| I | INTRODUCTION |
Oregon, one of the Pacific states of the United
States. It is bordered on the north by Washington, on the east by Idaho, on the
south by Nevada and California, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. Oregon
contains some of the most beautiful scenery in the United States as well as some
of the nation’s most fertile soils and richest timberlands. However, it was the
beaver that first gave rise to the development of Oregon.
Oregon’s nickname, the Beaver State,
harks back to the early years of the 19th century. Fur hats were fashionable at
that time, in northeastern cities, and Oregon’s streams were an important source
of beaver. With competition fierce among the fur companies for control of the
western lands, adventurous trappers, called mountain men, became the first white
people to know the region well. Later, when the rage for beaver hats had passed
and Oregon’s beaver supply was all but exhausted, the mountain men showed the
early pioneers a route they had picked out in their trapping years. Known as the
Oregon Trail, it took thousands during the 1840s to the fertile Willamette
Valley, where wheat, fruits, and vegetables thrived. Settlers were also drawn to
other parts of the state, where a profitable timber industry later developed
around Oregon’s bountiful supply of Douglas fir trees.
In the 1990s the timber industry, while still
critical to Oregon’s economy, waned as access to old growth stands of trees
diminished. Meanwhile, manufacturing grew, fueled by technology industries in
the Willamette Valley.
The origin of the state name is uncertain. It
may, however, be derived from the French ouragan, meaning storm or
hurricane. The Columbia River may have been called the River of Storms by
the early French Canadian trappers. Oregon entered the Union on February 14,
1859, as the 33rd state. Salem is Oregon’s capital. Portland is its largest
city.
| II | PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY |
Oregon ranks tenth in size among the states,
covering an area of 254,806 sq km (98,381 sq mi), including 2,719 sq km (1,050
sq mi) of inland water and 207 sq km (80 sq mi) of coastal water over which it
has jurisdiction. The state has a roughly rectangular shape with a width from
east to west of 669 km (416 mi) and a length from north to south of 476 km (296
mi). The mean elevation is 1,000 m (3,300 ft).
| A | Natural Regions |
Oregon includes parts of four major
physiographic provinces (natural land regions) of the United States. The Pacific
Border province occupies the western part of the state and encompasses the
Oregon Coast Range, the Klamath Mountains, and the Willamette Valley. The
Sierra-Cascade province is dominated by the Cascade Range, which parallels the
Pacific Border province. The Columbia Plateau lies in the northeastern and north
central part of the state. It is subdivided into the Blue Mountains, the
Deschutes-Umatilla Plateau, the Harney Desert, and the Payette Section. In the
south is Oregon’s fourth physiographic region, a subdivision of the Basin and
Range province called the Great Basin.
The Oregon section of the Coast Ranges is
typical of such systems, with ridges running parallel to the coast and narrow
valleys between the ridges. The crests of the ridges reach an average height of
550 m (1,800 ft) in the north. In the south they are higher, reaching an average
height of nearly 1,080 m (3,600 ft). The high peaks and rugged headlands along
the coast are formed of igneous rock intruded into sedimentary formations. The
highest of the mountains is Marys Peak (1,249 m/4,097 ft).
Abutting the Oregon Coast Range are the
higher and more rugged Klamath Mountains, which extend southward into
California. Their highest peaks exceed 2,100 m (7,000 ft). The ridges and peaks
are made up of a complex mass of relatively old marble and limestone as well as
serpentine, shale, and hard sandstone. This mountain structure has yielded
considerable quantities of gold, chromite, and nickel. There are a few alluvial
basins in the Klamath Mountains, notably the Rogue River Valley around the
cities of Medford and Ashland, a smaller alluvial lowland near Grants Pass, and
another in the vicinity of Cave Junction. These lowlands provide favorable
locations for farms and cities and are densely populated.
The Willamette Valley is the only large
alluvial lowland in Oregon. The heart of the state, it contains the largest
cities and a majority of Oregon’s population. The Willamette River meanders back
and forth across this valley, which is more than 240 km (150 mi) long and up to
50 km (30 mi) wide. Some hilly areas emerge from the lowland, such as the Salem
and Eola hills in the middle of the valley. Elsewhere the lowland is level, and
in places artificial drainage is required to make it habitable.
The Cascade Range, containing some of
Oregon’s most magnificent scenery, extends the entire length of the state. The
general level of the high plateau of the Cascades is 1,500 m (5,000 ft), but
numerous sharp volcanic peaks lie above the plateau level of this mountain
range. Among them is Mount Hood (3,426 m/11,239 ft), the highest peak in Oregon.
Other peaks are Mount Jefferson and a series of three peaks called the Three
Sisters, all of which are more than 3,000 m (10,000 ft) high. Passes traversed
by east-west highways provide fairly easy travel through these mountains, except
in winter, when they are sometimes blocked by snow.
The Columbia Plateau, which extends into
Washington and Idaho, is primarily the result of great extrusions of lava from
fissures and vents that once covered a wide area. One of the major divisions of
the Columbia Plateau is formed by the Blue Mountains, which might be more
accurately described as a large plateau with some steep and rugged areas. The
Wallowa Mountains, which lie in the extreme northeastern part of the state, are
sometimes considered a part of the Blue Mountains. In the Wallowas, erosion has
exposed the granite underlying the lavas, and the highest part of this region,
which is severely glaciated, contains many spectacular peaks and glacial
lakes.
Good farmland is found in small alluvial
basins in the northeast, around La Grande, Baker City, and Enterprise. These
basins are well drained by rivers and receive water for irrigation from the
adjacent mountain areas. One of the most dramatic features of this northeastern
area is Hells Canyon of the Snake River, the deepest gorge in North America,
running along the Oregon-Idaho border. The Snake River has cut a narrow gorge
into the lava flows of the nearby mountains, forming a canyon, which in places
lies 1,800 m (6,000 ft) or more below the adjacent uplands.
The Deschutes-Umatilla Plateau extends
eastward from the northern Cascades to the vicinity of Pendleton. The
Deschutes-Umatilla is a lava plateau dissected by the canyons of the Deschutes,
John Day, Umatilla, and other rivers. The Harney Desert, or High Lava Plains,
extends from the central Cascades eastward to the vicinity of Malheur Lake. It
consists of relatively young lava flows, covered in places by ash and pumice.
Only the irrigated part near the Cascades is very productive. The Payette
Section, or Owyhee Upland, consists of old lava plateaus that have been cut up,
or dissected, by the action of streams. The lower canyon of the Owyhee has been
dammed to produce a long reservoir lying between rugged multicolored cliffs that
irrigates a large area near the Snake River.
Oregon’s fourth physiographic region, the
Great Basin, is found in south central Oregon, east of the Cascades. Here
north-south ranges alternate with broad basins. Some of the basins contain
intermittent lakes. An extensive irrigated area near Klamath Falls is supplied
with water from the Cascade Range.
| B | Rivers and Lakes |
The Columbia River forms most of the
Oregon-Washington boundary, and with its tributaries this great river drains a
large portion of Oregon. From the point where the Columbia first touches the
state, at Wallula Gap, the river runs in a shallow gorge, deepening as it
approaches the Cascades. This part of the river once had many rapids and falls,
but is now navigable by large vessels because of dams and locks that have been
built along much of its length. An important tributary of the Columbia is the
Snake River, which forms part of the Oregon-Idaho boundary. The Snake rises in
Yellowstone National Park and flows through Wyoming and Idaho before reaching
Oregon. It supplies water for irrigation and power. The Willamette River, the
most important within the state, has its headwaters in the high Cascades, north
of Crater Lake. It supplies water for cities and industries in the valley and
has become an important amenity. The Deschutes River collects water from the
eastern flanks of the Cascade Mountains before joining the Columbia near The
Dalles. The rivers of the northern Oregon coast are short, generally draining
only the western side of the Oregon Coast Range, although the Siuslaw and Umpqua
rivers traverse the entire range farther south. The Rogue River drains a large
area in the southwest of the state.
The lakes of Oregon include coastal
dune-blocked lakes as well as the lakes of the high Cascades and several shallow
basin lakes in the more arid areas. Oregon’s largest lake is Upper Klamath Lake,
which lies on the eastern fringes of the Cascades. In the high Cascades, most of
the lakes were formed either by glacial action or by lava flows that dammed up
stream valleys. Water from these lakes is used in lower regions for irrigation
and general water supply. Near the crest of the Cascades are two large lakes,
Odell and Waldo. Also in the Cascades is spectacular Crater Lake, which is the
deepest lake in the United States.
