Oregon has been home to many indigenous nations for thousands of years. The first European traders, explorers, and settlers began exploring what is now Oregon's Pacific coast in the early to mid-16th century. As early as 1564, the Spanish began sending vessels northeast from the Philippines, riding the Kuroshio Current in a sweeping circular route across the northern part of the Pacific. In 1592, Juan de Fuca undertook detailed mapping and studies of ocean currents in the Pacific Northwest, including the Oregon coast as well as the strait now bearing his name. The Lewis and Clark Expedition traversed Oregon in the early 1800s, and the first permanent European settlements in Oregon were established by fur trappers and traders. In 1843, an autonomous government was formed in the Oregon Country, and the Oregon Territory was created in 1848. Oregon became the 33rd state of the U.S. on February 14, 1859.
Today, with 4.2 million people over 98,000 square miles (250,000 km2), Oregon is the ninth largest and 27th most populous U.S. state. The capital, Salem, is the third-most populous city in Oregon, with 175,535 residents. Portland, with 652,503, ranks as the 26th among U.S. cities. The Portland metropolitan area, which includes neighboring counties in Washington, is the 25th largest metro area in the nation, with a population of 2,512,859. Oregon is also one of the most geographically diverse states in the U.S., marked by volcanoes, abundant bodies of water, dense evergreen and mixed forests, as well as high deserts and semi-arid shrublands. At 11,249 feet (3,429 m), Mount Hood is the state's highest point. Oregon's only national park, Crater Lake National Park, comprises the caldera surrounding Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States. The state is also home to the single largest organism in the world, Armillaria ostoyae, a fungus that runs beneath 2,200 acres (8.9 km2) of the Malheur National Forest. (Full article...)
The Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge is a 1,358 acres (550 ha) wetlands and lowlands sanctuary in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Oregon. Established in 1992 and opened to the public in 2006, it is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Located 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Portland, the refuge is bordered by Sherwood, Tualatin and Tigard. A newer area is located further west near the city of Gaston surrounding the former Wapato Lake. Part of the network of National Wildlife Refuges (NWR), Tualatin River Refuge is one of only ten urban refuges in the United States. Habitats in the refuge include forested areas, wetlands, oak and pine grassland, and meadows, with mixed deciduous and coniferous forests common to Western Oregon. Tualatin River Refuge was established as an urban refuge to provide wetland, riparian, and upland habitats for a variety of migratory birds, threatened and endangered species, fish, other resident wildlife. The refuge is home to nearly 200 bird species and more than 70 other animal species. A visitor center with exhibits and information about the refuge was opened in 2008 off of Oregon Route 99W near Sherwood in the Portland metropolitan area. Next to the center is the refuge's headquarters and an observation deck overlooking seasonal ponds. The refuge has nearly five miles of wildlife interpretive trails open to the public. Up to 50,000 waterfowl can be seen at the refuge during the winter months when officials flood portions of the refuge.
Clarence Chesterfield Howerton (February 9, 1913 – November 18, 1975), also known as Major Mite, was an American circus performer who starred in the sideshow for over 25 years, 20 of which were with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was born in Salem, Oregon, to Frank and Helen Howerton and had five brothers, all of whom grew to 6 ft (1.83 m) tall. Howerton was 2 ft 4 in (0.71 m) tall and performed with several groups from the early 1920s through the late 1940s, billed as the smallest man in the world. His small physique was often contrasted alongside larger circus sideshow acts, such as the juvenile obese and the excessively tall. Regarded as a "highly successful sideshow [novelty]" and celebrity, Howerton visited the White House and represented recruitment efforts of the United States Marine Corps. He was featured in multiple films, including a role as a Munchkin in 1939's The Wizard of Oz. Growing up, he lived in Washington and Manhattan. He retired from show business in 1949. By 1970 he had moved back to Oregon and was living with a niece in Dayton, and in 1975 he died of pneumonia in a hospital in neighboring McMinnville. He was buried in Mountainview Cemetery in nearby Oregon City.
... that it has been a goal of Oregon state senator Bill Hansell to get the potato officially designated as the state vegetable?
... that while George C. Brownell played no part in the Oregon land fraud scandal, a published cartoon showed him as the "Pretty Moth" that flew too close to the land fraud limelight?
I might go to Canada eventually, but I think I’ll stop along the Columbia on the way. I’d like to check around Portland and Hood River and The Dalles to see if there’s any of the guys I used to know back in the village who haven’t drunk themselves goofy. I’d like to see what they’ve been doing since the government tried to buy their right to be Indians.
Lan Su Chinese Garden, titled the Garden of Awakening Orchids, is a walled garden enclosing a full city block, roughly 40 000 square feet (4,000 m²) in the Chinatown area of the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, USA. The garden is influenced by many of the famous classical gardens in Suzhou.
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