You may recall my post of March 7th in which I told you of a canyon in southern Oregon inappropriately named "Greaser Canyon". I brought this misnomer to the attention of a member of the Geographic Place Names Board and a regular columnist of items historically Oregon for the Oregonian newspaper. At the time of the post I had not received a reply to my question about the origin of the name and my suggestion that it be changed to something more appropriate to the realities of modern Oregon.
I now have a kind reply. As with most things these days, there is good news and bad news. The bad news is not only is there a Greaser Canyon, but a Greaser Basin, Greaser Ridge, Greaser Lake and Greaser Ridge. A few man made features are also 'greasers'. But I will stick to the geographic ones since that is in my correspondent's bailiwick. The columnist rightly pointed out the effort being made, not only in Oregon, but elsewhere in the West to change 19th century place names that may offend some in our more diverse citizenry. You may be familiar with examples. The derogatory term for a native woman, "squaw" is but one. I am informed that inappropriate names cross color lines too. "Whorehouse Meadow" was changed to the less succinct but more polite "Naughty Girl Meadow". Just saying that name is enough to convince you the change did not last. It did not. Some changes have more staying power because they right a social injustice. "Darkey Creek" was changed to the last name of the black freeman who settled nearby the banks of Southworth Creek.
I think the 'greaser' names fall into this last category. The board member agrees,"given the increasing prominence of the Latin community in Oregon." He is not sure of the names origin, but because of its proliferation he "could not imagine any racial connotation attached to it". However, he did offer the more candid opinion of an expert colleague who thought it may have derived from vaqueros brought in to work a prominent white man's spread in the 1880s. This explanation I find convincing since Mexican cowboys--vaqueros--were known to whites as "greasers" for the oil they used to groom their hair. The term may have been a mere commonplace in the 1880s, but it is now a derogatory racial slur. The good news is that the names can be changed if the Board is petitioned to do so. So if you live in Oregon and would like to see these place names changed to something less offensive but equally descriptive--such as Vaquero Lake--contact me at the address on the navigation bar and join in making more history.