Oregon ( ) 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; the Oregon Territory
was created in 1848, and Oregon became the 33rd
state on February 14, 1859. Salem
is the
state's capital and third-most-populous city; Portland
is the most populous. Portland is the
30th-largest U.S. city, with a population of 575,930 (2008
estimate) and a metro population of 2,175,133 (2007 estimate), the
23rd-largest U.S. metro area.
The
valley of the
Willamette River in western Oregon is the
most densely populated and agriculturally productive region of the
state, and is home to eight of the ten most populous cities.
Oregon's 2000 population was about 3.5 million, a 20.3% increase
over 1990; it is estimated to have reached 3.8 million by 2008.
Oregon's
largest for-profit private employer is Intel
, located in the Silicon
Forest area on Portland's west side. The state has 199
public school districts, with
Portland Public Schools as
the largest. There are 17 community colleges, and seven publicly
financed colleges in the
Oregon
University System.
Oregon State University
in Corvallis
and the University of Oregon
in Eugene
are the two
flagship universities of the state, while Portland State
University
has the largest enrollment.
Major highways include
Interstate
5 which runs the entire north-south length of the state,
Interstate 84 that runs
east-west,
U.S. Route 97 that crosses the middle of
the state,
U.S. Route 101 that travels the entire
coastline, and
U.S. Route 20 and
U.S. Route 26 that run east-west, among
many other highways.
Portland International Airport
is the busiest commercial airport in the state and
is operated as part of the Port of Portland, the state's
busiest port. Rail service includes
Union Pacific Railroad and
BNSF Railway freight service,
Amtrak passenger service, as well as light rail and
street car routes in the Portland metro area.
Oregon
enjoys a diverse landscape including a scenic and windswept
Pacific
coastline, the
volcanoes of a rugged and glaciated Cascade Mountain Range, dense evergreen forests, and high
desert
across much of the eastern portion of the
state. The towering Douglas
firs and redwoods along the rainy
Western
Oregon
coast provide a dramatic contrast with the lower
density and fire prone pine tree and juniper forests covering portions of
the Eastern half of the state.
The eastern portion of the state also includes semi-arid
scrublands, prairies, deserts, and meadows.
These
drier areas stretch east from Central Oregon
. Mount
Hood
is the highest point in the state at .
Crater Lake
National Park
is the only national park in Oregon. Oregon
is the United States' leader in
forest
fires; in 2007 the state had over 1,000 of them.
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 the division of the region. Oregon became a state in 1859
and is now home to over 3.5 million residents.
Earliest inhabitation
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.
European exploration
By the 16th century Oregon was home to many
Native American
groups, including the
Bannock,
Chasta,
Chinook,
Kalapuya,
Klamath,
Molalla,
Nez Perce,
Takelma,
and
Umpqua.
The first European explorers were Spanish, during the late 17th
century. Further exploration from Alta California took place during
the 18th century. British
James Cook
explored the coast in 1778 in search of the
Northwest Passage.
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. Overland exploration
was also conducted by British explorer
David Thompson.
In 1811, David Thompson, of the
North
West Company, became the first European to navigate the entire
length of the 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.
In the
War of 1812, the British
gained control of all of the 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 master 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
Hill,
Alanson 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 longstanding 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 because of the
Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, in
conjunction with the
forced
relocation of the native population to
Indian reservations in
Oregon.
After statehood
The state was admitted to the Union on February 14, 1859. Founded
as a refuge from the disputes over slavery that were tearing apart
other places in the United States, such as Kansas, Oregon had a
"whites only" clause in its state Constitution at the time of its
admission; the only state thus admitted.
At the outbreak of the
American Civil
War, regular U.S. troops were withdrawn and sent east.
Volunteer cavalry were recruited in California and sent north to
Oregon to keep peace and protect the populace. The
First Oregon Cavalry served until June
1865.
In the 1880s, the proliferation of railroads assisted in marketing
of the state's
lumber and
wheat, as well as the more rapid growth of its
cities.
