Page:Oregon Geographic Names, third edition.djvu/576

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the Chinook jargon word for half, and in this case means that the stream is rather piddling. Siuslaw RIVER, Lane County. Siuslaw was the Indian name of a locality, tribe or chief, and has become the name of a river in western Oregon. The Siuslaws are classed as a Yakonan tribe. The first mention of the name that the compiler has seen is by Lewis and Clark, in History of the Expedition, Biddle edition, volume II, page 118, where it is given as Shiastuckle. Alexander R. McLeod in his journal of 1828 gives Saoustla; Samuel Parker in his Journal of an Exploring Tour gives Saliutla; Hale gives Saiustla in Wilkes' U. S. Exploring Expedition, volume VI, page 221. The name has many other variations. See Handbook of American Indians, volume II, page 584. The forms Linslaw and Linslow are probably due to misreading of poor handwriting, mistaking S and u for L and n. A post office with the name Siuselaw was established April 23, 1852, with James Heatherby postmaster. Henry Coleman became postmaster June 1, 1854. Preston's Map of Oregon, 1856, shows this office at a point five miles north of the present site of Lorane, but with the spelling Siuslaw. Postal records of later dates show an office called Siuslaw, but the compiler does not know when the spelling of the name was changed. See also under LINSLAW and also LORANE. Sixes RIVER, Curry County. Sixes River is an important stream flowing into Pacific Ocean just north of Cape Blanco, and draining a considerable part of northern Curry County. L. B. Spurgeon, postmaster at Sixes office in 1926, wrote that it was named for a local Indian chief. George Davidson, in the Coast Pilot for 1869, has a different history of the name, and says that in 1851 it was usually called Sikhs River, the Chinook jargon word for friend. On some maps he found the name of a stream in that locality shown as Sequalchin River. The Indian village on Sikhs River was known as Te-chehkutt. Captain Wm. Tichenor, in Pioneer History of Coos and Curry Counties, page 26, says the Indian name of Sixes River was Sa-qua-mi. Handbook of American Indians, volume I, page 746, under the heading Kwatami, a subdivision of the Tututni, lists a number of alternative forms of the tribe name. One of these forms, Sik-ses-tene, is said to mean "people by the far north country." This is probably the real origin of the name, but the form of spelling, Sixes, was doubtless applied during the southern Oregon gold rush by miners who were familiar with the Chinook jargon word for friend. The spelling Sixes was used as early as October, 1855. See Harper's Magazine, October 1856, page 591.

SIXMILE CANYON, Morrow County. This canvon, opening onto Columbia River, was so called on the assumption that it was about six miles cast of the mouth of Willow Creek.

SIXMILE CREEK, Gilliam County. This stream flows into Rock Creek east of Condon. The headwaters average about six miles from Condon and the stream is said to have been named on that account.

SIXTEEN BUTTE, Lane County. Sixteen Butte was named by W. O. Harriman of the Forest Service, because the butte was largely in section 16, township 23 south, range 15 east.

SKEETERS FLAT, Jackson County. Skeeters Flat is southeast of Butte Falls some cight or ten miles and Skeeters Creek is nearby. These two geographic features were nained for Isaac Skeeters, who was one of the