6
JUNE 8�15, 2022
FROM THE SHELF
CHECKING OUT THE
WORLD OF BOOKS
Available now: ‘Historical Guide to Union County, Oregon Roads’
Go! staff
U
NION COUNTY — Union
County history writers
Dave and Trish Yerges have
released their latest history book
titled “Historical Guide to Union
County, Oregon Roads.”
This 450-page soft-covered
book is a hybrid gazetteer that
lists 300 county road names and
their origins. Each road entry de-
scribes the road’s location and
the person, place or thing after
which it was named.
When the road was named
after a person, the authors, who
live in Summerville, compiled a
short biographical sketch based
on numerous public records,
private memoirs and interviews.
The book cites its sources in the
body of each road entry, and it
includes an index with 7,800 list-
ings at the back of the book.
“Historical Guide to Union
County, Oregon Roads” is a
culmination of 24 years of past
Union County historical writing in
addition to current and never-
before-compiled historical data.
“This entertaining and his-
torical book will present many ‘I
didn’t know that!’ facts and some
Dick Mason/The Observer
Trish and Dave Yerges’ new book — “Historical Guide to Union County, Oregon Roads” — includes an index with
7,800 listings.
well-hidden secrets too,” Trish
Yerges said.
The volume includes century
farm and ranch stories, Oregon
Trail stories, memoirs never be-
fore published, the story of who
settled here before Benjamin
Brown, corrections of long-mis-
spelled road names, the story of
the fi rst wedding performed, ag-
ricultural and lumber mill stories,
the origins of town names, the
fi rst burials, stories of home-
steading successes and failures,
and a treasure trove of dates,
places and family genealogies.
Trish said that while they
were digging for facts, they also
overturned some long-held be-
liefs.
One of those is about Cath-
erine Creek, which was thought
to be named after the daughter
of pioneer Thomas Godley.
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“However, our online genealo-
gy research showed that Thom-
as Godley never had a daughter
named Catherine,” Yerges said.
“Furthermore, Catherine Creek
was found written on an 1863
map of Union County and the
Thomas Godley family arrived in
Union County just after 1870.”
Another story involves
Morgan Lake, which has been
connected to Enoch Morgan, a
foreman on the crew that built
the dam on Morgan Lake from
1901-1903.
“However,” Yerges said,
“the name Morgan Lake was
known years before the dam
was built, according to a news
article we found dated Sept. 17,
1903, which read: ‘The princi-
pal reservoir is located at an
elevation of 1500 feet above
La Grande, known for years as
Morgan Lake.’”
She continued: “We believe
we solved the mystery of who
Morgan Lake was named after,
and the evidence seems to
back this second historical
story that was related to us.
We recorded the journey of our
investigation so that readers
could be convinced of this sec-
ond historical account.”
The book also contains infor-
mation about Perry’s namesake,
D.W.C. Perry.
“He was far more than a rail-
road engineer as past histories
have stated,” Yerges said.
Cost for the book is $40, plus
shipping/handling, or arrange for
pick up by calling Dave Yerges
at 541-910-0155 or sending an
email to weframe@eoni.com.
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