Saint Mary's Peak Coastal Range, Oregon

I find myself living very close to a small mountain here in Oregon called Mary’s Peak.  I have been exploring this area taking photos of the spring wildflowers. Since so many flowers have been dedicated to St Mary over the centuries it made me wonder. Was Mary’s Peak named after Mother Mary? This threw me into researching how this mountain got its name.  I came across an article in Corvallis Gazette that gave me the answer.

The local Native American tribes were called the Kalapuya their permanent camp was along what is now known as Mary’s River. The original Indian name of this mountain was known as ” tcha Timanwi,” or “where the spirit dwells”.  This mountain was a place for vision quest, a place to find one’s soul purpose.  This is the original essence of this mountain, now known as Mary’s Peak.

But is was in the early 1800s the Hudson Bay Company’s French fur traders established their camp within the sites of what is now Mary’s Peak. The French were called Voyageurs and were known to inter-married with the Native American women. They settle in what is now called “French Prairie in Marion County”.  The Voyageurs being Catholic honored this coastal range and named it after the Virgin Mary and called it  “St Maries”.

The Methodist Missionaries came to the area in 1834 to convert the Indians that were still remaining in the Kalapuya tribes.  Many Natives died from being exposed to the whites man’s diseases. The settlers poured into the Oregon Territory making land claims. The population being mostly Protestant dropped the name of St Maries to Mary’s Peak.

This small mountain height is only 4,097 feet but is the highest point in Oregon’s Coast Mountain Range.