Oregon Geographic Board," Hazen continues, "he set out to learn the whys and the wherefores of every important 'place name' in the Beaver commonwealth."
Perhaps not at the beginning but certainly as the work of collecting names and their history proceeded, the idea of a book had become a hope of McArthur's for so he wrote in the preface to the opening instalment in that December Quarterly. Then, in the preface to the book itself he said, "It is the hope of the compiler that this book may be reprinted at some future date." Late in 1944 the hope was realized with a second edition containing hundreds of additional names; and in that volume the hope was again expressed in the same words.
Lewis A. McArthur was qualified as no other man could be "to learn the whys and the wherefores" of the place names of Oregon and to tell the story in the printed word. He came to the enterprise with more than abundant re sources. There were the interest and the curiosity that prompted and sustained it. There was an amazing retentive memory. There was a broad knowledge of Oregon and Pacific Northwest history, including an intimate acquaintance with the journals and the other writings of and about the explorers, the traders and the trappers, the naturalists, the officers of the army and the navy and the settlers of Oregon before, during and after the years of the covered wagon. There were his own family background and the record of its participation in local, state and national affairs. He had a capacity for making and keeping friends, and because there was fun, entertainment and satisfaction in being his friend he had eager responses from each to his calls for aid. There were associations with the federal agencies engaged in works relating to the geography of Oregon. There were his simple, but living and straightforward writing style, his passion for accuracy and the right word. All these he had in his progress through the years as he gathered and set down his record of Oregon names. The creative expression of these possessions is apparent on page after page of his books.
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