Oregon entered the union on February 14, 1859

State bird - Western Meadowlark

State Flower-Oregon Grape

State Tree-Douglas Fir

State Nick Name- Beaver State

State Capitol-Salem

Oregon, one of the Pacific states of the United States. It is bordered on the north by Washington, on the east by Idaho, on the south by Nevada and California, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. Oregon contains some of the most beautiful scenery in the United States as well as some of the nation's most fertile soils and richest timberlands. However, it was the beaver that first gave rise to the development of Oregon. Oregon's nickname, the Beaver State, harks back to the early years of the 19th century. Fur hats were fashionable at that time, in northeastern cities, and Oregon's streams were an important source of beaver. With competition fierce among the fur companies for control of the western lands, adventurous trappers, called mountain men, became the first white people to know the region well. Later, when the rage for beaver hats had passed and Oregon's beaver supply was all but exhausted, the mountain men showed the early pioneers a route they had picked out in their trapping years. Known as the Oregon Trail, it took thousands during the 1840s to the fertile Willamette Valley, where wheat, fruits, and vegetables thrived. Settlers were also drawn to other parts of the state, where a profitable timber industry later developed around Oregon's bountiful supply of Douglas fir trees. By the mid-1990s the timber industry, while still critical to Oregon's economy, was waning as access to old growth stands of trees diminished. Meanwhile, manufacturing was growing, fueled by technology industries in the Willamette Valley. The origin of the state name is uncertain. It may, however, be derived from the French ouragan, meaning storm or hurricane. The Columbia River may have been called the River of Storms by the early French Canadian trappers.

THE OREGON TRAIL

The Oregon Trail was the overland pioneer route to the northwestern United States. About 3200 km (about 2000 mi) long, the trail extended from Independence, Missouri, to the Columbia River in Oregon. Part of the route followed the Platte River for 870 km (540 mi) through what is now Nebraska to Fort Laramie in present-day Wyoming. The trail continued along the North Platte and Sweetwater rivers to South Pass in the Wind River Range of the Rocky Mountains. From there the main trail went south to Fort Bridger, Wyoming, before turning into the Bear River valley and north to Fort Hall in present-day Idaho. In Idaho the Oregon Trail followed the Snake River to the Salmon Falls and then went north past Fort Boise (now Boise). The route entered what is now Oregon, passed through the Grande Ronde River valley, crossed the Blue Mountains and followed the Umatilla River to the Columbia River. Shorter and more direct routes were developed along some parts of the trail, but they were often more difficult. Originally, like many other main routes in the United States, sections of the Oregon Trail had been used by the Native Americans and trappers. As early as 1742, part of the trail in Wyoming had been blazed by the Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye; the Lewis and Clark expedition, between 1804 and 1806, made more of it known. The German-American fur trader and financier John Jacob Astor, in establishing his trading posts, dispatched a party overland in 1811 to follow the trail of these explorers. Later, mountain men such as James Bridger, who founded Fort Bridger in 1843, contributed their knowledge of the trail and often acted as guides. The first emigrant wagon train, headed by the American pioneer physician Elijah White, reached Oregon in 1842. The trip took the early pioneers four to six months, a journey fraught with much hardship resulting from poor equipment, illness, and attack by the Native Americans, for whom the growing number of pioneers on the trail was an ever-constant threat. At first, the termination point of the Oregon Trail was Oregon City, Oregon; later, settlers continued south to the fertile and valuable land in the Willamette Valley.

OREGON TIME TABLE
DATE EVENT

1788 American Captain Robert Gray, the first white man to set foot in Oregon, sails into Tillamook Bay.

1792 Gray discovers and names the Columbia River.

1805 The Lewis and Clark expedition reaches the Pacific coast and explores the Columbia and Willamette river valleys.

1811 Astoria is founded by John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company.

1818 The United States and Great Britain agree to joint occupancy of the Oregon country.

1825 John McLoughlin of the Hudson's Bay Company builds Fort Vancouver on the northern bank of the Columbia River.

1832 Boston merchant Nathaniel Wyeth arrives in Oregon.

1834 Jason Lee establishes a Methodist mission in the Willamette Valley.

1843 About 900 pioneers arrive in Oregon via the Oregon Trail, and a provisional government is established.

1846 The boundary between British Canada and the United States is fixed at the 49th parallel.

1848 The Oregon Territory is established by Congress.

1857 Oregon's state constitution is drawn up.

1859 Oregon is admitted to the Union as the 33rd state (February 14).

1877 The Nez Percé peoples are removed from the Wallowa Valley, and the Nez Percé War takes place.

1884 The Oregon Short Line links the state with the transcontinental railroad in Granger, Wyoming.

1902 The initiative and referendum amendment to the state constitution is adopted.

1938 The Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River begins producing power.

1990 The northern spotted owl is listed as a threatened species by the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, placing new pressures on the logging industry.