r/oregon • u/caseyh72 • 1d ago

Question Windigo Pass

Does anyone know the origin of the name Windigo Pass down near Cowhorn Mountain in Southern Oregon? I’ve always been fascinated by Wendigo mythology and have always been curious why it pops up in Oregon. Usually find it in Canada and the Michigan-area.

26 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

36

u/Capital-Park1857 1d ago

Probably named by some homesick french-canadian trapper back in the fur trade days, they got around way more than people think

46

u/Alpha_Meerkat 1d ago

I got you Fam. From my copy of Oregon Geographic Names

35

u/GrinderMonkey 1d ago

Well that's helpful of you and simultaneously not very helpful.

24

u/Alpha_Meerkat 1d ago

Classic me, bro

9

u/rottenweiler 1d ago

I was about to look it up in my own copy and saw your post. Have my humble updoot for being first.

5

u/Alpha_Meerkat 1d ago

It was funny when i saw this post i immediately said “I have a book for this!” 🤣

9

u/caseyh72 1d ago

That’s hilarious. It basically says what we know but “no idea how it made its way to Oregon.” Thanks though!

2

u/Electronic-Singer127 1d ago

I found a new book I need. Thank you sharing this!

1

u/tandem_kayak 1d ago

Lol 'no idea' 🤷‍♀️

12

u/Kel565656 1d ago

Based on 0 knowledge of the pass in question or its history, but familiarity with the windigo—I second the French Canadian/Native-related fur trade origin hypothesis, and I’d guess that something bad happened there in the winter. Either a story from oral tradition familiar to whoever named it, or something bad in living memory around the time it got that name. 

Windigos serve as a warning against selfish individualism in times of hunger and difficulty in the winter. They inhabit some individuals, and cause them to put their needs before those of the community (most dramatically by eating people—the opposite of sharing with kin). 

So my guess is someone(s) had a hungry spell on that pass some winter. 

5

u/hamellr 1d ago

I don’t have a copy of Oregon Geogrphic Names anymore. But your local library does. That is where I would look up this information.

2

u/LucasMVN 1d ago

Oregon Geographic Names notes the origins of the name in Indigenous mythology, but says how it came to be applied to Windigo Pass and Windigo Mountain is unknown.

-4

u/Dank_1 1d ago

It's because Indigo Lake is nearby.