Scotland, died in 1894. For information about John West and his large family, see article by Fred Lockley in the Oregon Journal, January 31, 1943. Wesport post office was established in December, 1863.
WETMORE, Wheeler County. Wetmore post office, established in the summer of 1945, is at a location used by the Kinzua Pine Mills Company in handling logs in northeast Wheeler County. The office at the time of this writing is about eleven miles northeast of Kinzua, and was named for the late E. D. Wetmore of Warren, Pennsylvania, a large stockholder in the logging and lumbering concern. It was E. D. Wetmore who named Kinzua for Kinzua, Pennsylvania. Wetmore community was established in 1942, but did not have a post office until three years later.
WHALE COVE, Lincoln County. Whale Cove is a well-known place on the Oregon Coast Highway at the north base of Cape Foulweather. The compiler was told about 1930 that it was named many years before by a party of white people who found some Indians busy at work on the carcass of a dead whale. Despite the aroma, Indians were enthusiastic over a whale steak.
WHALEHEAD ISLAND, Curry County. This rocky islet is in the Pacific Ocean, close to the shore of Gold Beach. It is hollow to seaward and has a hole in the top so that at certain stages of the tide water rushes into the cavity and spouts out the hole, simulating a whale. Whalehead Island has been so known since very early pioneer days. The style of the name has included such forms as Whaleshead, Whale Head and other variations, but in 1943 the USBGN adopted the name Whalehead Island as being the most desirable arrangement. A nearby stream is called Whalehead Creek. Orvil Dodge, in Pioneer History of Coos and Curry Counties, says that Frances Fuller Victor's statement that Gold Beach was once known as Whalehead is wrong.
WHEATLAND, Yamhill County. Wheatland is in the extreme southeast corner of the county and was named in pioneer days because it was an important shipping point for wheat grown on nearby lands. The place was also called Wheatland Landing and sometimes Matheny Ferry. Wheatland post office was established January 29, 1867, with Marion B. Hendrick first postmaster. The office was discontinued January 31, 1903, doubtless due to the extension of rural free delivery from larger offices. The area tributary to Wheatland has been extensively developed by intensified and diversified field and fruit crops.
WHEELER, Tillamook County. This place was named for Coleman H. Wheeler, of Portland, a prominent lumberman and sawmill operator, who operated a mill in the community shortly after the railroad was built. Wheeler died about 1920. For his biography, see Carey's History of Oregon, volume II, page 72.
WHEELER, Wheeler County. Wheeler post office was established Aug. ust 15, 1890, with Lafayett Frizzell postmaster, and continued in operation until September 5, 1895, when it was closed to Waldron. Lafe Frizzell lived at the Frizzell Ranch on Girds Creek about six miles north of Mitchell. It is reported that the ofhce was named for Henry H. Wheeler, prominent pioneer resident of central Oregon, for whom Wheeler county was named in 1899.
WHEELER COUNTY. Wheeler County was created February 17, 1899, and according to the Bureau of the Census, has a land area of
