Oregon is a state located in the western United States bordering the Pacific Ocean, California, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. Its northern border lies along the Columbia River and the east along the Snake River. Two north-south mountain ranges - the Coastal Range and the Cascade Mountain Range - form the two boundaries of the Willamette Valley, one of the most fertile and agriculturally productive regions in the world. Oregon is known for its rain, but only the western half of the state is notably rainy; east of the Cascades the climate is much more arid.

A 1977 article in U.S. News and World Report described Oregon as a

state of scenic grandeur and easygoing individualism [that] is writing the preface to what may be the future for all Americans: simple living, conservation, and limited growth.
That description still applies over a quarter-century later. Oregonians are proud of their state's beautiful forests and streams, and place great importance on proper use of their natural resources. They struggle to balance this with the desire to support the development needed to support its increasing population without losing what attracts people to Oregon in the first place. The state has pioneered some innovative solutions to the nation's environmental problems, such as the Oregon Bottle Bill, but has also suffered from the rapid pace of logging in its forests.

Its population in 2000 was 3,421,399, a 20.4% increase over 1990; as of July 2003, the population had grown to an estimated 3,559,596.

Contents [showhide]
1 History

2 Origin of Oregon

3 Geography

4 Law and government

4.1 State government
4.2 Federal government

5 Economy

6 Demographics

6.1 2000-2003 trends

7 Major cities and towns

8 Colleges and universities

9 Professional sports teams

10 Broadcasting

11 State symbols

12 Trivia

13 See also

14 External links

14.1 Commercial websites

[edit]
History
Oregon's earliest residents were several Native American tribes, including the Bannock, Chinook, Klamath, and Nez Perce. James Cook explored the coast in 1778 in search of the Northwest Passage. The Lewis and Clark Expedition travelled through the region during their expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase. They built their winter fort at Fort Clatsop, near the mouth of the Columbia River. Exploration by Lewis and Clark (1805-1806) and Britain's David Thompson (1811) publicized the abundance of fur in the area. In 1811, New York financier John Jacob Astor established Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River with the intention of starting a chain of Pacific Fur Company trading posts along the river. Fort Astoria was the first permanent white settlement in Oregon. In the War of 1812, the British gained control of all of the Pacific Fur Company posts.

By the 1820s and 1830s, the British Hudson's Bay Company dominated the Pacific Northwest. John McLoughlin, who was appointed the Company's Chief Factor of the Columbia District, built Fort Vancouver in 1825.

The Oregon Trail infused the region with new settlers, starting in 1842-43, after the U.S. wrested control of the Oregon Country from the United Kingdom. A popular slogan among the Democrats who wanted the Pacific territory as far north as latitude 54°40' was "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight." This confrontation was resolved in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty after a period where it seemed that the United States and the United Kingdom would go to war for a third time in 75 years. Cooler heads prevailed, and the boundary between the United States and British North America was set at the 49th parallel. The Oregon Territory was officially organized in 1848.

Settlement increased due to the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, in conjunction with the forced relocation of the native population to Indian Reservations in Oregon. The state was admitted to the Union on February 14, 1859.

In the 1880s, railroads enabled marketing of the state's lumber and wheat, as well as the more rapid growth of its cities.

Industrial expansion began in earnest following the construction of the Bonneville Dam in 1943 on the Columbia River. The power, food, and lumber provided by Oregon have helped fuel the development of the west, and the periodic fluctuations in the nation's building industry has severely impacted the state's economy on multiple occasions.

The state has a long history of polarizing conflicts: Native Americans vs. British fur trappers, British vs. settlers from the U.S., ranchers vs. farmers, wealthy growing cities vs. established but poor rural areas, loggers vs. environmentalists, white supremacists vs. anti-racists, supporters of social spending vs. anti-tax activists, and native Oregonians vs. Californians (or outsiders in general). State ballots frequently illustrate the extremes of the political spectrum - anti-gay, pro-religious measures on the same ballot as liberal drug decriminalization measures.

