Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 11.djvu/57

This page needs to be proofread.

History of the Counties of Oregon 5i Umatilla County. Umatilla County was created September 27, 1862, by the State Legislature. (General Laws of 1862, page 91). It comprised a part of Wasco County east of the mouth of Willow Creek, south of the Columbia River and the north line of Oregon, west of the summit of the Blue Mountains, and north of the divide between the middle and south forks of John Day River. It was bounded on the west by the divide between the middle and south forks of John Day River, and the divide between the latter river and Willow Creek. It derives its name from the river which flows through the county and empties into the Columbia. The first mention of the name is in the "Original Journals" of Lewis and Clark, Vol. 4, page 327, under date of April 27, 1806, on their return trip east, up the Columbia River. It is there spelled Youmalolam. It is spelled in various ways in early books on Oregon: Umatallow, by Ross in his "Adven- tures," page 125, under date of August 11, 181 1; Otillah, by Wyeth in the "Journal" of his first expedition, page 184, under date of February 14, 1833 Utallah, by Townsend in his "Narrative," page 151, under date of September 2, 1834; Umatilla, by Hastings in his "Description," page 39; Umatillo, by Palmer in his "Journal," page 58, under date of September 19, 1845 j Umatilla, by Farnham in his "Travels in the Great Western Prairies," page 284. Gustavus Hines, in his "Ore- gon," page 163, under date of May 8, 1843, spells the name Utilla, while in his "Summary," page 322, he spells it Una- tilla. Fedix in his book, "L'Oregon" (1846), page 48, spells the name Umotella. Hall J. Kelley, in his "Geographical Sketch," pages 27 and 37, adopts the name Youmalolam as given by Lewis and Clark. On the United States map of 1838, and on the British map of 1840 compiled by J. Arrow- smith, the name of the Umatilla River is spelled Umatallow. In the autumn of 1834, Captain Louis Eulalie de Bonneville, U. S. A., known as Captain Bonneville, was at the headwaters