20th and 21st centuries
In 1902, Oregon introduced a system of
direct legislation by the state’s
citizens by way of
initiative and
referendum, known as the
Oregon System. Oregon state
ballots often include politically conservative proposals
side-by-side with politically liberal ones, illustrating the wide
spectrum of political thought in the state.
Industrial expansion began in earnest
following the construction of the Bonneville Dam
in 1933–1937 on the Columbia River. Hydroelectric power, food, and lumber
provided by Oregon helped fuel the development of the West,
although the periodic fluctuations in the U.S. building industry
have hurt the state's
economy on multiple
occasions.
Name
The origin of the name "Oregon" is unknown.
One theory is that
the name comes from the French
word
"ouragan" (hurricane). French explorers
called the Columbia River "Hurricane
River" (le fleuve aux ouragans), because of the strong winds of the
Columbia Gorge. According to the
Oregon Blue Book, the source for the
earliest written use of the word was Major Robert Rogers, an
English army officer. In his 1765 proposal for a journey, Rogers
wrote:
The rout . . . is from the Great Lakes towards the Head
of the Mississippi, and from thence to the River called by the
Indians Ouragon. . . .
One account, endorsed as the "most plausible explanation" in the
book
Oregon Geographic
Names, was advanced by
George
R. Stewart in a 1944 article
in
American Speech.
According to Stewart, the name came from an engraver's error in a
French map published in the early 1700s, on which the Ouisiconsink
(Wisconsin) River was spelled "Ouaricon-sint", broken on two lines
with the -sint below, so that there appeared to be a river flowing
to the west named "Ouaricon".
According to the Oregon Tourism Commission (also known as Travel
Oregon), present-day Oregonians ( ) pronounce the state's name as
"OR-UH-GUN never OR-EE-GONE".
After being drafted by the
Detroit
Lions in 2002, former
Oregon Ducks
quarterback
Joey Harrington
distributed "ORYGUN" stickers (sold by the University of Oregon
Bookstore, which credits the spelling as a joke "meant for
Oregonians everywhere who get a kick out of this hilarious
mispronunciation of our state.") to members of the media as a
reminder of how to pronounce his home state.
Geography
National parks and historic areas in Oregon
| Entity |
Location |
| Crater Lake National Park |
Southern Oregon |
John Day
Fossil Beds National Monument |
Eastern Oregon |
Newberry
National Volcanic Monument |
Central Oregon |
Cascade–Siskiyou National
Monument |
Southern Oregon |
Oregon Caves National
Monument |
Southern Oregon |
| California Trail |
Southern Oregon, California |
Fort
Vancouver National Historic Site |
Western Oregon, Washington |
Lewis and
Clark National Historic Trail |
IL , MO , KS , IA , NE , SD ,
ND , MT , ID,
OR, WA |
Lewis and Clark National and State
Historical Parks |
Western Oregon, Washington |
Nez Perce
National Historical Park |
MT, ID,
OR, WA |
| Oregon Trail |
MO, KS, NE, WY , ID,
OR |
Oregon's geography may be split roughly into seven areas:
The
mountainous regions of western Oregon, home to four of the most
prominent mountain peaks of the United States including
Mount
Hood, were formed by the volcanic activity of Juan de Fuca Plate, a tectonic plate that poses a continued threat
of volcanic activity and earthquakes in the region. The most recent major
activity was the 1700 Cascadia
earthquake; Washington's Mount St. Helens
erupted in 1980, an event which was visible from
Oregon.
The
Columbia River, which constitutes
much of the northern border of Oregon, also played a major role in
the region's geological evolution, as well as its economic and
cultural development. The Columbia is one of
North America's largest rivers, and the only
river to cut through the Cascades. About 15,000 years ago, the
Columbia repeatedly flooded much of Oregon during the
Missoula Floods; the modern fertility of the
Willamette Valley is largely a result of those floods.
