Berlin, was adopted. Early in October, 1944, residents of Berlin were astonished to learn that arrangements had been made to change the name of their community to Distomo for the place in Greece so horribly treated by the Germans. This change in name, to be accompanied by a blast of nation-wide radio and other publicity, was said to be in the interest of democracy, but the promoters of the plan were not sufficiently interested in practical democracy to ask the local residents for their views about the business. These local citizens promptly organized a democratic revolt and the scheme was abandoned. A project to change all the names in this country so as to eliminate those commemorating places and people of nations with which the United States had at one time or another been at war would have surprising results.
BERRY, Marion County. Berry is a station on North Santiam River a few miles southwest of Detroit. It was named for a family of early settlers on the river. Berry post office was established June 8, 1893, with Ira S. Hatheld first of four postmasters. The office was closed January 13, 1906.
BERRY CREEK, Benton and Polk counties. This creek flows through the donation land claim of Thomas W. Berry, and it was named for him. The record of his claim is in land office certificate 2323. Berry Creek is southeast of Airlie.
BERRY CREEK, Marion County. This stream was named for Press Berry, an early resident in the North Santiam Valley. Berry Creek flows into North Santiam River southwest of Detroit.
BERTHA, Multnomah County. This was the name of a railroad station on the Southern Pacific West Side branch southwest of Portland where the line entered the Tualatin Valley. It was named for Mrs. Bertha Koehler of Portland, wife of Richard Koehler, for many years manager of the Southern Pacific Lines in Oregon and their predecessors. The early name of the community and later the post office was Hillsdale, but the railroad was unwilling to adopt that name for the station on account of possible confusion with Hillsboro on the same line. See editorial page of Portland Telegram, January 18, 1926. This section of track has been abandoned and Bertha station is a thing of the past. Mrs. Koehler died in Portland November 20, 1943. For many years after the West Side railroad was built, the station on the watershed between the Willamette and Tualatin drainage was called Summit, but there were several other places in Oregon known as Summit, and this fact led railroad authorities to change the name. The change from Summit to Bertha took place about 1890.
BESTERS FORD, Tillamook County. About 1880 Stephen D. Bester took up land on Wilson River about five miles east of Tillamook and for many years the Bester family made the place its home. A ford was developed for the use of settlers further up the stream and later when a wagon road was built the Besters kept the toll gate. An interesting account of these matters is contained in a letter by Frank D. Bester printed on the editorial page of the Oregonian, April 8, 1945. As a youth, Frank Bester, son of Stephen, operated a boat at the ford and accommodated the travel. This ford was a mile downstream from the new Wilson River Highway bridge over Wilson River.
BETHANY, Marion County. Bethany is a cominunity about two miles west of Silverton on the road west to Chemawa. The locality was named in pioneer days, possibly as early as April, 1851, when Bethany Christian the life of Portlandic Lines in ore the post offiches
