AN BAYI lakes, and e. A few the Oregon babits of
PELICAN, Klamath County. For the history of the post offices called Pelican and Pelican Bay, see under the heading Rocky Point.
PELICAN BAY, Klamath County. Pelicans are much in evidence about the Klamath lakes, and this name was appropriately applied to an arm of Upper Klamath Lake. A few other geographic features in the state are also named for the pelican. The Oregon bird is Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, the American white pelican. The habits of this pelican, particularly in Oregon, are well described in Bulletin 121 of the United States National Museum, Life Histories of North American Petrels and Pelicans, page 285. The Klamath Indian name for these birds was kumal or yamal. Pelican Bay was named by Captain O. C. Applegate in 1866. There was at one time a post office called Pelican near the west shore of Pelican Bay and later another office named Recreation. For the most part these offices served summer patrons.
PELICAN BUTTE, Klamath County. This butte was named for Pelican Bay nearby. One of the Indian names for the butte was Mongina. The
USC&GS formerly listed it under the name Lost Peak, elevation 8026 feet.
PELICAN CREEK, Umatilla and Union counties. Pelican Creek, prominent in the history of northeastern Oregon, rises in the Blue Mountains east of Kamela and flows southeast to join Dry Creek just northwest of Hilgard. In November, 1945, C. C. Fisher of the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation, then stationed at Salem, wrote the compiler as follows: "When I was a small boy my parents ran the old Pelican stage station on Pelican Creek a few miles above Hilgard. A short distance above the stage station is Pelican Prairie on the old stage road. It was reported that Pelican Creek and Pelican Prairie were named because someone saw a flock of pelicans flying over that area. This was quite an unusual event, as I never saw any pelicans during my young life in the Blue Mountains." The compiler has seen this stream shown as Tillicum Creek on some maps, but that name is wrong.
PEMBERTON CANYON, Gilliam County. This canyon is southwest of Condon. It was named for Pemberton Cason, a nearby resident. Pemberton F. Cason was born in Missouri in 1843 and came to Oregon in 1864. After experiences in the mines and elsewhere, he settled in what was later Gilliam County in 1881. Cason Canyon, west of Pemberton Canyon, was named for the same man.
PENDLETON, Umatilla County. George Hunt Pendleton, of Ohio (1825-89), was Democratic candidate for vice-president in 1864. Pendleton was named in his honor, in 1868, by the commissioners of Umatilla County, J. S. Vinson, James Thompson and Samuel Johnson, on suggestion of G. W. Bailey, then county judge. In that year the Oregon Democratic state convention instructed its delegates for Pendleton for president. The town of Pendleton was designated the county seat against the rivalry of Umatilla Landing, which was just east of the mouth of Umatilla River. The Pendleton townsite was owned chiefly by M. E. Goodwin and G. W. Bailey. For progress of the town until 1890, see the Oregonian, January 1, 1890. Efforts to establish a trading center in what is now the locality of Pendleton began as early as 1851, when Dr. William C. McKay started a post at the mouth of McKay Creek and called it Houtama. Later one Marshall established Marshall Station about a half mile to the east, on the north bank of Umatilla River. This was also known as Swift Station. Marshall is said to have been a "White Collared