Plentiful salmon made
parts of the river, such as Celilo Falls
, hubs of economic activity for thousands of
years. In the 20th century, numerous
hydroelectric dams were constructed along
the Columbia, with major impacts on salmon, transportation and
commerce, electric power, and flood control.
Today, Oregon's landscape varies from
rainforest in the Coast Range to barren desert in
the southeast, which still meets the technical definition of a
frontier.
Oregon is north to south at longest distance, and east to west at
longest distance. In terms of land and water area, Oregon is the
ninth largest state, covering .
The highest point in Oregon is the summit of
Mount Hood, at , and its lowest point is sea
level of the Pacific
Ocean along the Oregon coast. Its mean elevation
is .
Crater Lake National Park is the state's only national park and the site of
Crater
Lake
, the deepest lake in the U.S. at .
Oregon
claims the D
River
is the shortest river in the
world, though the American state of Montana makes the same claim of its Roe River. Oregon is also home to Mill Ends
Park
(in Portland), the smallest park in the world at
.
Oregon is
home to what is considered the largest single organism in the
world, an Armillaria
ostoyae fungus beneath the Malheur
National Forest
of eastern
Oregon.
Image:Trilliumlake.jpg|Mount Hood, with Trillium Lake
in the foreground.Image:Crater lake
oregon.jpg|An aerial view of Crater Lake in Oregon.Image:OregonCoastEcola Edit.jpg|Southern
view of the Oregon coast from Ecola State Park, with Haystack Rock
in the distance.File:Boise2008
164.JPG|Sunset over Malheur Butte, an extinct volcanic cinder cone near Ontario, Oregon
.File:Portland panorama3.jpg|Portland.File:Oregon population map 2000.png|Map of
Oregon's population density.File:Public-Lands-Western-US.png|Nearly
half of Oregon's land is held by the
U.S. Forest Service and the
Bureau of Land
Management.[http://www.wildlandfire.com/docs/2007/western-states-data-public-land.htm
Western States Data Public Land AcreageFile:Map of Oregon NA.png|A
map of Oregon.
Major cities
Most Populous Cities]]
| City |
Population (2008) |
| 1. Portland |
575,930 |
| 2. Eugene |
154,620 |
| 3. Salem |
154,510 |
4. Gresham |
100,655 |
5. Hillsboro |
89,285 |
6. Beaverton |
86,205 |
7. Bend |
80,995 |
8. Medford |
76,850 |
9. Springfield |
58,005 |
| 10. Corvallis |
54,880 |
Oregon's
population is largely concentrated in the Willamette Valley, which stretches from
Eugene in the south
(home of the University of Oregon, second largest city in Oregon) through Corvallis (home of Oregon State University) and Salem (the
capital, third largest) to
Portland (Oregon's largest city).
Astoria
, at the mouth of the Columbia River, was the first
permanent English-speaking settlement west of Rockies in what is now the United States. Oregon City, at the end of the Oregon
Trail, was the Oregon Territory's first incorporated city, and was its first
capital from 1848 until 1852, when the capital was moved to
Salem. Bend, near the
geographic center of the state, is one of the ten fastest-growing
metropolitan areas in the United States. In the southern part
of the state, Medford is a rapidly growing metro area, which is home to
The Rogue Valley International-Medford
Airport
, the third-busiest airport in the state.
Further
to the south, near the California-Oregon border, is the community
of Ashland
, home of the Tony
Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival
.
Climate
Oregon's
climate—especially in the western part of the state—is heavily
influenced by the Pacific
Ocean. The climate is generally mild, but periods
of extreme hot and cold can affect parts of the state.
Precipitation in the state
varies widely: the deserts of eastern Oregon, such as the Alvord Desert
(in the rain shadow of
Steens
Mountain
), get as
little as 200 mm (8 inches) annually, while some western
coastal slopes approach 5000 mm (200 inches)
annually. Oregon's population centers, which lie
mostly in the western part of the state, are generally moist and
mild, while the lightly populated high deserts of Central and Eastern Oregon are much
drier.
Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures(°F) For Various
Oregon Cities
| City |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Annual
Precipitation
|
| Astoria |
48/37 |
51/38 |
53/39 |
56/41 |
60/45 |
64/50 |
67/53 |
68/53 |
68/50 |
61/44 |
53/40 |
48/37 |
|
| Bend |
40/23 |
44/25 |
51/27 |
57/30 |
65/36 |
73/41 |
81/46 |
81/46 |
72/39 |
62/32 |
46/28 |
40/23 |
|
Brookings |
55/42 |
56/42 |
58/42 |
60/44 |
63/47 |
67/50 |
68/52 |
68/53 |
68/51 |
65/48 |
58/45 |
55/41 |
|
Burns |
35/14 |
40/19 |
49/25 |
57/29 |
66/36 |
75/41 |
85/46 |
84/44 |
75/35 |
62/26 |
45/21 |
35/15 |
|
| Eugene |
46/33 |
51/35 |
56/37 |
61/39 |
67/43 |
73/47 |
82/51 |
82/51 |
77/47 |
65/40 |
52/37 |
46/33 |
|
| Medford |
47/31 |
54/33 |
58/36 |
64/39 |
72/44 |
81/50 |
90/55 |
90/55 |
84/48 |
70/40 |
53/35 |
45/31 |
|
Pendleton |
40/27 |
46/31 |
55/35 |
62/40 |
70/46 |
79/52 |
88/58 |
87/57 |
77/50 |
64/41 |
48/34 |
40/28 |
|
| Portland |
46/37 |
50/39 |
56/41 |
61/44 |
67/49 |
79/57 |
79/58 |
74/55 |
63/48 |
51/42 |
46/37 |
|
|
| Salem |
47/34 |
51/35 |
56/37 |
61/39 |
68/44 |
74/48 |
82/52 |
82/52 |
77/48 |
64/41 |
52/38 |
46/34 |
|
Law and government
The
Oregon Country functioned as an
independent republic with a three-person
executive office and a chief executive until August 13, 1848, when
Oregon was annexed by the United States, at which time a territorial government was
established. Oregon maintained a territorial government
until February 14, 1859, when it was granted
statehood.
State government
Oregon state government has a
separation of powers similar to the
federal
government. It has three branches, called departments by the
state's constitution:
Governors in Oregon serve four year terms and are limited to two
consecutive terms, but an unlimited number of total terms. Oregon
has no
lieutenant
governor; in the event that the office of governor is vacated,
Article V, Section 8a of the
Oregon
Constitution specifies that the
Secretary of State is first in
line for succession. The other statewide officers are
Treasurer,
Attorney General,
Superintendent,
and
Labor
Commissioner. The
biennial Oregon
Legislative Assembly consists of a thirty-member
Senate and a sixty-member
House. The state supreme
court has seven elected justices, currently including the only two
openly gay state supreme court justices in the nation. They choose
one of their own to serve a six-year term as Chief Justice.
The only
court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme
Court is the Supreme Court of the United
States
.
The debate over whether to move to annual sessions is a
long-standing battle in Oregon politics, but the voters have
resisted the move from citizen legislators to professional
lawmakers. Because Oregon's state budget is written in two year
increments and, having no sales tax, its revenue is based largely
on income taxes, it is often significantly over- or under-budget.
Recent legislatures have had to be called into special session
repeatedly to address revenue shortfalls resulting from economic
downturns, bringing to a head the need for more frequent
legislative sessions.
Oregon State Capitol
[[File:Oregon voter reg 1950-2006.png|thumb|right|Party
registration in Oregon, 1950–2006.