[edit]
Origin of Oregon
The origin of the state's name is something of a mystery.

The earliest known use of this proper noun was in a 1765 petition by Major Robert Rogers to the English Crown. The petition referred to Ouragon and asked for money to finance an expedition in search of the Northwest Passage.

Why Rogers used the name has led to many theories, which include:

George R. Stewart argued in a 1944 article in American Speech that the name came from an engraver's error in a French map published in the early 1700s, naming the Ouisiconsink (Wisconsin River). This theory was endorsed in Oregon Geographic Names as "the most plausible explanation."
In 2001, Scott Byram, (currently the archaeologist for the Coquille Indian Tribe), and David G. Lewis published an article in the Oregon Historical Quarterly argued that the name Oregon came from the word oolighan, referring to grease made from fish, which the Native Americans of the region traded in. Those trade routes brought the term eastward. [1] (http://www.registerguard.com/news/2004/06/06/f1.ed.col.byram.0606.html)
In a 2004 article for the Oregon Historical Quarterly, professor Thomas Love and Smithsonian linguist Ives Goddard argue that Rogers chose the word based on exposure to either of the Algonquian words wauregan and olighin, both meaning "good and beautiful". Olighin was one of the early names for the Ohio River, shown on a 1680s map of the explorations of René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. Rogers is likely to have heard the terms because of his frequent encounters with Mohegans in the late 1750s.
Less supported theories are based on it having a Spanish etymology. The theory that it comes from oregano, was dismissed years ago by Henry W. Scott, an early editor of Oregonian. He wrote that it was "a mere conjecture absolutely without support. More than this, it is completely disproved by all that is known of the name." Others have speculated that the name is related to the kingdom of Aragon.

In 1778, Jonathan Carver used Oregon to label the Great River of the West in his book Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America. The poet William Cullen Bryant took the name from Carver's book and used it in his poem "Thanatopsis" to refer to the recent discoveries of the Lewis and Clark Expedition; this use helped establish it in modern use.

[edit]
Geography

Digital elevation model relief map of OregonSee also: List of Oregon counties, Oregon Geographic Names, List of Oregon rivers, List of Oregon mountain ranges

Oregon's geography may be split roughly into six areas:

the Coast Range,
the Willamette Valley,
the Cascade Mountains
the Klamath Mountains,
the Columbia Plateau, and
the Basin and Range Region.
The state varies from rain forest in the Columbia Gorge to barren desert in the southeast, which still meets the technical definition of a frontier.

The state is about 580 km (360 miles) long and 420 km (261 miles) wide. Oregon is the ninth largest state, covering 254,819 km² (98,386 square miles).

Its highest point is the summit of Mount Hood, at 3,428 m (11,239 ft). As a West Coast state, its lowest point is sea level. Its mean elevation is 1 km (3,300 ft).

Crater Lake National Park is Oregon's only national park.

[edit]
Law and government
[edit]
State government
Governors in Oregon serve four-year terms. The Oregon Legislature consists of a thirty-member Senate and sixty-member House. Senators serve four-year terms, and Representatives two.

Oregon adopted many electorial reforms proposed during the Progressive Era, due to the efforts of William S. U'Ren and his Direct Legislation League. Under his leadership, the state overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure in 1902 that created the initiative and referendum processes for citizens to directly introduce or approve proposed laws or amendments to the state constitution. In following years, the primary election to select party candidates was adopted in 1904, and in 1908 the Oregon Constitution was amended to include recall of public officials.

Of the measures placed on the ballot since 1902, the people have passed 99 of the 288 initiatives and 25 of the 61 referenda on the ballot, though not all of them survived challenges in courts (see Pierce v. Society of Sisters, for example). During the same period, the legislature has referred 363 measures to the people, of which 206 have passed.

