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Oregon

Grant’s Getaways: History Hikes in Oregon

“Today I want to take you on three “History Hikes” that provide some of the greatest stories ever lived in Oregon.  Great drama is easy to find in the great Oregon outdoors — if — you know where to look. In fact, there’s a compelling three-act drama right off Portland’s front step and each offers intrigue, romance and fascinating characters. Oregon’s greatest stories have larger than life characters, plus colorful and compelling settings and above all, Oregon stories that endure and connect with a passion that’s strong as ever.” Travel & Events

Timeline of Oregon: 1500’s – 1700’s 

  • (1543) Spanish explorer Bartolome Ferrello traveled along Oregon and Washington coastlines
  • (1579) Sir Francis Drake visited Oregon
  • (1765) First use of name “Ouragon” by Maj. Robert Rogers



  • (1778) Capt. Cook began fur trade on coast
  • (1792) Capt. Robert Gray traveled and named Columbia River

1800’s 

  • (1805) Lewis and Clark Expedition explored Snake and Columbia Rivers; established Fort Clatsop
  • (1811) John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company established Fort Astoria, first permanent white settlement in Oregon
  • (1818) U.S. and Great Britian agreed to Joint-Occupancy Treaty
  • (1819) Treaty with Spain set southern boundary of Oregon
  • (1827) Second Joint-Occupancy Treaty with Great Britian
  • (1843) First group of 900 emigrants arrived via Oregon Trail
  • (1847) Cayuse Indian War; Whitman massacre
  • (1848) Oregon Territory established
  • (1859) Oregon became 33rd state
  • (1861) Flood in Albany, water 36 feet higher than normal
  • (1869) Union and Central Pacific Railroads connected
  • (1872) Modoc Indian War
  • (1873) Great fire in Portland destroyed most of town
  • (1877) Nez Perce Indian war
  • (1878) Bannock-Paiute Indian war
  • (1885) Chief Joseph’s Nez Perce tribes relocated to Colville Reservation

Oregon (Listeni/ˈɔrɨɡən/ orr-ə-gən) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon’s northern and eastern boundaries, respectively. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers, and settlers who formed an autonomous government in Oregon Country in 1843. The Oregon Territory was created in 1848, and Oregon became the 33rd state on February 14, 1859.

Oregon is the 9th most extensive and the 27th most populous of the 50 United StatesSalem is the state’s capital and third-most-populous city; Portland is the most populous. Portland is the 29th-largest U.S. city, with a population of 583,776 (2010 US Census) and a metro population of 2,241,841 (2009 estimate), the 23rd-largest U.S. metro area. The valley of the Willamette River in western Oregon is the state’s most densely populated area and is home to eight of the ten most populous cities.

Oregon contains a diverse landscape including the windswept Pacific coastline, the volcanoes of the rugged and glaciated Cascade Mountain Range, many waterfalls (including Multnomah Falls), dense evergreen forestsmixed forests and deciduous forests at lower elevations, and high desert across much of the eastern portion of the state, extending into the Great Basin. The tall Douglas firs and redwoods along the rainy Western Oregon coast contrast with the lower density and fire-prone pine tree and juniper forests covering portions of the eastern half of the state. Alder trees are common in the west and fix nitrogen for the conifers; aspen groves are common in eastern Oregon. Stretching east from Central Oregon, the state also includes semi-arid shrublandsprairiesdesertssteppes, and meadows. Mount Hood is the highest point in the state at 11,249 feet (3,429 m). Crater Lake National Park is the only national park in Oregon.

History

Humans have inhabited the area that is now Oregon for at least 15,000 years. In recorded history, mentions of the land date to as early as the 16th century. During the 18th and 19th centuries, European powers – and later the United States – quarreled over possession of the region until 1846 when the U.S. and Great Britain finalized division of the region. Oregon became a state in 1859 and is now home to over 3.8 million residents.

