Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/426

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Lewis A. McArthur

as Elk Creek and flows into the ocean at the north end of Cannon Beach. The community has been known by various names including Elk Creek and Ecola, but the Post Office Department a few years ago changed the office name to Cannon Beach to agree with the natural feature. Cannon Beach is about eight miles long.

Canoe Encampment Rapids, Morrow County. These rapids are in the Columbia River between Castle Rock and Blalock Island. T. C. Elliott, the authority on the Columbia River, states that the encampment at the foot of the rapids was a popular one with the fur traders and trappers. The name appears in early journals, but when first so used cannot now be determined. It has been suggested that possibly the name was originally applied by traders because of an encampment of Indians with canoes at that point, as it seems strange that the traders themselves would single out these rapids as being particularly associated with their own canoes, which they had with them at all the rapids.

Canyon City, Grant County. This historic community is the county seat of Grant County, and derives its name because of the fact that it is situated in a canyon, about two miles south of the John Day River. This part of the state was the scene of gold discoveries in the fall of 1861 and for some time there was a great influx of miners. Canyon City post office was established in what was then Wasco County on April 23, 1864. Afterward Grant County was formed from part of Wasco County.

Canyon Road, Multnomah and Washington Counties. The Canyon Road, at the head of Jefferson Street, Portland, was first opened in the fall of 1849 (letter of Joseph S. Smith in The Oregonion, July 13, 1884). Citizens of Portland formed, for improvement of the road, in 1850, the Portland and Valley Plank Road Company, which was chartered by the legislature and organized at Lafayette July 30, 1851. Subscription for funds opened March 10, 1851, at Portland, Hillsboro, Lafayette, Nes-