Oregon has been a pioneer in the use of vote-by-mail:

1981 The Oregon Legislature approves experimentation with vote-by-mail for local elections.
1987 Vote-by-mail becomes permanent, with the majority of Oregon's counties making use of it.
1995 Oregon becomes the first state to conduct a federal primary election totally by mail.
1996 Ron Wyden, Bob Packwood's replacement, is elected by mail with a 66% turnout.
1998 Through a voter initiative, Oregonians confirm their overwhelming support for vote-by-mail.
2000 Oregon becomes the first state in the nation to conduct a presidential election entirely by mail. About 80% of registered voters participated.
[edit]
Federal government
Oregon is represented at the federal level by two senators and five representatives, which translates into seven electoral votes.

[edit]
Economy
The Willamette Valley is very fertile, and coupled with Oregon's famous rains, gives the state a wealth of agricultural products. Apples and other fruits, cattle, dairy products, potatoes, and peppermint are all valuable products. Oregon is also one of four major world hazelnut growing regions. While the history of the wine production in Oregon can be traced to before Prohibition, it became a significant industry beginning in the 1970s, and Oregon is home to at least four wine appellations.

Her forests have historically made Oregon one of the nation's major timber production or logging states, but forest fires (such as the Tillamook Burn), over-harvesting, and law suits over the proper management of the extensive federal forest holdings have reduced the amount of timber produced. According to the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, timber harvested from federal lands dropped some 96% from 1989 (when 4,333 million board feet was harvested) to 173 million board feet in 2001. While the 1980s saw an unsustainable amount of timber harvested, the drop in timber harvested is still significant, as the total amount of timber harvested in 2001 is less than half of that in the late 1970s. Even the shift in recent years towards finished goods such as paper and building materials have not slowed the decline of the timber industry. Examples include the Weyerhaeuser's acquisition of Willamette Industries in January, 2002, the announcement by Louisiana Pacific in September, 2003 that they will relocate their corporate headquarters from Portland to Nashville, and the experiences of small lumber towns like Gilchrist. Despite these changes, Oregon still leads the United States in softwood lumber production: in 2001, according to the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, 6,056 million board feet was produced in Oregon, against 4,5257 mbf. in Washington, 2,731 in California, 2,413 in Georgia and 2,327 in Mississippi.

High technology industries and services have been a major employer since the 1970s. Tektronix was the largest private employer in Oregon until the late 1980s. Intel's creation and expansion of several plants in eastern Washington County continued the growth that Tektronix had started. The spinoffs and startups that were produced by these two companies led to the establishment of the Portland metropolitan area as the Silicon Forest. The recession and dotcom bust of 2001 in the Silicon Valley has led to similar results in the Silicon Forest; many high technology employers have either reduced the number of their employees or gone out of business.

Oregon had one of the largest salmon-fishing industries in the world, although ocean fisheries have reduced the river fisheries in recent years. Tourism is also strong in the state; Oregon's evergreen mountain forests, waterfalls, pristine lakes (including Crater Lake National Park), and scenic beaches draw visitors year round. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is a tourist draw near its Californian border which complements the area's scenic beauty and opportunity for outdoor activities.

Oregon is home to a number of smaller breweries.

[edit]
Demographics
See also the list of people from Oregon and the list of notable Portlanders

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2003, Oregon's population was estimated at 3,559,596 people.

The racial makeup of the state is:

83.5% White
8.0% Hispanic
1.6% Black
3.0% Asian
1.3% American Indian
3.1% are mixed race
The 5 largest ancestry groups in Oregon are German (20.5%), English (13.2%), Irish (11.9%), American (6.4%), Mexican (6.3%).

The 5 largest religious denominations in Oregon are Roman Catholic (15%), "Christian" (14%), Lutheran (5%), Baptist (5%), Methodist (4%). 23% of the population is nonreligious.

Oregon has the lowest church membership in the nation. While some parts of the USA boast church membership rates as high as 80 percent, it runs only about 12 percent in Oregon.

6.5% of Oregon's population were reported as under 5, 24.7% under 18, and 12.8% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 50.4% of the population.

[edit]
2000-2003 trends
Estimates released September 2004 show double-digit growth in Latino and Asian American populations since the 2000 Census. About 60% of the 138,197 new residents come from ethnic and racial minorities. Asian growth is located mostly in the metropolitan areas of Portland, Salem, and Eugene; Hispanic population growth is across the state.