In the Wallowa Mountains are several lakes
of glacial origin, the largest of which is Wallowa Lake. In south central
Oregon, some of the lakes occupy large basins in areas of interior drainage and
therefore have a sharply fluctuating water level, depending on the amount of
rainfall. On occasion they even dry up. Included in this group are Summer,
Abert, Harney, and Malheur lakes.
| C | Coastline |
The coastline of Oregon is regular, with
few indentations or promontories. Beaches fringed with low dunes line many parts
of the coast. Rugged cliffs and headlands make up the rest of the shoreline. The
most important bays are Tillamook Bay, Yaquina Bay, and Coos Bay, the leading
ocean harbor for freighters on the Oregon coast.
| D | Climate |
The chief influences on Oregon’s climate
are the relative distances from the ocean of given areas and the mountain ranges
paralleling the coast.
The region from the coast to the Cascades
has a temperate marine climate. Because of the moderating effect that nearby
ocean water has on seasonal temperatures, summers are cool and winters are mild.
The average temperature of the coldest month is well above freezing, and
temperatures in the warmest month are generally below 21° C (70° F).
The Cascade Range and the Blue Mountains
of northeastern Oregon have a highland type of climate, with cool summers and
severe winters. The average January temperature is below freezing, and there is
usually a snow cover for many months of the year. Snow is most abundant on the
western slopes of the northern Cascade Range, where as much as 15 m (50 ft)
accumulates during the winter. Precipitation in the coastal areas, the Cascades,
and the Blue Mountains is the highest in the state. It reaches its maximum on
the western slopes of the northern Oregon Coast Range, where it may exceed 3,800
mm (150 in) annually. All of the western slopes of the Oregon Coast Range,
Klamath Mountains, and Cascade Range capture moisture from the winds off the
Pacific and have at least 1,300 mm (50 in) of precipitation yearly. The
Willamette Valley and parts of the Blue Mountains have 750 to 1,300 mm (30 to 50
in) of precipitation.
The eastern two-thirds of Oregon,
including the Basin and Range province and most of the Columbia Plateau region
except the Blue Mountains, has a semiarid mid-latitude climate. Summers are warm
and winters are cold. Precipitation is 250 to 500 mm (10 to 20 in) annually.
There are within this large region a few deserts, or arid areas, with less than
250 mm (10 in) of precipitation yearly. One such area is found along the
Columbia River, near Umatilla; another, in central Oregon just east of the
Cascades; and a third, in the vicinity of Vale, near the state’s eastern
border.
| E | Soils |
In western Oregon, where the conditions
for soil formation include fairly heavy rainfall and moderate year-round
temperatures, the soil cover is thick but has been quite highly leached of its
soluble minerals. These soils require the addition of fertilizers for optimum
crop production. In the Willamette Valley, the principal agricultural region of
western Oregon, the soils are derived in part from alluvium in the lower parts
of the valley and in part from basaltic and sedimentary rocks in the hillier
portions. Although both rainfall and leaching are moderate here, the addition of
fertilizer is desirable. Eastern Oregon is relatively dry, and its soils are
fairly high in soluble mineral content and do not need much fertilizing. They
include chestnut, or dark-brown, soils and the gray desert soils characteristic
of the Basin and Range province.
| F | Plant Life |
Forests cover 48 percent of Oregon’s land
area. The humid western part of the state, including all of the Pacific Border
province, is mostly forested, as are parts of the Blue Mountains. Near the coast
the forests are of spruce and hemlock, trees that tolerate salt spray well. Most
of the Oregon Coast Range and the slopes of the Cascade Range as far up as 1,200
m (4,000 ft) are covered by Douglas fir and western hemlock. The Douglas fir
produces most of Oregon’s lumber. Above the Douglas fir forest in the Cascades
are a variety of coniferous trees, which include white fir, grand fir, mountain
hemlock, and pine. On the eastern slopes of the Cascades and in parts of the
Blue Mountains the forests are dominated by the ponderosa pine and lodgepole
pine. The large ponderosa pines grow widely apart. The undergrowth of low shrub
and grass that develops between the pines provides nutrients for the development
of new trees and is suitable for grazing by wildlife and livestock.
In river valleys and lowlands, some
species of deciduous trees, including alder, ash, maple, and white oak, are
fairly common. Deciduous trees found in eastern Oregon include cottonwood,
aspen, and birch. Juniper, a conifer, is found throughout eastern Oregon. In the
high desert of southeastern Oregon, sagebrush and bunchgrass prevail.
| G | Animal Life |
Wild animals in Oregon include deer, elk,
and antelope, a great variety of small mammals, upland game birds, and migratory
fowl. Black-tailed deer are common in western Oregon, from the crest of the
Cascades to the sea. Mule deer live mainly in the ponderosa pine forests and in
the sagebrush areas of eastern Oregon, and white-tailed deer occur in scattered
areas throughout the state. The Roosevelt elk is found in the western third of
the state, and the Rocky Mountain elk is found east of the Cascades,
particularly in the Blue Mountains and in the Wallowas. In the southeast are
pronghorns, which feed mainly in the sagebrush areas in winter and migrate to
the higher areas of the Great Basin in the summer season. Bears, cougars, and
coyotes are common in many areas. Smaller mammals include quantities of
cottontails and jackrabbits. Beaver are now on the increase. Muskrat, marten,
fishers, raccoons, and wildcats are fairly common. Upland game birds include
pheasants, bobwhites, valley quail, and mountain quail. Ducks, geese, and other
migratory birds, following their flyways, stop in the area of Upper Klamath Lake
and around the coastal lakes and other waterways. Oregon has 11 national
wildlife refuge areas that protect mammals and migratory fowl.
| H | Conservation |
Oregon residents have long been leaders in
environmental protection. They were the first to adopt legislation banning the
sale of nonreturnable beverage bottles and cans, and later voters banned the
sale of aerosol cans containing fluorocarbons, suspected of damaging the earth’s
ozone layer. In 2006 the state had 11 hazardous waste sites placed on a national
priority list for cleanup due to their severity or proximity to people.
Over the last several decades major
conflicts within the state have arisen as the goals of environmental
organizations clash with those of forest-products and agriculture interests.
Those with occupations based on traditional natural resources utilization, such
as logging, irrigation, and grazing, feel threatened by environmental rules and
regulations restricting long-established approaches to resource use.
Environmental organizations and their members are concentrated in the state’s
few metropolitan areas, for the most part in the Willamette Valley, whereas
Oregonians skeptical of environmental goals make up the majority in rural areas
and small towns throughout most of the rest of the state.
Spotted owls and salmon have become
symbols of the controversy. The rare spotted owl, believed to need old growth
timber as a habitat, has been considered a threatened species since 1990. The
resulting restrictions on logging in areas of spotted owl habitats, coupled with
the results of years of overharvest, has hurt the timber industry. Salmon need
unsilted and obstruction-free rivers to flourish, but the attempts to halt
declining salmon runs have caused reduced output from hydroelectric facilities,
and stimulated efforts to further modify logging and agricultural practices to
improve degraded salmon habitats. These efforts intensified in 1999 after the
federal government classified nine wild salmon species as either threatened or
endangered. This decision expanded the need for salmon protection and
restoration in Oregon waterways, including the Willamette River in the Portland
metropolitan area.
| III | ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES |
From its earliest settlement, Oregon had an
economy dominated by the exploitation of natural resources, particularly forest
and agricultural resources. Beginning in the second half of the 20th century,
however, the state’s economy diversified with the growth of manufacturing and
service industries.
Oregon had a work force of 1,899,000 in
2006. Of those, 35 percent worked in the service industries, doing such jobs as
working in restaurants or computer programming. Another 20 percent worked in
wholesale or retail grade; 12 percent in manufacturing; 17 percent in federal,
state, or local government, including those in the military; 17 percent in
finance, insurance, or real estate; 6 percent in construction; 4 percent in
farming (including agricultural services), forestry, or fishing; and 20 percent
in transportation or public utilities. Employment in mining was a small fraction
of one percent.
In 2005, 15 percent of Oregon’s workers
were unionized.
| A | Agriculture |
One of the outstanding features of
Oregon’s agriculture is its diversity. Sales of crops account for 72 percent of
all agricultural income. Among the many crops are feed crops, such as hay and
barley; wheat; vegetables, including potatoes, onions, snap beans, sweet corn,
and green peas; fruits, including pears, strawberries, cherries, blackberries,
and apples; greenhouse and nursery products; fescue seed, ryegrass seed, and
other seed crops; mint; sugar beets; and hops. Beef cattle and dairy products
are by far the most important livestock commodities. The significance of nursery
and greenhouse products has grown over recent decades, surpassing wheat during
the mid-1990s in the value of agricultural commodity groups.
