbrier. The last spelling was the one used by postal officials at Washington, but Mrs. Althaus says that a signboard nailed to a maple tree in front of her house uses the form Sweet Brier for the old post office. This gives a fourway choice. In addition, there is the romantic name eglantine also used for this wild rose. For editorial comment about the sweetbrier, see the Oregonian, June 27, 1947, and for letters on the subject, ibid., June 25, July 3 and July 4, 1947.
SWEETSER, Harney County. A map of 1889 shows a place called Switzer a few miles southeast of Crane, but whether it was a real community or a proposed station for the projected Oregon Pacific railroad the compiler does not know. In any event the name appears to be misspelled. Alphene Venator, J. W. Biggs and Phil Metchan say the place was intended to be named for Frank Sweetser, who, with Stauffer, operated horse ranches in the Harney Valley, and elsewhere in eastern Oregon. Sweetser died in 1895, and his widow, maiden name Meriah Sutherlin, married Phil Metschan, Sr., in 1896. Swim, Clackamas County. The name Swim was given to this post office early in 1925. Boyd Summers was the first postmaster and the originator of the name. There is a large, outdoor, warm mineral
