Oregon Geographic Names

Template:Short description Template:Infobox book Oregon Geographic Names is a compilation of the origin and meaning of place names in the U.S. state of Oregon, published by the Oregon Historical Society. The book was originally published in 1928. It was compiled and edited by Lewis A. McArthur. Template:As of, the book is in its seventh edition, which was compiled and edited by Lewis L. McArthurTemplate:Efn (who died in 2018).

Content

In its introduction, it identifies six periods in the history of the state which have contributed to the establishment of local names:

• The thousands of years of Native American life;
• The period of Spanish, British, French and early American exploration, with arrivals by sea and overland, exemplified by the activities of the Hudson's Bay Company and the Lewis and Clark Expedition;
• The pioneer period, up to and particularly including the days of the Oregon Trail;
• The period of Indian Wars and mining claims inspired by the California Gold Rush and later facilitated by the Mining Act of 1872;
• The period of homesteading between 1875 and 1925, which affected nine million acres (36,000 km²); and
• The modern period of neologisms

The seventh edition contains 6,252 entries, with references to another 2,679 names scattered throughout the text.Template:Sfn Entries are listed in alphabetical order, beginning with A B Crossing, a railroad station in Coos County,Template:Sfn and ending with Zwagg Island, an island near Brookings, Oregon.Template:Sfn

Edition history

The first three editions were edited by Lewis A. McArthur and published by Binford & Mort;<ref>Template:Oregon Encyclopedia</ref> Lewis L. McArthur took over from his father as of the fourth (1974) edition,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> which was the first to be published by the Oregon Historical Society Press.Template:Sfn

The seventh edition also includes a CD-ROM with a complete biographic and geographic index as well as various maps of Oregon locations.Template:Sfn

Year	Edition	Editor	Publisher	Pages	ISBN	Library of Congress Control Number
1928	1st	McArthur, Lewis A.		450pp.		Template:LCCN
1944	2nd	McArthur, Lewis A.	Binford & Mort	581pp.		Template:LCCN
1952	3rd	McArthur, Lewis A.	Binford & Mort	686pp.		Template:LCCN
1974	4th	McArthur, Lewis L.	Oregon Historical Society	835pp.	Template:ISBN	Template:LCCN
1982	5th	McArthur, Lewis L.	Western Imprints (Oregon Historical Society)	839pp.	Template:ISBN	Template:LCCN
1992	6th	McArthur, Lewis L.	Oregon Historical Society	957pp.	Template:ISBN	Template:LCCN
2003	7th	McArthur, Lewis L.	Oregon Historical SocietyTemplate:Efn	1073pp.	Template:ISBN	Template:LCCN

Lewis L. McArthur died in 2018.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His daughter, Mary McArthur, reportedly took over editorship for the book's upcoming 8th edition.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="terry">Template:Cite news</ref>

According to Champ Vaughan, past president of the Oregon Geographic Names Board, no other state has a book quite like it.<ref name="terry" />