There were 40,000 farms in Oregon in
2005. Of these, 35 percent had annual sales of more than $10,000; many of the
rest were sidelines for operators who held other jobs. Farmland occupied 6.9
million hectares (17.1 million acres), of which 32 percent was cropland. Of the
cropland area, 29 percent was irrigated. The majority of land used for
agricultural purposes was devoted to range for the grazing of livestock.
| A1 | Patterns of Farming |
The distribution of farm products
depends primarily on climate and markets. Dairy farming is concentrated in the
northwestern part of the state, especially in the Willamette Valley and on the
coast. Here the mild rainy winters and cool summers favor the production of hay
and pasture. Whole milk, butter, and cheese are produced in large quantities,
some for out-of-state markets. Tillamook cheese, one of Oregon’s best-known
brands, is produced in the coastal area, and large quantities of cheese are
produced in the Willamette Valley. Fruits and vegetables are grown and marketed
fresh or processed in canneries and freezing plants in the Willamette Valley,
also the center of the state’s hazelnut production. Medford, in Jackson County,
produces large quantities of pears and other fruits, as does the Hood River
Valley near the Columbia River. Fruits and vegetables are also important in
several places in eastern Oregon, especially in the irrigated areas around Vale
and Ontario. A number of farms in the state have begun growing grapes for use by
local wineries.
Wheat farming, formerly more widespread
in the state, is now concentrated in the north central section, in the
Deschutes-Umatilla Plateau. Here the moderate rainfall, fertile soils, and
relatively cheap land are favorable for the production of spring and winter
wheat and other small grains by dry farming. Much of the wheat is grown for
export, particularly to Asian countries. One of the best wheat-growing regions
is near Pendleton, an area that also produces peas.
Cattle ranching is widely distributed
in Oregon, especially in the eastern part of the state. Here the semiarid
grasslands and forest grazing lands, much of it owned by the federal government,
are used for cattle and sheep. The irrigated areas serve to supply hay and other
forage crops as winter feed for the ranching areas. Some cash crops, such as
sugar beets and potatoes, are produced as well.
| B | Fisheries |
Commercial fishing is one of the oldest
industries in Oregon, but it has never employed a large proportion of the
population. The commercial catch of fish and shellfish in the mid-1990s was
valued at $76 million. Salmon is the principal commercial fish of Oregon. Other
valuable species caught are tuna, crabs, shrimp, and flounder.
| C | Forestry |
Since 1938, Oregon has been the largest
producer of lumber in the United States. About one-sixth of the softwood lumber
produced in the United States comes from Oregon. Forestry and related industries
like the production of lumber, pulp, paper, plywood, and furniture provided
almost one-fourth the personal income from industry in 1996.
Oregon’s forest area covers 10.8 million
hectares (26.6 million acres). Most of the commercial timber comes from the
western part of the state, where Douglas fir accounts for most of the annual
harvest. In the northeastern section of the state, ponderosa pine is the
principal timber tree.
| D | Mining |
Although mining has never played a large
role in Oregon’s economy, two areas have at one time or another produced
considerable quantities of minerals. One is in the southwestern part of the
state, in the Klamath Mountains, and the other is in the northeastern part of
the state, on the margin of the Blue Mountains, especially in the John Day
Valley and in the vicinity of Baker.
A number of metallic minerals, including
nickel, mercury, gold, silver, and copper, have been worked in some quantities.
Small gold rushes in the 1850s created a number of boomtowns. Most of the mines
have been worked out, have reduced production, or have been closed because of
market conditions.
Among the most valuable minerals in
Oregon’s economy are sand and gravel, crushed stone, cement, diatomite, lime,
and pumice. Basaltic lavas, which are widespread, afford an excellent source for
crushed rock. Pumice, in the production of which Oregon ranks first in the
nation, is abundant in the central part of the state. Oregon ranks second in the
nation in the production of diatomite, a chalky stone formed from the fossilized
skeletons of diatoms and often used as an abrasive or as a material for
filtering water. The state also produces semiprecious gemstones, including
agates, opals, jasper, and petrified wood.
| E | Manufacturing |
One out of five wage earners in Oregon is
engaged in one of the various wood-processing industries. This figure jumps to
one of every four wage earners if the manufacture of paper products and wood
furniture is also included. The leading employers in the wood-products
industries are firms engaged in making lumber, plywood, and wood pulp as well as
finished goods such as mobile homes, wood cabinets, and corrugated boxes. The
manufacture of electronic and electrical equipment expanded rapidly during the
1990s and now contributes the most value to the state’s economy of any industry.
A number of high technology firms located in the Portland metropolitan region
during the 1990s, chiefly making semiconductors, computers, or computer-related
products. The food processing industry remains an integral part of Oregon’s
economy. Leading employers include companies preparing frozen or canned fruits
and vegetables and those processing seafood.
Most of the industries of Oregon are in
or near the Willamette Valley. The bordering Cascades and Coast Ranges furnish a
large proportion of the logs and pulpwood for processing, and the farms of the
Willamette Valley produce most the raw materials for the food plants. Many of
the processing plants in other parts of the state are devoted to woodworking
industries, but there are also other types, such as aluminum-processing plants
on the Columbia River. Other Oregon industries include manufacturers of
industrial machinery such as woodworking, construction, and mining equipment;
producers of instruments, most notably equipment to measure electricity as well
as dental and electromedical equipment and supplies; and primary metal
industries, including blast furnaces and steel mills, steel foundries, and
aluminum plants. Printing and publishing are also important industries.
In addition to the rapid rise of high
technology production, manufacturing has tended toward more highly specialized
processing of raw materials. For example, the production of plywood has
increased much more rapidly than the production of lumber. Also, in food
processing, more attention is given to canning and freezing than to the
marketing of fresh produce.
| F | Electricity |
Hydroelectric power plants generate 63
percent of the electricity produced in Oregon. In the late 1990s Oregon ranked
second in the country in the generation of hydroelectric energy, behind only
Washington. The Columbia River basin, which Oregon shares with several other
states, contains one-third of the hydroelectric energy potential of the United
States. The Columbia River furnishes much of Oregon’s hydroelectric energy.
Along the river on Oregon’s northern boundary are the Bonneville Dam, east of
Portland, the Dalles Dam, the John Day Dam, and the McNary Dam, which is near
Umatilla. Dams in the Columbia system outside of the state also feed power into
Oregon. The remaining small share of electricity generated in the state comes
from facilities burning fossil fuels, principally coal and natural gas. The
state’s sole nuclear power plant, near Rainier on the lower Columbia, has been
closed.
| G | Transportation |
By sea, Oregon is well served by
freighters that enter the port of Coos Bay and the various ports on the Columbia
River from Astoria to Portland. Above Portland, barge transportation is
important on the Columbia River. Barges also use the smaller coastal harbors of
Tillamook, Newport, Florence, Reedsport, Gold Beach, and Brookings.
Oregon had 103,873 km (64,544 mi) of
highways in 2005, of which 1,172 km (728 mi) were part of the federal interstate
highway system. The principal route north-to-south is Interstate 5, and the main
road east-to-west is Interstate 84. The two roads meet in Portland.
Some 3,993 km (2,481 mi) of railroads
served Oregon in 2004. Wood products accounted for 50 percent of the tonnage of
freight originating in the state, and paper products made up another 13
percent.
In 2007 the state had 11 airports, many
of which were small private airfields. The principal airport is in Portland,
although air routes form an important transportation link for other cities in
Oregon.
| IV | THE PEOPLE OF OREGON |
| A | Population Patterns |
According to the 2000 census the
population of Oregon was 3,747,455, an increase of 20.4 percent over 1990. When
the entire state is considered, the population is rather sparse, with an average
of 15 persons per sq km (39 per sq mi) in 2006. But the majority of Oregonians
live in a small part of the state, mostly in the Willamette Valley. The greater
Portland metropolitan area is home to more than one-half of the state’s
inhabitants. Of the state’s total population 79 percent is classified as urban.
The population of Oregon has been growing steadily since 1850, when it was only
about 12,000. The growth has been based on a substantial natural increase and a
large migration from other states and from foreign countries.
Whites make up 86.6 percent of the
population while Asians are 3 percent percent. Blacks, most of whom live in
Portland, account for 1.6 percent of the state’s population. Native Americans,
many of whom live in or near the Warm Springs, Umatilla, Siletz, and former
Klamath reservations, constitute 1.3 percent of the population; Native Hawaiians
and other Pacific Islanders are 0.2 percent; and those of mixed heritage or not
reporting race are 7.3 percent. Hispanics, who may be of any race, are 8 percent
of the people.
| B | Cities |
Most of the principal cities in the state
have shown a continuous population growth. Portland, however, decreased in
population during the 1970s but has resurged since. The city had 537,081 people
in 2006. The city is the heart of a metropolitan region that includes seven
counties in Oregon and one in Washington and has a population of 2.3 million
people. In the metropolitan area are residential communities such as Gresham,
Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Lake Oswego.