Earliest inhabitants

European exploration Human habitation of the Pacific Northwest began at least 15,000 years ago, with the oldest evidence of habitation in Oregon found at Fort Rock Cave and the Paisley Caves in Lake County. Archaeologist Luther Cressman dated material from Fort Rock to 13,200 years ago.  By 8000 B.C. there were settlements throughout the state, with populations concentrated along the lower Columbia River, in the western valleys, and around coastal estuaries.

The first Europeans to visit Oregon were Spanish explorers who sighted southern Oregon off the Pacific Coast in 1543. No Europeans returned to Oregon until 1778, when British captain James Cook explored the coast.   French Canadian and metis trappers and missionaries arrived in the eastern part of the state in the late 18th century and early 19th century, many having travelled as members of Lewis and Clark and the 1811 Astor expeditions.By the 16th century, Oregon was home to many Native American groups, including the Coquille (Ko-Kwell), BannockChasta,ChinookKalapuyaKlamathMolallaNez PerceTakelma, and Umpqua.

Some stayed permanently, including Étienne Lussier, believed to be the first European farmer in the state of Oregon. The evidence of this French Canadian presence can be found in the numerous names of French origin in that part of the state: Charbonneau, Malheur Lake and River, Grande Ronde and Des Chutes Rivers, cities of La Grande, Ontario, etc.

During U.S. westward expansion

The Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled through the region also in search of the Northwest Passage. They built their winter fort at Fort Clatsop, near the mouth of the Columbia River. British explorer David Thompson also conducted overland exploration.

In 1811, David Thompson, of the North West Company, became the first European to navigate the entire Columbia River. Stopping on the way, at the junction of the Snake River, he posted a claim to the region for Great Britain and the North West Company. Upon returning to Montreal, he publicized the abundance of fur-bearing animals in the area.

Also in 1811, New Yorker John Jacob Astor financed the establishment of Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River as a western outpost to his Pacific Fur Company; this was the first permanent European settlement in Oregon.

Map of Oregon Country.

In the War of 1812, the British gained control of all Pacific Fur Company posts. The Treaty of 1818 established joint British and American occupancy of the region west of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. By the 1820s and 1830s, the Hudson’s Bay Company dominated the Pacific Northwest from its Columbia District headquarters at Fort Vancouver (built in 1825 by the District’s Chief Factor John McLoughlin across the Columbia from present-day Portland).

In 1841, the expert trapper and entrepreneur Ewing Young died leaving considerable wealth and no apparent heir, and no system to probate his estate. A meeting followed Young’s funeral at which a probate government was proposed. Doctor Ira Babcock of Jason Lee‘s Methodist Mission was elected Supreme Judge. Babcock chaired two meetings in 1842 at Champoeg, (half way between Lee’s mission and Oregon City), to discuss wolves and other animals of contemporary concern. These meetings were precursors to an all-citizen meeting in 1843, which instituted a provisional government headed by an executive committee made up of David HillAlanson Beers, and Joseph Gale. This government was the first acting public government of the Oregon Country before annexation by the government of the United States.

Also in 1841, Sir George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, reversed the Hudson’s Bay Company’s long-standing policy of discouraging settlement because it interfered with the lucrative fur trade. He directed that some 200 Red River Colony settlers be relocated to HBC farms near Fort Vancouver, (the James Sinclair expedition), in an attempt to hold Columbia District.

Starting in 1842–1843, the Oregon Trail brought many new American settlers to Oregon Country. For some time, it seemed that Britain and the United States would go to war for a third time in 75 years (see Oregon boundary dispute), but the border was defined peacefully in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty. The border between the United States and British North America was set at the 49th parallel. The Oregon Territory was officially organized in 1848.

Settlement increased with the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 and the forced relocation of the native population to Indian reservations in Oregon.

After statehood

Oregon was admitted to the Union on February 14, 1859. Founded as a refuge from disputes over slavery, Oregon had a “whites only” clause in its original state Constitution.

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, regular U.S. troops were withdrawn and sent east. Volunteer cavalry recruited in California were sent north to Oregon to keep peace and protect the populace. The First Oregon Cavalry served until June 1865.

In the 1880’s, the growth of railroads helped market the state’s lumber, wheat, and the rapid growth of its cities.

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