science

Oregon Geographic Names

Oregon Geographic Names is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Oregon Geographic Names rather than just read about it. In short: 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.

Key takeaways

Oregon Geographic Names belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Oregon Geographic Names to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Oregon Geographic Names from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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. As of 2011, the book is in its seventh edition, which was compiled and edited by Lewis L. McArthur (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. Entries are listed in alphabetical order, beginning with A B Crossing, a railroad station in Coos County, and ending with Zwagg Island, an island near Brookings, Oregon.

Edition history The first three editions were edited by Lewis A. McArthur and published by Binford & Mort; Lewis L. McArthur took over from his father as of the fourth (1974) edition, which was the first to be published by the Oregon Historical Society Press. The seventh edition also includes a CD-ROM with a complete biographic and geographic index as well as various maps of Oregon locations.

Lewis L. McArthur died in 2018. His daughter, Mary McArthur, reportedly took over editorship for the book's upcoming 8th edition. According to Champ Vaughan, past president of the Oregon Geographic Names Board, no other state has a book quite like it.

Bibliography McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003). Oregon Geographic Names (Seventh ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0-87595-277-2.

Notes

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Oregon Geographic Names

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Oregon Geographic Names claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Oregon Geographic Names before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Oregon Geographic Names ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Oregon Geographic Names

In research: Oregon Geographic Names appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Oregon Geographic Names in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Oregon Geographic Names is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1928 establishments in Oregon, Atlases, Geography of Oregon, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Oregon Geographic Names outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Oregon Geographic Names” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Oregon Geographic Names in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Oregon Geographic Names means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Oregon Geographic Names out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Oregon Geographic Names in simple terms?

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.

Why does Oregon Geographic Names matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Oregon Geographic Names?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Oregon Geographic Names.