Eugene, in Lane County, is the second
largest city, with a population of 146,356 within the city limits in 2006.
Contiguous with Eugene is Springfield, with a population of 55,848. Salem is the
capital of Oregon and had a population of 152,239. Other cities include Medford,
with a population of 71,168; Corvallis, with 49,807; Albany, with 46,213; Bend,
with 71,892; McMinnville, with 30,410; Klamath Falls, with 19,785; Grants Pass,
with 29,693; Roseburg, with 20,991; Ashland, with 20,881; Pendleton, with
16,589; and Coos Bay, with 15,999.
Portland is the regional trade center for
Oregon, and its outlying suburbs extend into Washington. Eugene has a large
suburban area, particularly to the south. There is no other city of similar size
between it and Sacramento, California.
| C | Religion |
The Roman Catholic church is Oregon’s
largest religious group, with about one-sixth of the state’s church members. In
terms of numbers in their congregations, leading Protestant churches are the
Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Mormons.
| V | EDUCATION AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS |
| A | Education |
Since the mid-1940s Oregon has usually
ranked high in literacy and above average in educational attainment in
comparison to the rest of the country. Oregon’s public school system dates back
to the provisions made by the territorial legislature in 1849. Until then,
mission schools, the first at French Prairie in 1834, and subscription schools,
supported by tuition fees, were conducted in a number of locations. In 1850
there were only three public schools, with a total of 80 pupils in the
territory, which then embraced all of the present states of Oregon, Washington,
and Idaho as well as parts of Montana and Wyoming. The following year, Portland
organized its first school district, and in 1858 a schoolhouse was built with
tax funds. The state’s first public high school was established in Portland in
1869. Free secondary schools in other cities did not develop until after 1890.
Compulsory attendance laws were enacted in 1889, and they apply to all children
between the ages of 7 and 18. The state’s private schools enroll 8 percent of
the children.
In the 2002–2003 school year Oregon spent
$8,921 on each student’s education, compared to a national average of $9,299.
There were 20.6 students for every teacher (the national average was 15.9
students per teacher). Of those older than 25 years of age in the state in 2006,
87.6 percent had a high school diploma, while the country as a whole averaged
84.1 percent.
| A1 | Higher Education |
Almost all the institutions of higher
learning in the early pioneer days were established by religious organizations.
The first in the Far West was Oregon Institute, founded in 1842 in Salem and
later renamed Willamette University. Lewis and Clark College, in Portland, is
the largest of the independent institutions, and the University of Portland is
the largest of the denominational institutions.
A church-supported college at Corvallis
was adopted as the state agricultural college in 1868 and later developed into
Oregon State University. The University of Oregon, founded in 1872, was opened
in 1876 in Eugene; its schools of dentistry, medicine, and nursing in Portland
were reorganized in 1974 as the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center,
which was later renamed the Oregon Health Sciences University. The two older
universities and Portland State University are the largest units of the Oregon
University System, which also includes colleges at La Grande, Monmouth, and
Ashland and the Oregon Institute of Technology at Klamath Falls. Among the
state’s 26 public and 33 private institutions of higher learning are Reed
College and Pacific Northwest College of Art, both in Portland; Linfield
College, in McMinnville; and Pacific University, in Forest Grove.
| B | Libraries |
The development of libraries in Oregon
began in 1842 with a circulating library in Oregon City. The number of private
libraries in the territory grew from 3 in 1850 to about 30 by 1860. The Library
Association of Portland, which was privately maintained when it was founded in
1864, became a public library in 1902. Over the course of the intervening years,
the Association grew into the Multnomah County Library system, which is now the
state’s largest public library system. The Oregon State Library in Salem,
organized in 1905, provides information to state government agencies, serves as
the Oregon regional library for the blind and print-disabled, and works with
local communities to improve their library services. In the 1950s, federal funds
were made available under the Library Services Act for the extension of library
services to rural areas. The state now has 124 libraries serving its residents.
Each year the libraries circulate an average of 13.4 books for each resident,
one of the highest rates in the country.
The library of the University of Oregon
and those of other colleges and universities maintain important academic
holdings. Among the special collections in Oregon’s libraries are the
Shakespeare collection at the Southern Oregon University library, the Finnish
books in Astoria Public Library, and the reference library of the Oregon
Historical Society in Portland.
| C | Museums |
In addition to the library, the Oregon
Historical Society houses exhibits relating to the history of the Far West. In
1892, the Portland Art Association, a group of the city's civic leaders, founded
the Portland Art Museum, and then later established a school of fine arts. The
University of Oregon in Eugene has a museum of art. The Oregon Museum of Science
and Industry is a privately funded science center in Portland. Several museums,
such as Fort Dalles Museum and the Heritage Museum in Independence, have
displays of local history. The Columbia Gorge Discovery Center/Wasco County
Historical Museum, opened in 1997 and located in The Dalles, houses exhibits on
regional as well as natural history. The Tamastslikt Cultural Institute, which
opened in 1998 on the Umatilla Reservation, documents the tribal history and
contemporary life of the Umatilla, Walla Walla, and Cayuse. The institute is one
of five museums and interpretive centers located along the route of the historic
Oregon Trail through the state of Oregon.
| D | Communications |
Journalism in the Pacific Northwest began
with the publication of the Oregon Spectator in 1846 at Oregon City, the
first newspaper published west of the Rocky Mountains. Portland’s
Oregonian followed in 1850, and the Oregon Statesman appeared the
next year in Oregon City and later moved with the capital to Salem. In 2002
Oregon had 19 daily newspapers. Prominent among them were the Oregonian,
in Portland; the Register-Guard, in Eugene; and the Statesman Journal,
in Salem. In 2002 Oregon had 71 AM and 84 FM radio stations and 21
television stations. The state’s first radio station, KGW in Portland, was
licensed in 1922. KPTV in Portland, Oregon’s first commercial television
station, went on the air in 1953.
| E | Music and Theater |
The Oregon Symphony Orchestra gave its
first performance in 1896. A junior symphony orchestra, among the first in the
nation, was formed in Portland in 1925. In the same year a civic theater was
organized. Drama productions by local groups and visiting players have been
popular in the state since the 1860s. Particularly outstanding are those of the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland.
| VI | RECREATION AND PLACES OF INTEREST |
Oregon offers the vacationer a panorama of
sandy beaches broken by rocky cliffs, lofty snow-clad peaks towering over broad
river valleys, narrow canyons, rushing streams, peaceful lakes, and dense
forests. It also provides ideal opportunities for outdoor activities. Dominated
by Mount Hood, the most popular recreation area, the spectacular mountain
terrain challenges skiers in winter and hikers and climbers in summer. An
abundance of wildlife in the vast forests include deer, elk, small animals, and
birds. Trout, salmon, bass, perch, and other game fish are plentiful in Oregon’s
lakes and streams. Along the coast are sheltered coves for swimming and clam
digging, vast stretches of sand dunes, and forbidding cliffs with huge caves
formed by the crashing breakers.
| A | National Parks and Forests |
Oregon’s only national park, Crater Lake
National Park, surrounds an extinct volcano, Mount Mazama, on the crest of the
Cascade Range. The deep crater, rimmed with high jagged cliffs, encloses one of
the world’s most beautiful and deepest lakes. Crater Lake, which is 10 km (6 mi)
across and 589 m (1,932 ft) deep, is renowned for its unique setting and its
brilliant blue color. On Mount Elijah in the Siskiyou Mountains is Oregon Caves
National Monument, where pillars and stalactites of calcite line passageways and
hang from vaulted domes. The world-renowned John Day Fossil Beds National
Monument in central Oregon is home to a well-preserved fossil record of plants
and animals that spans more than 40 million of the 65 million years of the
Cenozoic Era, or Age of Mammals.
The rich history of the region can be
witnessed at the Nez Perce National Historical Park, devoted to the Nez Perce
people, while Fort Clatsop National Memorial re-creates a winter camp of the
Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 to 1806. The National Historic Oregon Trail
Interpretive Center at Flagstaff Hill documents the history of the Western
pioneer experience and the impact of the Oregon Trail.
The federal government also acts to
preserve the Columbia River Gorge, a spectacular river canyon that cuts through
the Cascade Mountains and is especially popular with windsurfers. The Oregon
Dunes National Recreation Area is on the coast between the Siuslaw River and
Coos Bay in the Siuslaw National Forest, one of only two national forests that
border the Pacific Ocean.