]]The state maintains formal relationships with the nine
federally recognized tribes in
Oregon:
Oregonians have voted for the
Democratic Presidential
candidate in every election since 1988. In 2004 and 2006, Democrats
won control of the state Senate and then the House. Since the late
1990s, Oregon has been represented by four Democrats and one
Republican in the
U.S. House of Representatives, and, until 2009, by one U.S. Senator
from each party. In 2009, Democrat
Jeff
Merkley became the second Democratic senator, joining
Ron Wyden. Democratic Governor
Ted Kulongoski defeated Republicans in 2002
and 2006, defeating conservative
Kevin
Mannix and the more moderate
Ron
Saxton respectively.
The base of Democratic support is largely concentrated in the urban
centers of the
Willamette Valley.
In both 2000 and 2004, the Democratic Presidential candidate won
Oregon, but did so with majorities in only eight of Oregon's 36
counties. The eastern two-thirds of the state beyond the Cascade
Mountains often votes Republican; in 2000 and 2004,
George W. Bush
carried every county east of the Cascades. However, the region's
sparse population means that the more populous counties in the
Willamette Valley usually carry the day in statewide
elections.
Oregon's
politics are largely similar to those of neighboring Washington, for instance in the contrast between urban and
rural issues.
In the 2004 general election, Oregon voters passed ballot measures
banning same-sex
marriage, and
restricting land use
regulation. In the
2006 general election,
voters restricted the use of
eminent domain and extended
the state's discount prescription drug coverage.
The distribution, sales and consumption of
alcoholic beverages are regulated
in the state by the
Oregon Liquor Control
Commission. Thus, Oregon is an
Alcoholic beverage control
state. While wine and beer are available in most grocery
stores, comparatively few stores sell hard liquor.
Federal government
Like all
U.S. states, Oregon is
represented by two
U.S.
Senators. Since the
1980 census Oregon has had five
Congressional
districts.
After Oregon was admitted to the Union, it began with a single
member in the House of Representatives (
La Fayette Grover, who served in the
35th United States
Congress for less than a month).
Congressional
apportionment led to the addition of new members following the
censuses of
1890,
1910,
1940, and 1980. A
detailed
list of the past and present Congressional delegations from
Oregon is available.
The
United
States District Court for the District of Oregon hears Federal
cases in the state.
The court has courthouses in Portland
, Eugene
, Medford, and Pendleton. Also in Portland is
the federal bankruptcy court, with a second branch in Eugene.
Oregon (among other western states and territories) is in the
9th
Court of Appeals.
One of the court's meeting places is at the
Pioneer
Courthouse
in downtown Portland, a National Historic Landmark
built in 1869.
Politics
Presidential elections results
| Year |
Republican |
Democratic |
| 2008 |
40.40% 738,475 |
56.75%
1,037,291 |
| 2004 |
47.19% 866,831 |
51.35% 943,163 |
| 2000 |
46.46% 713,577 |
47.01% 720,342 |
| 1996 |
39.06% 538,152 |
47.15% 649,641 |
| 1992 |
32.53% 475,757 |
42.48% 621,314 |
| 1988 |
46.61% 560,126 |
51.28% 616,206 |
The state has been thought of as politically split by the
Cascade Range, with western Oregon being
liberal and
Eastern Oregon being
conservative. In a 2008
analysis of the
2004 presidential
election, political analyst found that according to the
application of a
Likert scale, Oregon
boasted both the most liberal voters and the most conservative
voters, making it the most politically polarized state in the
country. The two current U.S senators from Oregon are
Ron Wyden (D), and
Jeff
Merkley (D). The office of governorship is held by
Ted Kulongoski (D) who was re-elected to a
second term.
During Oregon's history it has adopted many electoral reforms
proposed during the
Progressive Era,
through the efforts of
William
S. U'Ren and his
Direct Legislation League. Under
his leadership, the state overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure
in 1902 that created the
initiative and
referendum processes for citizens to
directly introduce or approve proposed laws or amendments to the
state constitution, making Oregon the first state to adopt such a
system. Today, roughly half of U.S. states do so.In following
years, the
primary election to
select party candidates was adopted in 1904, and in 1908 the
Oregon Constitution was amended
to include recall of public officials.
