Oregon has been home to manyindigenous 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, theSpanish began sending vessels northeast from thePhilippines, riding theKuroshio 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 thestrait now bearing his name. TheLewis and Clark Expedition traversed Oregon in the early 19th century, and the first permanent European settlements in Oregon were established soon afterward bytrappers andfur traders. The United States received joint occupation rights to the region from theUnited Kingdom through theTreaty of 1818. TheOregon Treaty of 1846 formally brought Oregon under American sovereignty, and theOregon Territory was created two years later. Oregon was admitted to the United States on February 14, 1859, becoming the 33rd state.
Today, with 4.2 million people over 98,000 square miles (250,000 km2), Oregon is theninth-largest and27th-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. ThePortland metropolitan area, which includes neighboring counties in Washington, is the 26th largestmetro 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 ashigh deserts and semi-aridshrublands. 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 thecaldera surroundingCrater Lake, the deepest lake in the U.S. The state is also home to the singlelargest organism in the world,Armillaria ostoyae, a fungus that runs beneath 2,200 acres (8.9 km2) of theMalheur National Forest. (Full article...)
ThePacific Northwest is a region in the northwest ofNorth America. There are several partially overlapping definitions but the term Pacific Northwest that span the United States and Canada. The term Northwest Coast is often used when referring only to the coastal regions. The term Northwest Plateau has been used to describe the inland regions, although they are commonly referred to as "the Interior" (which inBritish Columbia is by convention capitalized and is used as a proper name). The inland portion of the U.S. is called theInland Empire. The region's biggest metropolitan areas areSeattle, Washington,Vancouver, British Columbia, andPortland, Oregon. The region has anOceanic climate ("marine west coast climate") in many coastal areas, typically between the ocean and high mountain ranges.Alpine climate dominates in the high mountains.Semi-arid andArid climate is found east of the higher mountains, especially inrainshadow areas. TheHarney Basin ofOregon is an example of arid climate in the Pacific Northwest. ASubarctic climate occurs farther north. The Pacific Northwest was occupied by a diverse array of Native American peoples for millennia, beginning with Paleoindians who explored and colonized the area roughly 15,000 years before Europeans arrived. The Pacific Coast is seen by a growing number of scholars as a major migration route for late Pleistocene peoples moving from northeast Asia into the Americas. Archaeological evidence for these earliest Native Americans is sketchy--in part because heavy glaciation, flooding, and post-glacial sea level rise have radically changed the landscape--but fluted Clovis-like points found in the region were probably left by Paleoindians at least 13,000 years ago. Even earlier evidence for human occupation dating back as much as 14,500 years ago is emerging fromPaisley Caves inCentral Oregon. European exploration began as early as 1579 withFrancis Drake possibly landing along the coast, but exploration began in earnest in the 1700s. The first permanent non-Native settlement in the American portion came atFort Astoria in 1811.
Ken Kesey (1935–2001) was anAmericanauthor, best known for his novel,One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as a counter-cultural figure. He is sometimes considered a link between theBeat Generation of the 1950s and thehippies of the 1960s. He was born inColorado and grew up inSpringfield,Oregon. After high school he graduated from theUniversity of Oregon with a degree from the journalism school, before receiving a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship and moving on toStanford University. At Stanford he volunteered for the CIA'sProject MKULTRA and was exposed to a variety of drugs such asLSD,psilocybin,mescaline,cocaine, andDMT. These experiences would contribute to his writings. Kesey's first book wasOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, published in 1962. When the publication of his second novel,Sometimes a Great Notion, required his presence in New York in 1964, Kesey,Neal Cassady, and others in a group of friends they called the "Merry Pranksters" took a cross-country trip in a school bus nicknamed "Furthur" orFurther. This trip, described in Tom Wolfe'sThe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (and later in Kesey's own screenplay "The Further Inquiry") was the group's attempt to create art out of everyday life. In New York, Cassady introduced Kesey toJack Kerouac and to Allen Ginsberg, who in turn introduced them toTimothy Leary.Sometimes a Great Notion was made into a 1971 film starringPaul Newman; it was nominated for twoAcademy Awards. In 1966, Kesey was arrested for possession ofmarijuana and eventually spent five months in jail. He later returned toOregon, where he lived the rest of his life. Kesey died on November 10, 2001, following an operation forliver cancer.
... that formerOregon Duck andDetroit LionGeorge Christensen co-founded a multinational manufacturing company with factories in France, Japan, Canada and the United States?
... that the fossil soapberryBohlenia was named after Oregon's 1972 biology teacher of the year?
... thatan Oregon TV station planned to be off the air for two to four weeks to complete a move—but did not fully return to air for nearly two years?
... thata president of the Oregon Senate crawled along a ledge of the State Capitol to access an unsecured window of the absent governor's office to place bills on his desk?
... thatGus C. Moser served five 4-year terms in theOregon State Senate, including two non-consecutive 2-year periods as senate president, to which post he was elected unanimously in 1917?
... thatSharon Wylie has served in the state legislatures of both Oregon and Washington?
As long as the sun rises over Ontario and sets over the Pacific, I will dedicate myself to bringing the people of Oregon what they want and need most - an era of hope, change, and economic renewal.
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