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Definitions Gold Ray, Jackson County. Colonel Frank Ray of New York was interested in the power development at the falls of Rogue River at Lower Table Rock, and named the place Gold Ray. This name caused confusion on the line of the Southern Pacific Company, because of the close proximity of Gold Hill, the next station to the west. The railroad name for Gold Ray is Ray Gold. The California Oregon Power Company used the original arrangement of the words.   Rogue River, Curry, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine and Klamath counties. Rogue River rises in the extreme northwest corner of Klamath County at Boundary Springs near the northern boundary of Carter Lake National Park. ON December 20, 1904, Max Pracht wrote a letter to the Oregonian giving a well-known but incorrect version of the origin of the name Rogue River, ascribing it to the French word Rouge on account of the alleged red color of the water during flood seasons. This letter was printed in the Oregonian for December 22, 1904, page 11. Harvey W. Scott wrote a spirited reply to the Pracht letter, giving the real source of the name and printing it on the same page with the communication. The reply is a s follows: “This is fanciful, purely so, though the ‘Rouge’ story is old. There would have been reason for calling the Klamath River Rouge River, or Red River; for its waters are muck discolored by the marshes of the lake basin which it drains. But Rogue River, as an individual stream, has been known by its present name ever since white men first visited the country. Bishop Blanchet’s account of the Catholic Church in Oregon says the French were first to call it by this name. The Indians there were a peculiarly troublesome lot; ‘hence,’ says Blanchet, ‘the name “Les Coquins” (the Rogues) and “La Riviere aux Coquins” (The Rogue River) was given to the country by the men of the brigade.’ So far then is it from the fact, that Rogue River is a corruption of change from the alleged ‘Rouge’ River of the French. The actual truth is that the French called it Rogue River themselves. Everything is against the assumption that it once was ‘Rouge River’- changed by Missourians to Rogue River, on the theory that ‘them French couldn’t spell’.” in his journal for Monday, September 16, 1833, John Work of the Hudson’s Bay Company uses the name River Coquin, referring to what is now known as Rogue River, and the text indicates that the name Coquin was already in use by the fur brigades. In September, 1841, Henry Eld of the Wilkes Expedition used the names Rogue River and Rascally River in his journal. Wm. P. McArthur charted this stream as Rogue River for the USC&GS in 1850. Rogue River was called by the Indians Trashit, and by act of the territorial legislature, January 12, 1854, Gold River. See Session Laws, page 29: also the Oregonian, November 15, 1883; letter by “Pioneer.” The old name was restored in 1855. For history of the name, see the Oregonian, November 15, 1883. For entertaining editorial about name Rogue River, larded with poetry, ibid., May 23, 1935.   Roxy Ann Peak, Jackson County. Will G. Steel was authority for the statement that this well-known feature in the Rogue River Valley was at one time known as Skinner Butte. He said that the present name was bestowed by pioneer packers in 1854 in honor of Roxana Baker, an early settler nearby.   Shady Cove, Jackson County. Shady Cove is on Rogue River between two and three miles south of Trail. The post office is on the Crater Lake Highway near the concrete bridge which carries the highway over the river, but the cove itself is up river a few hundred yards and on the southeast side of the stream. The name is descriptive of a little nook on the river bank, but is not particularly applicable to the locality of the post office and the highway bridge. Shady Cove post office was established in September, 1939, with Mrs. Lillian F. Hukill postmaster. The compiler has been informed that the name Shady Cove was applied to the place upstream from the post office some years before the office was established, by one J. Powell of Medford.   Trail, Jackson County. Trail is a post office on Rogue River at thee mouth of Trail Creek. Trail Creek is so known because an Indian trail from Rogue River to Umpqua River traversed its banks, forming a short cut between the military road and Roseburg in pioneer days. Will G. Steel is authority for the statement that the earlier name of Trail Creek was Stewart Creek, but it does not now go by that name.   This information is from Oregon Geographic Names, Lewis A. McArthur , fourth edition.
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