More recent
amendments include the nation's first doctor-assisted suicide law, called the
Death with Dignity law
(which was challenged, unsuccessfully, in 2005 by the Bush administration in a case
heard by the U.S. Supreme
Court), legalization of medical cannabis, and among the nation's
strongest anti-urban sprawl and pro-environment laws.
More recently,
2004's
Measure 37 reflects a backlash against such land use laws.
However, a further ballot measure in 2007,
Measure 49,
curtailed many of the provisions of 37.
Of the
measures placed on
the ballot since 1902, the people have passed 99 of the 288
initiatives and 25 of the 61 referendums on the ballot, though not
all of them survived challenges in courts (see
Pierce v. Society of Sisters, for an
example). During the same period, the legislature has referred 363
measures to the people, of which 206 have passed.
Oregon pioneered the American use of
postal voting, beginning with experimentation
authorized by the
Oregon
Legislative Assembly in 1981 and culminating with a
1998 ballot measure
mandating that all counties conduct elections by mail. It remains
the only state where
voting by mail
is the only method of voting.
In the
U.S.
Electoral College,
Oregon casts seven votes. Oregon has supported Democratic
candidates in the last six elections. Democrat
Barack Obama won the state in 2008 by a margin
of sixteen percentage points, with over 56% of the popular
vote.
Economy
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Oregon in 2008 was $161.6
billion, it is United States's 26th wealthiest state by GDP. The
states per capita personal income in 2008 was $38801.
Land in the
Willamette Valley owes its fertility to the Missoula Floods, which deposited lake
sediment from Glacial Lake Missoula
in western Montana onto the valley floor.
This soil is the source of a wealth of agricultural products,
including
potatoes,
peppermint,
hops,
apples and other
fruits.
Oregon is also one of four major world
hazelnut growing regions, and produces 95%
of the domestic hazelnuts in the United States. While the history
of the
wine production in Oregon can be traced
to before
Prohibition, it became a
significant industry beginning in the
1970s. In 2005, Oregon ranked third among U.S. states with 303
wineries. Due to regional similarities in climate and soil, the
grapes planted in Oregon are often the same varieties found in the
French regions of
Alsace and
Burgundy.
In the northeastern region of the state,
particularly around Pendleton, both irrigated and dry land wheat is grown. Oregon farmers and ranchers
also produce
cattle, sheep,
dairy products, eggs and poultry.
Vast forests have historically made Oregon one of the nation's
major
timber production and
logging states, but forest fires (such as the
Tillamook Burn), over-harvesting, and
lawsuits over the proper management of the extensive federal forest
holdings have reduced the amount of timber produced. According to
the
Oregon Forest
Resources Institute, between 1989 and 2001 the amount of timber
harvested from federal lands dropped some 96%, from
4,333 million to 173 million
board
feet (10,000,000 to 408,000 m
3), although
harvest levels on private land have remained relatively constant.
Even the shift in recent years towards finished goods such as paper
and building materials has not slowed the decline of the timber
industry in the state.
The effects of this decline have included
Weyerhaeuser's acquisition of
Portland-based Willamette
Industries in January 2002, the relocation of Louisiana-Pacific's corporate headquarters
from Portland to Nashville
, and the decline of former lumber company towns such as Gilchrist
. Despite these changes, Oregon still leads
the United States in softwood lumber
production; in 2001, 6,056 million board feet (14,000,000
m3) was produced in Oregon, compared to
4,257 million board feet (10,050,000 m3) in
Washington, 2,731 million board feet (6,444,000 m3) in
California, 2,413 million board feet (5,694,000 m3) in
Georgia
, and 2,327 million board feet (5,491,000
m3) in Mississippi
. The effect of the forest industry crunch is
still extensive unemployment in rural Oregon and is a bone of
contention between rural and urban Oregon.
