his trip to the Willamette Valley, in June, 1841, and accompanied Wilkes to Oregon City.
The origin and meaning of the name Yamhill is somewhat uncertain. The Yamhill River runs through this County which is one of the most beautiful and fertile parts of Oregon. It flows into the Willamette River, on the west side, about twenty-five miles above Oregon City. The first mention of the name appears in Cones' "Journals" of Henry and Thompson, under date of January 23, 18 14, written above the portage at the falls of the Willamette River. After speaking of meeting a party of seven Indians it is said: "They were Yamhelas, who dwell in houses on Yellow River, a branch of the Willamette." (Vol. 2, page 812). Frances Fuller Victor, one of Oregon's best historians, in her book "All over Oregon and Washington", published in 1872, at page 195, says, of the name Yamhill: "The original name, let it here be stated, was Che-am-il—the Indian term for bald hills—and was applied first to the river at the falls of the Yamhill River, just above which was the ford, because these hills served as a landmark by which they easily found the ford". These bald hills are beautiful hills. In pioneer days, in the spring, they were covered with a luxuriant growth of grass. When the early pioneers came the name was sometimes pronounced as though spelled Yamil. As many of the early immigrants were from the southern states, in a jocular way, they called the name Yam Hill. This is the spelling used by Peter H. Burnett (Appendix of George Wilkes "History of Oregon," page 101). It is spelled Yam-Hill by Palmer, in his "Journal," pages 91, 92, 93, 1151 and 116.
Com. Charles Wilkes published, in 1849, a pamphlet entitled "Western America, including California and Oregon". This pamphlet is supplementary to his "Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition", in five volumes, published in 1849. In this pamphlet he quotes numerous excerpts, relating to the Oregon Indians, from the "Ethnological Remarks" made by Horatio Hale, the Philologist of the Exploring Expedition,