Oregon’s 13 national forests cover more
than 6 million hectares (15 million acres) and offer camping and many
recreational facilities. There are 36 wilderness areas. The largest national
forest is Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in the northeastern part of the state.
The largest unbroken area of national forests runs in a continuous chain
throughout most of the Cascade Range. The Wallowa-Whitman shares with Idaho one
of the deepest gorges in the world, Hells Canyon. Crooked River National
Grassland is in north central Oregon.
The Siuslaw National Forest extends from
Tillamook to Coos County in three separate units and contains some of the most
productive tree-growing land in the United States. The Deschutes National
Forest, located on the eastern flank of the Cascade Mountains in central Oregon,
is one of the most popular forests in the Pacific Northwest because of its wide
variety of recreational opportunities, besides providing commodities ranging
from timber to mushrooms. The Rogue River National Forest consists of two
separate units of land. The western unit of the forest includes the headwaters
of the Applegate River in the Siskiyou Mountains. To the east, the forest
includes the upper reaches of the Rogue River, in the Cascade Mountains. Other
national forests in Oregon include the Fremont, Malheur, Mount Hood, Ochoco,
Siskiyou, Umatilla, Umpqua, Willamette, and Winema.
| B | State Parks |
Oregon’s state park system has about 240
sites, with recreational, scenic, or historic interest.
Southward from Ecola State Park, which
skirts the ocean for 10 km (6 mi), many state parks line the unspoiled seashore.
Among the most popular are Sunset Bay, Battle Rock, and Umpqua Lighthouse state
parks. A number of parks have lake or reservoir frontage, and a number are
located along the picturesque Columbia River. Smith Rock lies in a colorful
canyon cut by the Crooked River, which also flows through The Cove Palisades
State Park on the great lava plateau. Spectacular waterfalls are features of
several parks, including Silver Falls, east of Salem, which has 14 cataracts.
Among the historic sites in the state is the house in Oregon City of John
McLoughlin, who was the chief agent for the Hudson’s Bay Company from 1824 to
1846 and who virtually ruled the territory. A monument in Champoeg State Park
marks the formation of Oregon’s provisional government in 1843.
| C | Other Places to Visit |
Interesting sights near Portland include
the fish ladders, which help salmon swim over the Bonneville Dam, and Multnomah
Falls, which plunge 189 m (620 ft) into the Columbia River. A gallery of trees
and displays relating to forestry industries are exhibited in the World Forestry
Center in Portland, a huge log structure built in 1905 for the Lewis and Clark
Exposition. The courthouse in Jacksonville, a gold rush city, is now a
historical museum. The three largest telescopes in the Northwest are at the Pine
Mountain Observatory near Bend.
| D | Annual Events |
One of Oregon’s most popular events is
the Pendleton Round-Up in September. Thousands of visitors and many participants
are attracted each year to this rodeo, with its revival of Native American and
Old West pageantry. Equally popular is the Shakespeare Festival at Ashland,
where from July through Labor Day, Shakespeare’s plays are presented in an
Elizabethan theater, a replica of the original Globe Theatre in London. Summer
sports events include regattas, water shows, and a salmon derby at Astoria. Each
June, Portland stages a rose festival with a parade and rose-bedecked floats.
The state fair is held early in September in Salem, and rodeos are staged in
various towns throughout the summer and fall. In winter the deep powder snow in
the mountains provides ideal conditions for numerous winter carnivals and ski
competitions. Some of the Native American feasts at the Warm Springs reservation
are open to the public.
| VII | GOVERNMENT |
The original constitution of Oregon has
been in effect since 1857, two years before statehood. It was not amended until
1902. Amendments may be proposed by initiative or by a majority of both houses
of the legislature. Amendments must be approved by a majority of the voters. The
constitution may also be amended by a constitutional convention, which can only
be called if both the legislature and voters give approval.
| A | Executive |
The governor is elected for a term of
four years and is limited to a maximum of two terms in any 12-year period. The
governor serves on several state boards and commissions and, as chairman of the
land board, shares with the secretary of state and the treasurer the
responsibility of supervising the administration of state-owned lands. Other
elected officials are the state attorney general, state labor commissioner, and
a superintendent of public instruction. There is no lieutenant governor. When
the governorship falls vacant, the unfinished term of the governor is served by
the secretary of state, succeeded in turn by the state treasurer, president of
the Senate, and Speaker of the House.
| B | Legislative |
The legislative assembly consists of a
Senate of 30 members, who are elected for four years, and a House of
Representatives of 60 members, who are elected for two years. The legislature
convenes in January of odd-numbered years. A two-thirds vote is necessary to
override the governor’s veto.
| C | Judicial |
Oregon’s court system is headed by a
supreme court of seven justices elected on a nonpartisan ballot for six-year
terms. It also includes an appeals court and circuit, district, county, and
municipal courts.
| D | Local Government |
In most of Oregon’s 36 counties the
administrative body is a county commission of three to five members, most of
whom are elected to four-year terms. Eight counties have adopted home rule,
authorized in 1958 by an amendment to the constitution, which allows them to
choose their own form of government. The same home rule allowance extends to
cities. Most large cities are governed by a council and manager, although
Portland has a mayor and four commissioners. Most smaller cities have a
mayor-council form of government, but several have city managers.
| E | National Representation |
Oregon elects two senators and five
representatives to the Congress of the United States. The state has seven
electoral votes in presidential elections.
| VIII | HISTORY |
| A | Oregon’s First Inhabitants |
Human beings lived east of the Cascade
Range in Oregon more than 11,000 years ago. Village sites on the middle Columbia
River show signs of continuous occupation dating back for at least this amount
of time. Native Americans of Oregon belong to three regional groups: the coastal
peoples, the Columbia Plateau peoples, and the Native Americans of the interior.
Chinook, Chehalis, Tillamook, Yaquina, and other Native American groups lived in
the Columbia River valley west of the Cascades or along the Pacific coast.
Because the coastal climate provided abundant resources, they had a sedentary
lifestyle and lived in permanent villages. Their houses were constructed over
shallow pits, used as a sort of insulation, with walls made out of large planks
of cedar. Some Native American groups had gabled roofs made out of cedar.
The coastal people collected shellfish
at low tide and caught salmon, sturgeon, and trout. They dammed the rivers using
wooden poles and forced migrating fish into their nets. The Native Americans of
the coast also hunted waterfowl using bows and arrows. With sharp stones,
shells, and hot coals they shaped and carved logs into lightweight but sturdy
canoes. Cedar bark was used for a variety of purposes including woven baskets,
mats, and clothing.
East of the Cascade Range in the
southern part of the state live the Klamath-Modoc people. They led a seminomadic
lifestyle, spending the winters in earthen lodges and the summers in portable
dwellings. Although the Klamath-Modoc ate waterfowl, game, and fish, the most
important staple to their diet was seeds. They ate pond lily seeds, a variety of
roots, and berries. The Klamath-Modoc had a structured society based on wealth;
the poorest of these peoples were considered slaves. The Klamath-Modoc had
informal political councils that discussed issues regarding warfare.
On the Columbia Plateau lived the
Shoshone, Nez Perce, Cayuse, Walla Walla, and Yakama Native Americans. The
Native Americans of the Columbia Plateau lived in skin tipis or in
wickiups, portable structures made of woven mats and sagebrush. Their
diet consisted of buffalo, deer, roots, plant bulbs, and berries as well as
migratory salmon and small mammals.
The Nez Perce was the largest Native
American group in the region and the first to use horses. The Nez Perce traveled
extensively with their horses in search of game. They also led military
campaigns against neighboring tribal groups including the Paiutes and the
Shoshone. The Nez Perce occasionally traveled as far as the Great Plains to the
east of the Rocky Mountains to hunt buffalo. On these forays they traded or
fought with the Native peoples of the Great Plains, especially the
Blackfoot.
| B | Early Exploration |
During the 16th century, European
explorers began to investigate the west coast of the Americas, in search of
riches, colonial power, and new trade routes. Spanish navigator Bartolomé
Ferrelo may have ventured up the Oregon coast in 1542, but his crew did not
explore the Oregon shores. In 1579 the English explorer Sir Francis Drake may
have reached the Oregon coast, but he turned back when he ran into the “most
vile, thicke and stinking fogges.”
During the 17th and 18th centuries
Europeans searched for the elusive Northwest Passage, an inland water route
linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. European competition in the Pacific
Northwest intensified as the Russians began to explore present-day Alaska. In
1775 Spanish explorers Bruno Heceta and Juan Francisco Bodega y Quadra sighted a
large bay, which Heceta believed was “the mouth of a great river or of some
passage to another sea.” This waterway turned out to be the entrance to the
Columbia River, but the Spanish expedition did not explore it. The crew
continued their journey north and landed at Point Grenville in Washington.
