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 Three Sisters are a complex volcano of three volcanic peaks of the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Oregon. Each exceeding 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in elevation, they are the third, fourth, and fifth highest peaks in the state of Oregon, and are located in the Three Sisters Wilderness, about 10 miles (16 km) south of the nearest town of Sisters. Diverse species of flora and fauna inhabit the area on and around the mountains, which is subject to frequent snowfall, occasional rain, and extreme temperature differences between seasons. The mountains, particularly South Sister, are popular for climbing and scrambling. Although they are often grouped together and seen as one unit, the three mountains evolved under differing geologic situations, and the petrologic composition of each mountain can vary significantly. Whereas North Sister is extinct and Middle Sister is inactive, South Sister last erupted about 2,000 years ago and still could erupt, threatening life within the region. After satellite imagery detected uplift near South Sister in 2000, the United States Geological Survey made plans to improve monitoring in the immediate area.
Huw Edwards is a Welsh conductor and the current music director of Portland, Oregon's Columbia Symphony Orchestra and Olympia, Washington's Olympia Symphony Orchestra. Edwards' conducting career began at age seventeen when he became music director of the Maidstone Opera Company in England. He later attended the University of Surrey, where he conducted the college orchestra along with an ensemble that he formed on his own. At age twenty-three, he won a conducting competition which sent him to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He then held a lecturer position at Northwestern University in Chicago, where he was also a doctoral candidate. Edwards was conductor and music director of the Portland Youth Philharmonic from 1995 to 2002 followed by the Seattle Youth Symphony from 2002 to 2005. He has been music director of the Columbia Symphony Orchestra since 2000 and the Olympia Symphony Orchestra since 2002.
... that Fort Harney, a United States Army outpost in eastern Oregon, was officially designated as a fort in April 1879 and then abandoned in June 1880?
One of the most important things the United States did in the aftermath of World War II was to help returning veterans with housing. In 1945, in my home state of Oregon, we established the Veterans Home Loan Program, which for over 60 years has provided more than 300,000 loans. This has changed the lives of Oregon veterans and revitalized communities.
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