Oregon has been home to many indigenous nations for thousands of years. The first European traders, explorers, and settlers began exploring what is now Oregon's Pacific coast in the early to mid-16th century. As early as 1564, the Spanish began sending vessels northeast from the Philippines, riding the Kuroshio Current in a sweeping circular route across the northern part of the Pacific. In 1592, Juan de Fuca undertook detailed mapping and studies of ocean currents in the Pacific Northwest, including the Oregon coast as well as the strait now bearing his name. The Lewis and Clark Expedition traversed Oregon in the early 1800s, and the first permanent European settlements in Oregon were established by fur trappers and traders. In 1843, an autonomous government was formed in the Oregon Country, and the Oregon Territory was created in 1848. Oregon became the 33rd state of the U.S. on February 14, 1859.
Today, with 4.2 million people over 98,000 square miles (250,000 km2), Oregon is the ninth largest and 27th most populous U.S. state. The capital, Salem, is the third-most populous city in Oregon, with 175,535 residents. Portland, with 652,503, ranks as the 26th among U.S. cities. The Portland metropolitan area, which includes neighboring counties in Washington, is the 25th largest metro area in the nation, with a population of 2,512,859. Oregon is also one of the most geographically diverse states in the U.S., marked by volcanoes, abundant bodies of water, dense evergreen and mixed forests, as well as high deserts and semi-arid shrublands. At 11,249 feet (3,429 m), Mount Hood is the state's highest point. Oregon's only national park, Crater Lake National Park, comprises the caldera surrounding Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States. The state is also home to the single largest organism in the world, Armillaria ostoyae, a fungus that runs beneath 2,200 acres (8.9 km2) of the Malheur National Forest. (Full article...)
Mount Thielsen, or Big Cowhorn is an extinctshield volcano in southern Oregon that has been so deeply eroded by glaciers that there is no summit crater and the upper part of the mountain is more or less a horn. Thielsen is a relatively old Cascade volcano and cone-building eruptions stopped relatively early. Damage caused during the last two or three ice ages remains visible. Thielsen's spire-like top is hit by lightning so often that some rocks on the summit have melted into a rare mineraloid called lechatelierite, a variety of fulgurite. The mountain itself has earned the nickname "the lightning rod of the Cascades." Diamond Lake lies to the west of Mount Thielsen and beyond lies Mount Bailey, a much less eroded and younger stratovolcano. Mount Thielsen is located directly north of Crater Lake. Its sharp peak is a prominent feature of the skyline visible from Crater Lake National Park. Both of the volcanoes are part of the Oregon High Cascades, a range that sections off the stratovolcanoes of Oregon that are younger than 3.5 million years. Climbing routes around the volcano led to tourism. In 2009, Thielsen was selected as Oregon's best hiking trail. Its skiing trails are also tourist attractions.
Robert Cyril Stebbins (March 31, 1915 – September 23, 2013) was an American herpetologist and illustrator known for his field guides and popular books as well as his studies of reptiles and amphibians. His Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, first published in 1966, is still considered the definitive reference of its kind, owing to both the quality of the illustrations and the comprehensiveness of the text. A professor of zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, for over 30 years, he was the first curator of herpetology at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, a 1949 Guggenheim fellow, and author of over 70 scientific articles. Much of his work focused on reptiles and amphibians along the West Coast, including Western Oregon. His discovery of the ring species phenomenon in Ensatina salamanders is now a textbook example of speciation, and he performed extensive research on the parietal eye of reptiles. He produced nature films, supported science education in primary grades, and organized conservation efforts that aided in the passing of the 1994 California Desert Protection Act. After retirement he continued to paint, collect field notes, and write books. Stebbins is commemorated in the scientific names of three species: Batrachoseps stebbinsi, the Tehachapi slender salamander; Anniella stebbinsi, a legless lizard; and Ambystoma tigrinum stebbinsi, the endangered Sonora tiger salamander. After retiring from teaching he moved to Eugene, Oregon.
April 18, 1877, former state senate president and the first doctor and teacher in Portland, Ralph Wilcox, commits suicide while at work at the federal court in Portland.
... that Oregon banned alcohol twice(logo of trade group pictured) before the rest of America: once prior to statehood, from 1844 to 1845, and then again in 1915, four years before passage of the 18th Amendment?
... that future state senator William T. Vinton was sent to jail for contempt of court when he refused to sign a city paving contract, but was later vindicated by an Oregon Supreme Court decision?
Representing the people of Oregon's Second District is an honor and a privilege. Covering more than 70,000 square miles in twenty counties throughout eastern, southern and central Oregon, our district is breathtaking and diverse.
Mount Jefferson is an inactive stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc, the Cascade Range and is the second-highest mountain in Oregon. Situated in the far northeastern corner of Linn County about 60 miles (96 km) east of Corvallis, Jefferson is in a rugged wilderness and is thus one of the hardest volcanoes to reach in the Cascades (logging road 1044 does come within 4 miles (6 km) of the summit, however).
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