The English navigator Captain James
Cook also missed an opportunity to explore the mouth of the Columbia River while
seeking the Northwest Passage in 1778. However, Cook, who traded sea otter pelts
with the Native Americans of Nootka Sound in Canada, did inform fur traders
about the Pacific Northwest in his journals, published in 1784. In 1785 the
first British fur trader appeared in the region.
An American fur trader was the first
white person to set foot on Oregon’s shores. In 1788 Captain Robert Gray sailed
into Tillamook Bay to trade with Native Americans. Four years later, after
returning to Boston and completing a voyage to China to sell pelts, Gray
returned to the Pacific Coast. During this trip Gray crossed the mouth of the
great Columbia River, which he named for his ship, the Columbia.
Upon hearing about Gray’s discovery,
English explorer George Vancouver sent a subordinate, Lieutenant William R.
Broughton, to explore the river. Broughton spent three weeks mapping the
Columbia River. Near the present town of Washougal, Washington, he took
possession of the territory for Britain. Later, both the United States and
Britain laid claim to the region known as the Oregon country, which included
present-day Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, as well as parts of present-day
Montana and Wyoming.
| C | The Lewis and Clark Expedition |
When Thomas Jefferson became president
of the United States in 1801, the new nation was already expanding to the west.
In 1803, in a transaction called the Louisiana Purchase, the United States
acquired territory from France that was roughly bounded by the 49th parallel to
the north, the Rocky Mountains to the west, the Mississippi to the east, and the
Gulf of Mexico to the south. To explore the land and to discover whether the
Missouri and Columbia rivers together formed a continental waterway, Jefferson
sent out the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant
William Clark launched their expedition from near St. Louis in 1804. In the
beginning of 1805, the team followed the Missouri and Jefferson rivers into the
Rockies, crossed the Continental Divide with the help of the Shoshone woman
Sacagawea. On October 16, 1805, they reached the Columbia River. In November
they arrived at the Pacific Ocean, and the next spring, after wintering at Fort
Clatsop, Oregon, they returned up the Columbia River and explored the Willamette
River.
The expedition’s successful return to
St. Louis in the fall of 1806 touched off a great interest in the Northwest.
Although Lewis and Clark found no easy route linking the Missouri to the
Columbia, they had successfully opened the way to lands beyond the Rockies.
| D | The Fur Trade in Astoria |
The beaver fur trade was only in its
initial phase in 1810 when John Jacob Astor of New York City launched his own
fur trading business, the Pacific Fur Company. Astor planned to build a chain of
trading posts from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean with a depot at
the mouth of the Columbia River. From this fort, Astor’s ships could carry furs
to China and trading goods to the Russians on the coast of Alaska. Astoria was
established in 1811 at the mouth of the Columbia River.
However, misfortune soon began to
plague the Astorians. During a trading expedition to the north their ship, the
Tonquin, was destroyed and 27 crewmen were killed by Native Americans on
Vancouver Island. Nevertheless, the Astorians established several interior posts
in present-day Washington. In the summer of 1811, David Thompson, a Canadian
explorer and representative of the North West Company, arrived in Astoria. His
intention was to provide an outpost on the Columbia River for his company’s
interior trade. The War of 1812 (1812-1815) between the United States and
Britain put an end to Astor’s ambitions. In January 1813 the Astorians learned
from the North West Company that a British vessel was coming to capture Astoria.
Short of supplies and without hope of receiving any, the Astorians sold their
interests in Astoria to the North West Company.
| E | The Convention of 1818 |
The terms of the Treaty of Ghent, which
ended the War of 1812, required that each signatory power restore all places
taken during the hostilities to their former owners. The United States held that
Astoria was such a place and, furthermore, that it had claims to the Oregon
country because Robert Gray had discovered its principal river, Lewis and Clark
had explored it, and Astor had settled it. The British returned Astoria to
American possession. In 1818 both nations signed a treaty of joint occupation,
agreeing that for a period of ten years, their subjects and citizens could
freely occupy the territory for purposes of trade. This joint occupation
agreement was renewed in 1827 for an indefinite length of time and remained in
effect until 1846. At that time the term “Oregon country” referred to a vast
area extending from the Continental Divide to the Pacific Ocean and from the
present border between California and Oregon to Russian Alaska.
| F | The Hudson’s Bay Company |
In spite of its restoration to the
United States, Astoria, renamed Fort George, remained in the hands of the North
West Company. In 1821 this company was consolidated with its rival, the Hudson’s
Bay Company. Three years later, John McLoughlin, the company’s chief factor, or
chief regional administrator, took charge of the Oregon country and governed the
company’s Columbia District. Because the British assumed that the Americans had
a stronger claim for the lands south of the Columbia River, Fort George was
abandoned and a new depot, Fort Vancouver, was built on the northern bank of the
river about 160 km (100 mi) inland. This depot served as an administrative
capital for a tremendous trapping and trading enterprise.
Hudson’s Bay trappers explored southern
Oregon as well as northern California, Nevada, and Utah in search of furs. Each
summer they returned to the fort, where the pelts were packed for shipment to
Britain on the annual supply ship. The fort was the central European trading
post in the great wilderness. Fort Vancouver also supported a substantial
agricultural business, sending food staples to Russians in Alaska. Herds of
cattle and sheep grazed in neighboring meadows, and vegetables, wheat, and
fruits were grown in its gardens and orchards.
McLoughlin ruled over Fort Vancouver
and the region. The Hudson’s Bay Company policies actively deterred competitors
from establishing themselves in the region and did not encourage American
settlement. Nonetheless, settlers and traders alike stopped at the fort to buy
provisions and to seek advice. McLoughlin maintained civil relations with Native
Americans in the area, and his fort provided evidence of the agricultural
opportunities in the region. These issues actually aided settlement, despite the
company’s policies.
| G | American Settlement |
The first American to enter the Oregon
country, coming overland from California, after the demise of Astor’s company
was the fur trapper Jedediah Smith, whose party of trappers was ambushed by
Native Americans in 1828. McLoughlin came to Smith’s aid and saw that his furs
were recovered, but in return, Smith agreed to leave Oregon.
In 1829 Boston propagandist Hall Kelley
established the American Society for Encouraging the Settlement of the Oregon
Territory and lobbied the Congress of the United States for funds to launch his
venture. Kelley’s publicity efforts influenced Nathaniel Wyeth, a Boston
merchant who traveled to Oregon in 1832 and again in 1834. However, Wyeth’s
attempt to establish a fishery and trading post at the mouth of the Willamette
River was hindered by the Hudson’s Bay Company’s ability to undercut Wyeth’s
production and prices.
Two Methodist missionaries, Jason and
Daniel Lee, responding to a letter circulating throughout the East which claimed
that Native Americans in Oregon desired instruction in Christianity, joined
Wyeth’s caravan in 1834. McLoughlin persuaded Jason Lee to abandon his objective
of working exclusively with Native Americans and to establish a mission in the
Willamette Valley among both the native peoples and American settlers. Later,
other missionaries arrived in the Oregon country and established missions among
Native Americans in the areas that are now Washington and Idaho. Initially, the
Christian gospel appealed to many Native American peoples; however, some soon
became disillusioned. Missionaries did not understand the Native Americans’
cultural beliefs or lifestyles, and the Native Americans did not gain the
material wealth or physical health promised by the missionaries.
If the missionaries converted few
Native Americans, they did succeed in inspiring a large-scale migration to
Oregon. Wyeth and Kelley continued to propagandize about Oregon after returning
to the East. Marcus Whitman, a missionary in present-day Washington, and Jason
Lee encouraged settlement in the Oregon territory in their writings and speeches
on trips east. Their task was made easier by the restlessness, especially in the
river valleys of the Midwest, brought on by the panic of 1837, an economic
depression that made agricultural prices slide and lowered the price of land. In
1842 more than 100 pioneers crossed the Oregon Trail to Oregon. The next year
the Oregon fever really took hold, and the number of immigrants was close to
900. More immigrants arrived yearly.
| H | Early Government |
In 1841, when Ewing Young, a successful
settler, died without leaving any known heirs, it became apparent that the
Oregon country needed a court system to handle legal issues. A council convened,
made up of Methodist missionaries and French-Canadian trappers, to deal with
Young’s estate. However, it was not until 1843 that a provisional constitution,
known as the Organic Law, was drawn up. The laws called for separation of powers
into the judicial, legislative, and executive branches and regulated land
settlement. Taxes were collected on a voluntary basis. The large migration of
1843 led to revisions in the next two years, and new provisions were added to
the constitution regarding taxation and law enforcement.
