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...)
The Barlow Road (at inception, Mount Hood Road) is a historic road over and around Mount Hood. It was built in 1846 by Sam Barlow and Philip Foster, with authorization of the Provisional Legislature of Oregon, and served as the last overland segment of the Oregon Trail. Its construction allowed covered wagons to cross the Cascade Range and reach the Willamette Valley, which had previously been nearly impossible. Even so, it was by far the most harrowing 100 miles (160 km) of the nearly 2,000-mile (3,200 km) Oregon Trail. Before the opening of the Barlow Road, pioneers traveling by land from the east followed the Oregon Trail to Wascopam Mission (now The Dalles) and floated down the Columbia River to Fort Vancouver, then a perilous and expensive journey. It was also possible to drive livestock over Lolo Pass on the north side of Mount Hood, but that trail was too rugged for vehicles and so unsuitable for wagons. The Barlow Road begins at The Dalles and heads south to Tygh Valley (some consider Tygh Valley to be the beginning), then turns west and roughly parallels the White River on the north and then west, crosses the south shoulder of Mount Hood at Barlow Pass, follows Camp Creek and the Sandy River for some way, and finally leads to Oregon City. The road was rendered largely irrelevant in the early 1900s by the construction of the Mount Hood Highway. It still exists as a dirt road in some places, while most other parts have been paved over by modern streets and highways.
Gus Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an AmericanAcademy Award-nominated film director, photographer, musician, and author. Born in Kentucky, the family moved around with Van Sant living in a variety of cities, but he graduated from The Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon before attending the Rhode Island School of Design in 1970. He started as a painter, but later changed his major to cinema. After school he went to Europe and then Los Angeles where in 1976 he got a job working for Ken Shapiro. His experiences in LA led to a 1981 film he filmed titled Alice in Hollywood which was never released. He would move to New York and work in advertising for a time, using the money he earned for film projects. Van Sant would return to Portland where he would work as an independent film maker and produce films such as Drugstore Cowboy. Later works include Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, and Finding Forrester. As an actor, Van Sant has appeared in a cameo on screen in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back playing himself. He has written the screenplays for most of his early movies, and has written one novel, Pink. As a musician, Van Sant has released two albums: Gus Van Sant and 18 Songs About Golf. The openly gay writer, director, and musician lives in Portland.
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 in 1881, George Washington Weidler(pictured), owner of Willamette Steam Mills and Manufacturing Company, became the first person to sell electric lighting in Portland, Oregon?
... that the Whitehorse Ranch in southeast Oregon voluntarily removed its cattle from 50,000 acres (200 km2) of its BLM grazing allotment for three years to allow watershed and riparian areas to recover?
Madam Speaker, although much work is left to be done as our communities start to recover from the severe storms that ravaged Oregon and Washington on December 2 and 3, 2007, we can reflect and be grateful for the hard work of the thousands of our fellow Pacific Northwesterners who helped neighbors, families, and complete strangers during the storms and their aftermath. ... We were all shocked by the devastating impact that these storms wreaked on Oregon. More than 10 inches of rain fell in a 24-hour period with wind gusts ranging from 60 to 129 miles an hour. ... Thankfully, first responders and ordinary citizens moved quickly to help their fellow Oregonians cope with the storm. ... Selfless Oregonians from across the State came to help in what turned out to be a spectacular response effort. It has been incredible to see the extraordinary efforts of so many.
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