Oregon occasionally hosts
film
shoots. Movies wholly or partially filmed in Oregon include:
Rooster
Cogburn,
The Goonies,
National Lampoon's
Animal House,
Stand By
Me,
Kindergarten
Cop,
Overboard,
The River Wild,
One Flew Over the
Cuckoo's Nest,
Paint Your Wagon,
The Hunted,
Sometimes a Great
Notion,
Elephant,
Bandits,
The Ring,
The Ring Two,
Quarterback Princess,
The General,
Mr. Brooks,
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
III,
Short Circuit,
Come See the
Paradise,
The
Shining,
Drugstore
Cowboy,
My Own Private
Idaho,
The
Postman,
Homeward Bound,
Free Willy,
Free Willy 2: The Adventure
Home,
1941,
Swordfish,
Twilight,
Untraceable, and
Wendy and Lucy. Oregon native
Matt Groening, creator of
The Simpsons, has incorporated many
references from his hometown of Portland into the TV series.
Oregon's scenic coastal and mountain highways are frequently seen
in automobile commercials.
In late
2008, Hells
Canyon
and Oregon's badlands were a set location for an
episode of Man vs. Wild.
Public Corporations]] Headquartered in Oregon
High technology industries and services have been a major employer
since the 1970s.
Tektronix was the largest
private employer in Oregon until the late 1980s.
Intel's creation and expansion of several facilities in
eastern Washington County
continued the growth that Tektronix had
started. Intel, the state's largest for-profit
private employer, operates four large facilities, with Ronler
Acres, Jones Farm and Hawthorn Farm all located in Hillsboro. The spinoffs and startups that were
produced by these two companies led to the establishment in that
area of the so-called
Silicon Forest.
The recession and
dot-com bust of
2001 hit the region hard; many high technology employers
reduced the number of their employees or went out of business.
Open Source Development
Labs made news in 2004 when they hired
Linus Torvalds, developer of the
Linux kernel. Recently,
biotechnology giant
Genentech purchased several acres of land in
Hillsboro in an effort to expand its production capabilities.
Oregon is also the home of large corporations in other industries.
The
world headquarters of Nike,
Inc.
are located near Beaverton. Medford is home to two of the largest mail order
companies in the country: Harry and David Operations
Corp. which sells gift items under several brands, and Musician's Friend, an international
catalog and Internet retailer of musical instruments and related
products. Medford is also home to the national headquarters
of the
Fortune 1000 company,
Lithia Motors. Portland is home to one of the
West's largest trade book
publishing
houses,
Graphic Arts
Center Publishing.
Oregon has one of the largest
salmon-fishing
industries in the world, although ocean fisheries have reduced the
river fisheries in recent years.
Tourism is also
strong in the state; Oregon's evergreen mountain forests,
waterfalls, pristine lakes (including Crater
Lake National Park), and scenic beaches draw visitors year
round. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, held in Ashland, is a tourist draw which complements the
southern region of the state's scenic beauty and opportunity for
outdoor activities.
.png/200px-Craft_Breweries_Per_Capita_(US).png)
Oregon ranks 4th nationally in craft
breweries per capita.
Oregon is home to
many breweries
and Portland has the largest number of breweries of any city in the
world.
Portland reportedly has more strip clubs per capita than Las Vegas
or San Francisco.
Oregon's
gross state product is
$132.66 billion as of 2006, making it the 27th largest GSP in the
nation.
Taxes and budgets
Oregon's
biennial state budget, $42.4
billion as of 2007, comprises General Funds, Federal Funds, Lottery
Funds, and Other Funds. Personal
income
taxes account for 88% of the General Fund's projected funds.
The Lottery Fund, which has grown steadily since the lottery was
approved in 1984, exceeded expectations in the 2007 fiscal years,
at $604 million.
Oregon is one of
only
five states that have no
sales tax.
Oregon voters have been resolute in their opposition to a sales
tax, voting proposals down each of the nine times they have been
presented. The last vote, for 1993's Measure 1, was defeated by a
72–24% margin.
