Oregon has been home to many indigenous nations for thousands of years. The first European traders, explorers, and settlers began exploring what is now Oregon's Pacific coast in the early to mid-16th century. As early as 1564, the Spanish began sending vessels northeast from the Philippines, riding the Kuroshio Current in a sweeping circular route across the northern part of the Pacific. In 1592, Juan de Fuca undertook detailed mapping and studies of ocean currents in the Pacific Northwest, including the Oregon coast as well as the strait now bearing his name. The Lewis and Clark Expedition traversed Oregon in the early 1800s, and the first permanent European settlements in Oregon were established by fur trappers and traders. In 1843, an autonomous government was formed in the Oregon Country, and the Oregon Territory was created in 1848. Oregon became the 33rd state of the U.S. on February 14, 1859.
Today, with 4.2 million people over 98,000 square miles (250,000 km2), Oregon is the ninth largest and 27th most populous U.S. state. The capital, Salem, is the third-most populous city in Oregon, with 175,535 residents. Portland, with 652,503, ranks as the 26th among U.S. cities. The Portland metropolitan area, which includes neighboring counties in Washington, is the 25th largest metro area in the nation, with a population of 2,512,859. Oregon is also one of the most geographically diverse states in the U.S., marked by volcanoes, abundant bodies of water, dense evergreen and mixed forests, as well as high deserts and semi-arid shrublands. At 11,249 feet (3,429 m), Mount Hood is the state's highest point. Oregon's only national park, Crater Lake National Park, comprises the caldera surrounding Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States. The state is also home to the single largest organism in the world, Armillaria ostoyae, a fungus that runs beneath 2,200 acres (8.9 km2) of the Malheur National Forest. (Full article...)
Tryon Creek is a 4.85-mile (7.81 km) tributary of the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Part of the drainage basin of the Columbia River, its watershed covers about 6.5 square miles (16.8 km2) in Multnomah and Clackamas counties. The stream flows southeast from the Tualatin Mountains (West Hills) through the Multnomah Village neighborhood of Portland and the Tryon Creek State Natural Area to the Willamette in the city of Lake Oswego. Parks and open spaces cover about 21 percent of the watershed, while single-family homes dominate most of the remainder. The largest of the parks is the state natural area, which straddles the border between the two cities and counties. The bedrock under the watershed includes part of the last exotic terrane, a chain of seamounts, acquired by the North American Plate as it moved west during the Eocene. Known as the Waverly Hills Formation, it lies buried under ash and lava from later volcanic eruptions, sediments from flooding and erosion, and layers of wind-blown silt. Two dormant volcanoes from the Boring Lava Field are in the Tryon Creek watershed. Named for mid-19th century settler, Socrates Hotchkiss Tryon, Sr., the creek ran through forests of cedar and fir that were later logged by the Oregon Iron Company and others through the mid-20th century. Efforts to establish a large park in the watershed began in the 1950s and succeeded in 1975 when the state park was formally established. As of 2005, about 37 percent of the watershed was wooded and supported more than 60 species of birds as well as small mammals, amphibians, and fish. At the same time, the human population was about 18,000.
Neil Goldschmidt, a Democrat, is a former Oregon politician and businessman who served as mayor of Portland, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, and Governor of Oregon. In these roles and as a private consultant, he was widely considered the most influential figure in Oregon politics. Goldschmidt was elected mayor of Portland in 1972. He promoted the revitalization of Downtown Portland, interrupted the Federal Mount Hood Freeway project, and laid the groundwork for Portland's MAX Light Rail. PresidentCarter named him Transportation Secretary in 1979. After Carter left office in 1980, Goldschmidt served as a senior Nike executive. He was elected Governor of Oregon in 1986. During his term, Oregon came out of a recession, a rising anti-tax movement gained momentum, and the state's prison system nearly doubled in size. He reformed the State Accident Insurance Fund (SAIF), a state-chartered worker's compensation insurance company. Though popular, Goldschmidt left office after only one term, becoming an influential and controversial lobbyist. He was criticized by many for several of the causes he supported, including advocacy for SAIF, Weyerhaeuser, and Texas Pacific Group. He faced sharp questioning in Oregon State Senate confirmation hearings in early 2004. Accompanying media scrutiny led to the revelation of his lengthy and illegal sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl in the 1970s, sharply curtailing his influence on Oregon policy.
April 18, 1877, former state senate president and the first doctor and teacher in Portland, Ralph Wilcox, commits suicide while at work at the federal court in Portland.
... that it has been a goal of Oregon state senator Bill Hansell to get the potato officially designated as the state vegetable?
... that future state senator William T. Vinton was sent to jail for contempt of court when he refused to sign a city paving contract, but was later vindicated by an Oregon Supreme Court decision?
... that the only remaining artifact in the ghost town of Fremont, Oregon, is a juniper stump notched with steps that women travelers used to mount horses in a modest fashion?
... that the founding manager of an Oregon radio station named it after his wife's former name?
... that James A. Merriman was the only Black graduate from Rush Medical College in 1902 and the first African-American physician to practice medicine in Portland?
I believe I'll turn out for baseball this year and skip spring football. I'll really give my pitching arm a chance to develop. Then I'll decide if I'm a prospect for the big leagues, and if I think I'll make it, then I may quit football.
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