My parents invited me on a road trip and I rewarded them by bringing along my Oregon Geographic Names book. If you are not familiar with this book and you live in Oregon, you are missing out! It is almost a dictionary of places in Oregon and how they got their names. Every road sign we passed, I read out loud the description in the book.
I am not even kidding.
Even my 8 year old niece was annoyed with me.
I am not even kidding.
Even my 8 year old niece was annoyed with me.
We were headed to the county seat of Malheur, home of aunts, uncles, cousins and second cousins.
I have always held this place in my heart. I'm not sure why. I think it is two fold. One because my two aunties live there and the other because it is the only place our whole family, including my father, went together.
Deadman's Pass, outside of Pendleton, in years past has always been a time suck because of the truckers. This year, because of my magic dictionary, time flew.
Mount Emily. If we weren't going 70 mph, I would have insisted on a photo shoot. I have been this road more than 18 times in my life--once even in winter, which is another story. And once with my Grandmother in a sports car, which is even a second story. But never had I noticed Emily.
Hello, Emily!
Turns out, "Mount Emily, in Union County, comes from the effect that a family named Leasy lived at the foot of the mountain in pioneer days. Leasy weighed about 100 pounds and his wife nearly 300, and it is said that he named the mountain for his wife, Emily, because of her great size."*
[Editorial comment: In pioneer days, after you had come across on the Oregon Trail, did you really have a bathroom scale? Or because you're a rancher you know your heifers? Just sayin'.....]
"There is another history of the name to the effect that a very popular young lady named Emily lived on the slopes of the mountain in early times and she was often visited by the young men of La Grande, who christened the mountain because they so frequently went up to Mount Emily."*
I have always held this place in my heart. I'm not sure why. I think it is two fold. One because my two aunties live there and the other because it is the only place our whole family, including my father, went together.
Deadman's Pass, outside of Pendleton, in years past has always been a time suck because of the truckers. This year, because of my magic dictionary, time flew.
Mount Emily. If we weren't going 70 mph, I would have insisted on a photo shoot. I have been this road more than 18 times in my life--once even in winter, which is another story. And once with my Grandmother in a sports car, which is even a second story. But never had I noticed Emily.
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| http://www.unioncountychamber.org/pages/MERA/ |
Turns out, "Mount Emily, in Union County, comes from the effect that a family named Leasy lived at the foot of the mountain in pioneer days. Leasy weighed about 100 pounds and his wife nearly 300, and it is said that he named the mountain for his wife, Emily, because of her great size."*
[Editorial comment: In pioneer days, after you had come across on the Oregon Trail, did you really have a bathroom scale? Or because you're a rancher you know your heifers? Just sayin'.....]
"There is another history of the name to the effect that a very popular young lady named Emily lived on the slopes of the mountain in early times and she was often visited by the young men of La Grande, who christened the mountain because they so frequently went up to Mount Emily."*
We had a good laugh and later my uncle wondered if there was a connection between Deadman's Pass, which leads up to Mount Emily. I think it might have been, since "it is not a pass for east west travel on the Oregon Trail but is a transverse pass across the ridge, hence a dip in the highway."**
**Oregon Geographic Names, edition #6, page 241.
A dip in the highway my ass. More like a getaway trail from the Old Man's shotgun.
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