30, 1906, page 8; his oration over the body of Senator Broderick, ibid., October 14, 1883; his reply to Breckenridge, ibid., July 30, 1905, page 43; description of the grave of E. D. Baker at San Francisco, ibid., March 13, 1892; June 4, 1872, page 3. For biographical narrative, by William D. Fenton, see Oregon Historical Society Quarterly, volume IX, pages 1-23.
Complete details concerning the origin of Oregon counties may be obtained from Oregon Historical Society Quarterly, volume XI, No. 1, for March, 1910, which contains an address on the subject by Frederick V. Holman.
For a description of Baker County in 1880 see The Oregonian for December 28, 1880; in 1885, ibid., October 19, 1885, by Alfred Holman; in 1881, ibid., December 6, 1881, by George H. Atkinson.
Balch Creek, Multnomah County. Danford Balch settled near what is now Willamette Heights in Portland in 1850. Balch was hanged October 17, 1859, for killing his son-in-law, Mortimer Stump, on the Stark Street ferry. For history of the tragedy of the Balch family, see Scott's History of the Oregon Country, volume III, page 352. Balch Creek was named for this family, and at one time the creek furnished the city water supply.
Bald Mountain, Polk County. This is one of the higher peaks of the Coast Range, and is in the southern part of the county. It bears a descriptive name, and has an elevation of 3230 feet,, according to Special Publication 13 of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey where it is listed as Monmouth Peak. It is not now known by that name. There is probably a Bald Mountain in every county in the state, and more than one in some. The ease with which this descriptive name was applied does not speak well for the geographic imagination or ingenuity of early settlers.