In June 1846 the United States and
Britain signed a treaty recognizing American claims to the Oregon country south
of the 49th parallel. In August 1848 President James Knox Polk signed a bill
creating the Oregon Territory, and in the following March, Governor Joseph Lane
arrived in Oregon City, which was then the capital, to proclaim the territory
organized. Salem became the capital of Oregon Territory in 1851. Oregon
Territory then included the present states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho as
well as western Montana and part of western Wyoming.
The biggest issue Lane faced as
governor was land ownership. When Congress created the Oregon Territory, it
upheld the laws of the provisional government with the exception of land
settlement laws. Pioneers in the region were relieved when the United States
Congress passed the Oregon Donation Land Act of 1850. This law granted 129
hectares (320 acres) of land to any man who had cultivated land in Oregon
Territory for four consecutive years. If the man was married, his wife was given
an additional 129 hectares of land. Men who came from 1850 to 1855 were given 65
hectares (160 acres) of land and an additional 65 hectares if married. While
this act helped Oregon increase its population, it caused problems with the
Native Americans who already had claims to the land.
In 1850 the majority of Oregon
Territory’s new immigrant population of about 13,000 was concentrated largely in
the Willamette Valley. As the territory grew, there were debates on the question
of statehood. Supporters of statehood claimed that the change in status would
provide Oregon with more money and military protection from Native Americans.
Opponents believed that funding a state government would require a steep tax. In
1857 a constitutional convention was called to draft a constitution and ask
Congress for statehood. The Oregon constitution rejected slavery but barred free
blacks from settling in the state. This exclusion act was not repealed until
1926. On February 14, 1859, Oregon, with its present boundaries, was admitted to
the Union as the 33rd state. Salem remained the capital of the new state.
| I | Conflict with Native Americans |
At first the Native Americans accepted
the presence of Europeans in the region. However, an exception was a massacre at
the Whitman mission near Walla Walla in 1847 by a band of Cayuse people. The
Cayuse did not trust the Whitmans because a large number of Cayuse died in an
outbreak of the measles while the white people survived. The measles epidemic
added to the pressure the Cayuse felt from the increasing white population. The
massacre created a great deal of distrust and fear among settlers. In 1851 a
group of three United States Indian Oregon Treaty commissioners negotiated six
treaties with the Native Americans in the Willamette Valley, but Congress never
ratified them. Later Anson Dart, Oregon’s first Superintendent of Indian
Affairs, negotiated a number of treaties with Native Americans, granting them
special fishing and grazing rights, but these treaties were also never ratified
by Congress. Joel Palmer, appointed as Oregon Superintendent of Indian Affairs
in 1853, managed to obtain treaties from a large number of Native American
peoples by 1855. These treaties were designed to reduce white contact with
Native Americans and to place Native Americans on reservations. In exchange for
ceded land, Native Americans were granted money and annuities.
These treaties, however, did not reduce
the tension between American settlers and Native Americans. In the 1850s, after
whites in the Rogue River valley massacred some of his people and destroyed
their villages, Chief John of the Rogue River people waged war. He surrendered
in 1856 and was imprisoned; his people were moved to a reservation. The Modoc
War of 1872 and 1873 broke out when a band of Modoc, led by Captain Jack,
refused to stay on the Klamath Reservation. Hiding in the lava beds of northern
California, about 50 Native Americans fought off more than 1,000 U.S. troops
until they were forced to surrender.
In 1877 Oregon settlers tried to move
the Nez Perce from their land in the Wallowa Valley to a reservation allocated
to them in a treaty. Led by Chief Joseph, Looking Glass, and others, the Nez
Perce retreated through Idaho and Montana, inflicting a number of defeats on
pursuing U.S. troops before surrendering a short distance away from Canadian
territory.
| J | Economic Growth |
By 1830 the fur trade was waning and
Oregon’s settlers had begun to shift from trapping to farming. When gold was
discovered in California in 1848 and in Idaho, Montana, and eastern Oregon in
1860, prospectors brought in much needed capital, allowing Oregonians to expand
into other industries. Portland business leaders developed the Oregon Steam
Navigation Company, which linked Portland with gold mines of the Inland
Northwest. The city found a ready market for Oregon produce in the mining camps
and cities of Idaho. Portland soon became the largest commercial city in the
Northwest. The Civil War (1861-1865) created a need for manufactured woolen
goods, which helped the textile industry in Salem to grow. When the gold rush
subsided, the export of wheat enabled Oregon to maintain its growing economy. In
1880 the wheat fleet, based in Portland, carried millions of bushels of wheat to
England, Australia, and China.
For a long time, Oregon suffered from a
lack of railroad connections with the Eastern states. Some of its cities and
agricultural areas were interconnected by local railroads. In 1883 Portland was
connected with Saint Paul, Minnesota, by the Northern Pacific Railroad. In 1884
the Oregon Short Line linked the state with the central transcontinental
railroad in Granger, Wyoming. Construction of a line linking Portland with
California was completed in 1887, giving Oregon products outlets in California,
and eastward to Omaha, Nebraska, and Chicago, Illinois. Although the railroad
greatly facilitated immigration, Oregon’s population did not grow as fast as
that of California and Washington.
When timber was depleted in the Midwest
at the turn of the 19th century, the logging industry moved to the Northwest. In
the Cascade and Coast ranges, high-line rigging, powered by steam donkeys, swung
huge logs across slopes broken up by gullies that would otherwise have been
inaccessible for logging. Oxen or horse teams dragged the logs to the nearest
railroad or river. In many cities, sawmills were built for wood processing. The
timber cut in Oregon increased 4,000 fold from 1889 to 1909. Douglas fir was cut
west of the Cascades, and ponderosa pine was the major timber crop east of the
Cascades.
| K | Political Development |
Before Oregon became a state, the
Democratic Party, which represented the political views of the majority of
Oregonians, was controlled by the people from Salem. The Republican Party, which
came into power during the Civil War years, was soon dominated by Portland
attorneys who were closely affiliated with railroad magnates.
The women’s movement became an
important issue in Oregon politics in the 1870s. Feminist Abigail Scott Duniway
campaigned for women’s rights to own property and to vote. In 1884 an amendment
granting women the right to vote was defeated. Women in Oregon were eventually
given the right to vote in 1912.
At the end of the 19th century, farmers
became politically active. The Farmers Clubs, originally established in Illinois
to fight against high shipping costs, opened a branch in Oregon in 1873.
Agrarians formed an independent party, which was remarkably successful in the
1874 legislative elections. The Populist Party, led by Sylvester Pennoyer, also
benefited from farmers’ activism. In 1886 Pennoyer was elected governor, running
on the Democratic ticket. In 1890 he was reelected as a Populist, demanding that
Congress allocate funds to improve the transportation network in Oregon in order
to reduce transportation fees for farmers. The Populist platform also advocated
reforms in education and labor laws.
In the late 19th century, charges of
corruption among government officials and of election fraud led to a demand for
reform. A well-organized campaign planned by William S. U’Ren passed an
amendment to the state constitution establishing the initiative and referendum.
This amendment, adopted in 1902, began Oregon’s experiment in progressive
democracy. The initiative allows voters to propose legislation; the referendum
allows them to vote on proposed legislation. These measures resulted in a number
of reforms, including direct primaries in 1904, recall of public officials in
1908, and presidential preference primaries in 1910. The Oregon System, as these
direct legislative measures were called, placed great responsibility on the
voters. Between 1904 and 1918 Oregon voters adopted 13 constitutional amendments
and passed 35 statutory laws. These laws provided for employer’s liability,
worker’s compensation, abolition of the death penalty (which was restored in
1920, abolished again in 1964, and reenacted in 1984), and the eight-hour day
for workers on state projects and for gainfully employed women. Oregon became
one of the pioneer states in the Progressive movement of the early 1900s.
After World War I (1914-1918), the
Oregon economy declined slightly, and some farmers were forced to reduce their
production. Like the rest of the nation, Oregonians were concerned about the
rise of socialism and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. In 1923 a measure was
passed that abolished parochial and private schools. This act was driven in part
by anti-Catholic sentiment. In 1925 the Supreme Court of the United States
struck down the law as unconstitutional. In addition, legislation was passed
preventing Asian nationals from owning property in Oregon.
| L | The Great Depression |
After the stock market crashed on
October 29, 1929 and the United States entered a period of economic decline
called the Great Depression, Oregon’s economy experienced an important
transition. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, elected in 1932, proposed an
economic plan called the New Deal to counteract the effects of the Depression.
