Gales Creek and Gales Peak nearby were named for Joseph Gale, who came to Oregon in 1834 with Ewing Young from California. He was born April 27, 1801, near Washington, D.C. He settled on East Tualatin Plain and afterwards at the foot of Gales Peak, on a tributary of Tualatin River, and later in Eagle Valley, then in Union but now in Baker County. Gale, in his younger days, followed the sea; afterwards, he became a trapper in the Rocky Mountains. Gale was master of the Star of Oregon, the first ship built in Oregon, which was launched in the Willamette River in 1841 and finished in 1842. Lt. Charles Wilkes gave him papers for sailing the Star of Oregon. He sailed the schooner to San Francisco Bay. For story of this enterprise, see magazine section of the Oregonian, May 18, 1941, and OPA Transactions for 1891. Together with Alanson Beers and David Hill, Gale constituted the executive committee of the provisional government, elected July 5, 1843. He died in Eagle Valley, Union County, Oregon, December 13, 1881. For his biography, seethe Oregonian, December 29,1881, pg. 4; February 12,1882, pg. 4; October 12, 1883, pg. 1; May 9,1877, pg. 4. "Captain Gale has always been a man of great energy, brave, fearless and honest" (J. W. Nesmith, in an address before OPA on pg. 12 of Transactions for 1880). Gales Creek post office, named for the stream nearby, was established September 10, 1874, with Lester Ray first postmaster. The place was sometimes called Gales City. There was a station named Gales on the west-side railroad a little north of Gaston, but this had nothing to do with the community of Gales Creek.