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ZIGZAG
OREGON

Zigzag Oregon 97049

On Oct. 11, 1845, Joel Palmer crossed the deep ravine of Zigzag Canyon near timberline on Mount Hood. In his journal for that day he uses the following description: "the manner of descending is to turn directly to the right, go zigzag for about one hundred yards, then turn short round, and go zigzag until you come under the place where you started from; then to the right, and so on, until you reach the base." the members of the Barlow party, who crossed south of Mount Hood without wagons in October 1845, used a trail that ascended White River nearly to timberline and then traversed west not far from the 1989 alignment of the Timberline Trail. After crossing Zigzag Canyon they descended one of the ridges of Zigzag Mountain. It is obvious that the principal stream was identified by the crossing. The river is no more crooked than adjoining streams and there is no reason to believe it was named for an especially irregular alignment. For a detailed account of the investigation of the south side of Mount Hood and the discovery of Barlow Pass, see the entries for Oct. 1845 in Joel Palmer's Journal of Travels over the Rocky Mountains, a photographic reproduction of which was made in 1966. The name Zigzag has also come to be applied to Zigzag Glacier on Mount Hood as well as to a community two miles west of Rhododendron. Zigzag post office was established in 1917 and operated intermittently until 1974.

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