PLSO The Oregon Surveor September/October 2021

The Lost Surveyor 22 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 44, No. 5 fourth through seventh editions of the book with the most recent edition dat- ing from 2003. Lewis McArthur passed away three years ago at the age of 101. It is safe to say the McArthur family leg- acy has contributed more to the pages of the Lost Surveyor than any other print publication I own. For that I am truly grate- ful to them for many great stories and many, many interesting miles of road trips across Oregon. Hopefully someone will carry their torch forward. There ismore to this story though because a Lost Surveyor is yet to be disclosed! Tam McArthur and his family have deep roots in Oregon which date to the first surveys here in the 1850s. His great grandfather, William Pope McArthur, was a Navy Lieu- tenant and hydrographic surveyor who led one of the first expeditions of the Pacific Coast Survey in 1850 for the US Coast and Geodetic Survey. In June 1850, after many months of chal- lenge and disappointment sailing from the east coast, WilliamMcArthur left San Francisco and arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River. He described what he saw as “beautiful and some places and some points of view the grandest that the eye ever beheld.” During his time in the northwest, he mapped portions of the Puget Sound, the lower Columbia River, and he acquired land in the Willamette Valley before returning to San Francisco. The hydrographic mapping completed by McArthur and his fellow marine sur- veyors of the northwest was some of the most accurate mapping completed to that time. On his return voyage to the east coast McArthur suffered an attack of dysentery and passed away as the ship, the Oregon, entered the port of Pana- ma on December 23, 1850. The Coast Survey and its successors in name, have named three different ships for McArthur. The McArthur II is still in service for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad- ministration (NOAA) in the Seattle area. TamMcArthur may not have been a sur- veyor per se, but the interpretive board at Three Creeks Lake enlightens us to know that he too dabbled in survey- ing as a volunteer assistant to the US Corps of Engineers, the Coast and Geo- detic Survey, the US Geological Survey, the Forest Service, the Oregon Highway Department, and the Oregon State En- gineers. [Photo 3] A ctually, Oregonians began asking this very question shortly after we became a state. We’ve all seen the place names scattered about USGS quadrangle maps, GLO maps, road at- lases, and even our favorite phone apps. Wondering how many of those names originated from surveyors and surveying is how I found myself writing the current format of the Lost Surveyor columns. Armed with my favorite book, Oregon Geographic Names , which I’ve packed all over Oregon, I started looking for place names rooted in surveying. I don’t even remember when I first became interest - ed in this book. I was probably still in high school and chasing down the annu- al Rose Festival Medallion in the contest hosted by the Oregonian newspaper. The need to know the history and origin of place names in that adventure was imperative! Take for instance Three Creeks Lake in De- schutes County. [Photo 2] Quoting from my favorite book, “This lake is about 17 miles south of Sisters and three miles east of Broken Top. It is directly below and to the north of Tam McArthur Rim and is a favorite fishing lake as well as the site of a USFS Forest Camp. About a mile north of the lake is a meadow where three streams... ” OK, you get the picture. Someone put a lot of work into tracking down the names, history, origin, chang- es, and every last detail of literally how Oregon became the place it is. Turning fourteen pages back in the sixth edition, we learn Tam McArthur Rim is a prominent ridge which “runs east from Broken Top and is clearly visible from Lava Butte on the south to Madras on the north. It was named by USBGN [Unit- ed States Board of Geographic Names] in Decision List 5401 to honor Lewis A. “Tam” McArthur, the author of the first three editions” of the Oregon Geographic Names book. The first edition of the book was published by McArthur in 1928. In- spired by his own love of history and a series of editorial articles in the Oregonian calling for such documentation, McAr- thur scoured Oregon and its people for the history of our place names. [Photo 1] McAurthur completed most of the third edition manuscript before he passed in 1951, with his wife publishing it in 1952. His son Lewis L. McArthur published the A surveyor at heart if not in name, for sure. The McArthur family has left their mark in Oregon in so many ways includ- ing an Oregon Supreme Court Justice. His grandmother was a founder of the Ore- gon Historical Society, “McArthur” adorns multiple place names in Oregon, as well as huge contributions to the Oregon His- torical Society, Oregon Geographic Names Board, and documentation of more than 6,000 Oregon place names. Many thanks to Gina Buckle, PLS for bring- ing this story idea tome. It was a great side trip on the way home from Bend and a wonderful lunch spot. If only I had brought a fishing pole. If you have story ideas or know of some surveying history in Ore- gon, please drop me an email with your idea and whatever information you may have, no matter how limited it may be. I’ll be happy to research it and try to bring it to the pages of The Oregon Surveyor . x References • Oregon Geographic Names, Sixth Edition • Oregon Encyclopedia, Lewis L. McArthur (1917–2018) ( oregonencyclopedia.org) (Accessed August 10, 2021) • Wikipedia, William Pope McArthur —Wikipedia (Accessed August 10, 2021) • Hydro International, William Pope McArthur—A Life Cut Short | Hydro International ( hydro- international.com ) (Accessed August 10, 2021) Sign Transcription Tam McArthur Rim The semi-circular cliff above Three Creeks Lake bears the name Tam McArthur Rim to honor the memory of Lewis Ankeny “Tam” McArthur. For many years, McArthur aided in the establishment on the land of accurate Oregon geographic data and the recording of that data on maps and in other publications. In this he promoted the mapping of Oregon, the placing of Bench Marks, the running of level lines and the collection of topographic data, all as a volunteer assistant in the work of the U.S. Corps of Engineers, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Geological Survey, the Forest Service, the Oregon Highway Department and the Oregon State Engineer. He was the author of Oregon Geographic Names. In his life and work, he made invaluable contribu- tions to Oregon and the nation. “Tam” McArthur was born in The Dalles in 1883 and died in Portland in 1951.