[edit]
Major cities and towns

Oregon, showing major cities and townsSee: List of Oregon cities

The capital is Salem and the largest city is Portland.

Oregon City was the first incorporated city west of the Mississippi River and later, the first capital of the Oregon Territory, from 1848 to 1852, when the territory capitol was moved to Salem, Oregon. It was also the end of the Oregon Trail and the site of the first public library established west of the Rocky Mountains, stocked with only 300 volumes.

[edit]
Colleges and universities
Concordia University, Portland
Eastern Oregon University
Eugene Bible College
George Fox University
Gutenberg College
Lewis & Clark College
Linfield College
Marylhurst University
Mount Angel Seminary
Mount Hood Community College
Multnomah Bible College and Seminary
National College of Naturopathic Medicine
Northwest Christian College
Oregon Health and Science University
Oregon Institute of Technology
Oregon State University
Pacific Northwest College of Art
Pacific University
Portland Community College
Portland State University
Reed College
Southern Oregon University
University of Oregon
University of Portland
Warner Pacific College
Western Baptist College
Western Oregon University
Western States Chiropractic College
Willamette University

[edit]
Professional sports teams
Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA
Portland Winter Hawks of the Western Hockey League
Farm clubs of Major League Baseball
Eugene Emeralds, a single-A club in the Northwest League
Portland Beavers, a triple-A club in the Pacific Coast League
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, a single-A club in the Northwest League
Portland is under consideration to be the home of a major league baseball team.

[edit]
Broadcasting
List of television stations in Oregon
List of radio stations in Oregon
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Jefferson Public Radio
[edit]
State symbols
State flower: Oregon grape (since 1899)
State song: Oregon, My Oregon (written in 1920 and adopted in 1927)
State bird: Western meadowlark (chosen by the state's children in 1927)
State tree: Douglas-fir (since 1939)
State fish: Chinook salmon (since 1961)
State rock: Thunderegg (like a geode but formed in a rhyolitic lava flow; since 1965)
State animal: Beaver (since 1969)
State dance: Square dance (since 1977)
State insect: Oregon Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio oregonius; since 1979)
State gemstone: Oregon sunstone, a type of feldspar (since 1987)
State nut: Hazelnut (since 1989)
State seashell: Oregon hairy triton (Fusitriton oregonensis, a gastropod in the cymatiidae family; since 1991)
[edit]
Trivia
Oregon has the smallest park in the world: Mill Ends Park in Portland, Oregon.
Oregon has no sales tax.
Abbreviations for the state include OR (postal), Ore., and Oreg.
Oregon is one of two states that prohibit drivers from pumping their own gasoline. The other is New Jersey.
Oregon claims the D River is the shortest river in the world, while the American state of Montana makes the same claim of the Roe River.
The Kingsmen, who made the song Louie Louie famous are from Portland. There was once a failed effort to make Louie Louie Oregon's official state song.[2] (http://www.louielouie.net/05-louie-faq.htm)
In 1970 the Oregon Highway Division (now Oregon Department of Transporation) exploded a dead beached whale on a beach just outside Lane County. The results were not as expected and KATU Channel 2 news reporter Paul Linnman captured the results on film of the exploding whale.
[edit]
See also
Wikitravel Entry
[edit]
External links
Oregon Blue Book (http://bluebook.state.or.us/), the online version of the state's official directory and fact book
State of Oregon website (http://www.oregon.gov/)
Oregon History Project (http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/)
U.S. Census Bureau (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/41000.html)
[edit]
Commercial websites
Welcome to Oregon (http://www.el.com/to/oregon/), from Essentix, Inc. of Portland
Oregon geography page (http://www.netstate.com/states/geography/or_geography.htm), from NSTATE, LLC, a Wolfeboro, New Hampshire company
Oregon portal (http://www.HavenWorks.com/oregon), from HavenWorks.com of Davenport, Iowa

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Oregon".

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