Chauncy Nye

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Chauncey Nye (1823 - 1900) was a pioneer of the U.S. state of Oregon who was best known as the first person to publish an account about Crater Lake.

[edit] Biography

Born in Michigan in 1823 to Nathan Nye, he accompanied his brother Nathan B. Nye (1831-1913) to Lagtown, El Dorado County, California in 1849 or early 1850, during the California Gold Rush to work claims in that area.^{[citation needed]} By 1852, Nathan had arrived in a pioneer party in Oregon, and Chauncy may have come with him.^{[citation needed]} It's certain Chauncy was in Oregon by 1860 where he is listed, age 37, in Jackson County.^[1]

He is known as the first person to publish an account about Crater Lake:

In 1862, Chauncy Nye and his party of prospectors also came upon the lake. Nye wrote the first published article about the lake, stating "the waters were of a deeply blue color causing us to name it Blue Lake."^[2]

By 1870, Chauncy had given up hunting gold and settled down on a farm with his wife Amarantha who was born about 1834 in Illinois or Michigan.^[3] The family lived for at least thirty years at Flounce Rock, Jackson County, Oregon.^[4] Their children Etta (1867), Nelson (1871), and Elsie Amarantha (1879).^[5] In 1882, Chauncy completed his homestead at Township 33S Range 2 East. ^[6]

He is buried next to his wife, at Nye Cemetery in Jackson County.^[7]

Nye Spring and Nye Ditch are both named for him.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

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