Dead Indian Creek (Oregon)

Dead Indian Creek
Country United States
State Oregon
County Jackson
Source Cascade Range
 - location east of Ashland
 - elevation 5,684 ft (1,732 m) [1]
 - coordinates 42°13′17″N 122°29′08″W / 42.22139°N 122.48556°W [2]
Mouth South Fork of Little Butte Creek
 - location east of Medford
 - elevation 2,562 ft (781 m) [2]
 - coordinates 42°20′18″N 122°27′10″W / 42.33833°N 122.45278°WCoordinates: 42°20′18″N 122°27′10″W / 42.33833°N 122.45278°W [2]
Basin 22.4 sq mi (58 km2) [3]
Location of the mouth of Dead Indian Creek in Oregon

Dead Indian Creek is a tributary of South Fork Little Butte Creek in Jackson County, in the U.S. state of Oregon.[2] It flows generally north through the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest in the Cascade Range east of Medford.[4] The creek begins at 2,562 feet (781 m) above sea level[2] near Howard Prairie Lake and enters the South Fork at Camp Latgawa. The South Fork flows northwest to meet the North Fork near Lake Creek; combined they form Little Butte Creek, a tributary of the Rogue River.[4]

Dead Indian Creek was so named in the 1850s when two Tututni died near its banks.[5] According to Oregon Geographic Names, Dead Indian Mountain and Dead Indian Memorial Road are also named after the same incident in which two settlers found two dead native Americans in deserted dwellings near the creek. The road, originally named "Dead Indian Road" but renamed to avoid being interpreted as denigrating, eventually extended from Ashland, past the mountain and the creek to Upper Klamath Lake.[6]

See also

References

  1. Derived by entering source coordinates in Google Earth.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Dead Indian Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. November 28, 1980. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  3. "Little Butte Creek Watershed Assessment" (PDF). Little Butte Creek Watershed Council. 2003. p. 16. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Oregon Road & Recreation Atlas (5th ed.). Santa Barbara, California: Benchmark Maps. 2012. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-929591-62-9.
  5. Bright, William (2004). Native American Placenames of the United States. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-8061-3598-4.
  6. McArthur, Lewis A., and McArthur, Lewis L. (2003). Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland: Oregon Historical Society Press. p. 272. ISBN 0-87595-277-1.

External links