Coin of the Month

Mount Hood National Forest Quarter

The Mount Hood National Forest quarter is the last quarter released in 2010. The quarter's image shows Mt. Hood in the background and Lost Lake in the foreground. Want to know how these features got their names?

According to the Web site of the United States Forest Service, Mount Hood was named after Lord Samuel Hood. Lord Hood was an admiral of the British Royal Navy. Lt. William Broughton named the peak when he identified it on October 29, 1792.

Lost Lake, 10 miles northwest of Mt. Hood, was named almost 100 years later. As the story goes, it was known in the area, but it was "officially discovered" in 1880.

A group of 11 men was looking for the lake, but when they got to where they thought it should be, it wasn't there. One man reckoned they were lost, but another man joked that it was the lake that was lost. They found it after a little more searching, and gave it the name "Lost Lake" because of that comment.

Traveling in the area was difficult at the time because the ground was covered with ash from a serious forest fire a few years before. It is said that the fire was started by a curious camper who wondered whether the dried moss on the trees would burn or not. With one touch from a smoldering stick, he quickly found out!

You can read more about this site on the Mount Hood National Forest quarter information page.

—Nero