Numerous conservation projects of long-range value were begun by such New Deal
agencies as the Work Projects Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation
Corps (CCC). In cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and other permanent
government agencies, projects were undertaken for reforestation, soil
conservation, irrigation, and flood and forest fire control. Highways and
recreational areas were also built or developed during this period. The most
important New Deal project for Oregon was the Bonneville Dam, completed in 1938,
which harnessed the power of the Columbia River for electricity, navigation, and
flood control.
| M | World War II |
The electric power provided by the
Bonneville Dam was one factor responsible for greatly increasing Oregon’s
industrial output during World War II (1939-1945). During the war, Portland
became a shipbuilding center and the home of numerous wartime industries.
Vanport City was built just north of Portland to house Oregon’s new industrial
workers, and it temporarily became Oregon’s second largest city. After the war,
however, Vanport City’s population dropped to less than half its wartime level,
and the city was destroyed by a flood on the Columbia River in 1948.
During the war a Japanese submarine
shelled Fort Stevens, at the mouth of the Columbia River, but no damage was
done. However, in 1945 a Japanese balloon bomb killed an Oregon family on a
picnic. After Japanese fighter planes dropped bombs on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in
1941, President Roosevelt ordered all Japanese living west of the Cascades to
move east of the mountains because they were considered a security risk.
Japanese nationals and Americans of Japanese descent were forced to move to
makeshift housing in Arkansas, California, Idaho, and Wyoming. When relocation
centers closed, many Japanese returned to their homes to find possessions gone,
their savings and bank accounts impounded, and their fields overgrown. They also
often faced racial prejudice. In 1988 Congress allotted $20,000 in compensation
to each living Japanese American who had been sent to an internment camp during
World War II.
| N | Recent Developments |
Starting in the 1960s, Oregon’s
legislature and citizens began to take significant steps to preserve the state’s
environment. In 1967 the legislature required businesses to obtain permits when
discharging polluting substances into the Willamette River. In the same year the
legislature purchased land for new state parks along the river’s banks, and in
1973 it adopted the Willamette River Greenway Act to preserve the river banks
from haphazard development. In similar developments, in 1970 the state declared
portions of six rivers as scenic rivers to be protected from dams or other
impoundments. In 1971 the Oregon Forest Practices Act became the first in the
country to require resource protection during logging operations.
In 1969 Oregon became the first state
to adopt statewide land-use zoning. The law established ten land-use goals that
local governments had to meet. In 1973 the enforcement of this law was given to
the Land Conservation and Development Commission. A 1971 “bottle bill” banned
no-deposit beverage bottles and cans with pull-top openers. In 1975 Oregon
became the first state to prohibit the sale of aerosol cans containing
fluorocarbons, chemicals suspected of posing a threat to the earth’s ozone
layer.
Oregon citizens also confronted other
political issues. Civil rights was the most important of these concerns. The
state passed laws barring discrimination in employment (1949), public
accommodations (1953), and housing (1957). The state established commissions for
Native Americans (1975), blacks (1980), Hispanics and women (both in 1983).
Women also moved into public office in
greater numbers. Betty Roberts was the first woman appointed to the Court of
Appeals in 1977 and to the state Supreme Court in 1982. Norma Paulus was elected
the first woman secretary of state in 1976, the first woman to hold statewide
public office. Barbara Roberts, elected in 1990, was Oregon’s first woman
governor.
Oregon became the first state in the
nation to enact a law allowing physician-assisted suicides. The Oregon Death
with Dignity Act was initially passed by voters in 1994, but referendums and
legal action held up the implementation of the law. The state legislature put
the measure back on the ballot in 1997, seeking its repeal, but voters rejected
the measure by a substantial margin.
Increasingly the state has been
affected by federal legislation and policies. Federal courts have protected the
rights of Native Americans to their off-reservation fisheries, rights guaranteed
by treaties in the 1850s. In 1980 Congress passed the Northwest Power Act, which
authorized the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana to develop a
20-year electric power plan to provide a low-cost source of power while
protecting the fish and other natural resources of the region. In 1986 Congress
created the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area to protect the cultural,
economic, and natural resources of this region. The following year Oregon and
Washington created a Columbia River Gorge Commission to work with the United
States Forest Service to implement a regional management plan.
Several Oregonians have gained
positions of importance in the national government. Wayne Morse served in the
United States Senate from 1945 to 1969, first as a Republican, then an
independent, and finally as a Democrat. Morse won a national reputation as a
supporter of labor, civil rights, and higher education, and as an opponent of
the Vietnam War (1959-1975). Another influential Democratic Senator was Richard
Neuberger, who, during the late 1950s, pressed for conservation and public power
measures. Other prominent senators were Republicans Mark Hatfield, an
independent who has been a voice for peace in the U.S. Senate, and Robert
Packwood, who was forced to resign in 1995 amid charges of sexual
misconduct.
As throughout its history, Oregon’s
economy today still has strong ties to its natural environment. The three
leading sources of income are agriculture, forest products, and tourism. In
farming, technological and scientific changes have made the industry more
productive but have also raised the costs of operations so that fewer farmers
are working on larger farms. Irrigation has been an important factor also in
making farmland more productive. The leading farm commodities are cattle,
greenhouse and nursery products, farm forest products, milk, and hay.
The forest products industry changed
significantly after World War II ended in 1945. Demand for housing and building
materials grew rapidly, and new processes for making paper and particle board
appeared. New varieties of fast-growing trees were developed and other species,
once considered valueless, began to be used. Improved conservation techniques
were introduced. In the 1970s, federal legislation designed to protect the
habitat of endangered or threatened species began to affect the industry. In
1990 the northern spotted owl, which lives in parts of the Pacific Northwest’s
forests, was listed as a threatened species by federal agencies. Efforts to
protect the owl and other species led to restrictions on logging in Oregon and
Washington and set off years of economic and political controversy between
environmentalists and timber-related industries. More than half of Oregon’s
forested land is in public hands.
Tourism has continued to grow. Visitors
have always come to take advantage of the state’s natural beauty and
recreational opportunities in the outdoors. Today many tourists are also
visitors to urban areas, enjoying the state’s museums, historic sites, and other
cultural opportunities.
Salmon fishing has become less
important to Oregon’s economy. The last cannery on the Columbia River closed in
1979. The supply of fish has dropped dramatically due to overfishing, dams,
pollution, and the destruction of river banks. In August 1998 the National
Marine Fisheries Service listed the Coho salmon, a native fish of the Pacific,
as a threatened species under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act. In
1999 nine additional classes of wild salmon and steelhead found in Oregon and
Washington were given threatened or endangered status. For the first time, the
federal government extended protection to fish populations found in the
waterways of the Northwest’s heavily-populated urban areas, including Portland.
The state’s newest manufacturing
enterprises are in the high technology fields, such as electronics and
biotechnology. During and after World War II, a number of pioneers in the high
technology industry established themselves in Oregon. These companies were later
joined by numerous local and foreign companies, drawn to Oregon because of its
inexpensive land and power, educated workforce, and pro-business political
climate.
International trade has become
increasingly important in the economic life of Oregon. Today Australia, Canada,
and Mexico are the top three countries exporting to Oregon while Japan, Taiwan,
and South Korea are the principal destinations for Oregon’s exports.
The structure of state government has
also changed in the end of the 20th century. In the early 1960s there was an
unsuccessful attempt to write a new constitution. In 1961 then Governor Mark
Hatfield wanted to reorganize the government into a series of larger
departments. In Hatfield’s plan, the department heads would then serve as
members of the governor’s cabinet. The measure failed, but Governor Tom McCall
submitted a similar proposal in the late 1960s and persuaded the legislature to
adopt a number of his suggestions, including the creation of a state ombudsman
to intervene on behalf of private citizens with government officials; a
department of transportation; a department of human resources; and a department
of fish and wildlife. The last three departments were consolidations of several
formerly independent agencies. In 1981 the legislature reorganized the court
system.
Taxation has been an enduring issue.
The state’s revenues depend principally upon an income tax, while local
governments derive most of their support from property taxes. In 1984 voters
adopted a state lottery as an additional revenue-producing measure. Attempts to
add a state sales tax were defeated in 1985. More successful was the effort to
limit property taxes. Although defeated in 1968, 1978, and 1982, a law limiting
property taxes was passed in 1990. As Oregon’s population grows, there is an
increased need for public services, such as law enforcement, schools, and
transportation services. Meeting public service needs has become difficult since
the passage of the property tax limitation measure in 1990.
The history section of this article was
contributed by Gordon B. Dodds. The remainder of the article was contributed by
Keith W. Muckleston.
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