Peak Northwest

The weird, wild stories behind the names of Oregon’s landmarks

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What’s in a name? Or, in this case, what’s in an Oregon place name?

On this week’s episode of Peak Northwest, we’re looking into the history behind the names of some of Oregon’s most beloved landmarks, pulling out some truly weird and wild stories from the Southern Oregon to the Columbia River Gorge.

Forget everything you think you know about where our natural landmarks got their names.

Here are some highlights from this week’s show:

  • How Mount Hood and the Columbia River both trace their names back to boats.
  • A pair of Columbia Gorge landmarks with surprising histories.
  • Vickie regrets asking about Dog Mountain.
  • Rooster Rock once had a more, uh, colorful name.


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    Peak NorthwestBy The Oregonian/OregonLive
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