Moody Island
By Sherry Woods Kaseberg
Regarding a proposal made by Sherry Kaseberg and Brian Stradley to the Oregon Geographic Names Board, Sherman County Court (Board of Commissioners) approved and supported the name, Moody Island, for this feature because of the several Moody activities and facilities near this Deschutes River site. The Oregon Geographic Names Board approved this proposal and forwarded it to the federal names board where it received final approval.
This island is a sand bar over a rock base. It supports some grass and shrubs and varies in size according to seasonal flows. It is located above the highway and railroad bridges and the Oregon Trail crossing of the Deschutes River, and lies between Heritage Landing and Deschutes State Park. Fishermen favor the spot in season.
Malcolm A. Moody of The Dalles was a member of a Wasco County pioneer family and a U.S. Representative in Congress. Moody toll bridge was located near the mouth at the Moody orchard, and Moody was an Oregon Trunk rail station on the W. bank. Malcolm Moody owned a power site nearby. The post office named Moody was established to handle mail for construction crews along the Oregon Trunk line, and was moved across the river into Sherman County in 1922 and the name changed to Miller. The Moody Rapids are identified in the Handbook to the Deschutes River Canyon by Quinn, Quinn and King, 1979.
In the 1913 Standard Atlas of Sherman County, Oregon, M.A. Moody’s holdings in 1913 included: T2N R15E, a portion of Sections 26 and 35, adjacent to the Deschutes River at the mouth; T1N R15E, portions of Sections 2 & 14, 31 and 32, along the Deschutes River; and T1S R16E, part of Sections 4 & 5.