The state also has a minimum corporate tax of only $10 per year,
amounting to 5.6% of the General Fund in the 2005–2007 biennium;
data about which businesses pay the minimum is not available to the
public. As a result, the state relies almost entirely on
property and income taxes for its revenue.
Oregon has the fifth highest personal income tax per person in the
nation. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Oregon ranked 41st out
of the 50 states in taxes per person in 2005. The average paid of
$1,791.45 is higher than only nine other states.
Some
local governments levy sales taxes on services: the city of
Ashland, for example, collects a 5% sales tax on
prepared food.
Oregon is one of six states with a revenue limit. The "
kicker law" stipulates that when
income tax collections exceed state economists' estimates by 2
percent or more, all of the excess must be returned to taxpayers.
Since the inception of the law in 1979, refunds have been issued
for seven of the eleven biennia. In 2000, Ballot Measure 86
converted the "kicker" law from statute to the
Oregon Constitution, and changed some of
its provisions.
Federal payments to county governments, which were granted to
replace timber revenue when logging in National Forests was
restricted in the 1990s, have been under threat of suspension for
several years. This issue dominates the future revenue of rural
counties, which have come to rely on the payments in providing
essential services.
55% of state revenues are spent on public education, 23% on human
services (child protective services, Medicaid, and senior
services), 17% on public safety, and 5% on other services.
Demographics
Source: Population Research
Center
County population cartogram of
Oregon.
As of 2005, Oregon has an estimated population of 3,641,056, which
is an increase of 49,693, or 1.4%, from the prior year and an
increase of 219,620, or 6.4%, since the year 2000. This includes a
natural increase since the last census of 75,196 people (that is
236,557 births minus 161,361 deaths) and an increase due to net
migration of 150,084 people into the state.
Immigration from outside
the United States resulted in a net increase of 72,263 people, and
migration within the country produced a net increase of 77,821
people.
The
center of population of Oregon
is located in Linn County, in
the city of Lyons
.
More
than 42% of the state's population lives in the Portland
metropolitan area
.
As of 2004, Oregon's population included 309,700 foreign-born
residents (accounting for 8.7% of the state population)
Oregon population by decade, 1850–2000
(source: Census data)
Population Growth by County,
2000–2007.
Green counties grew faster than the national average, while
purple counties grew more slowly or, in a few cases, lost
population.
The largest reported ancestry groups in Oregon are: German (20.5%),
English (13.2%), Irish (11.9%), American (6.2%), and Mexican
(5.5%). Most Oregon counties are inhabited principally by residents
of European ancestry.
Concentrations of Mexican Americans are highest in Malheur
and Jefferson
counties.
The majority of the diversity in Oregon is in the Portland
metropolitan area.
Oregon ranks 16th highest for population that is "white alone,"
with 86.1% in 2006.
Over two-thirds of Oregon's
African-American population lives in Portland.
6.5% of Oregon's population were reported as less than 5 years old,
24.7% under 18, and 12.8% were 65 or older. Females made up
approximately 50.4% of the population.
Religion
The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the
Roman Catholic Church with
348,239;
the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 104,312 (144,808
year-end 2007) ; and the
Assemblies of
God with 49,357.
Of the
U.S. states, Oregon has the fourth largest percentage of people
identifying themselves as "non-religious", at 21 percent, after
Colorado
, Washington, and Vermont
. However, 75–79% of Oregonians identify
themselves as being Christian
[3595], and some hold deeply conservative convictions.
During much of the 1990s a group of conservative Christians formed
the
Oregon Citizens
Alliance, and unsuccessfully tried to pass legislation to
prevent "gay sensitivity training" in public schools and legal
benefits for homosexual couples.
Oregon also contains the largest community of Russian
Old Believers to be found in the United
States. Additionally, Oregon, particularly the Portland
metropolitan area, has become known as a center of non-mainstream
spirituality. The Northwest Tibetan Cultural Association, reported
to be the largest such institution of its kind, is headquartered in
Portland, and the popular
New Age film
What the Bleep Do We
Know!? was filmed and had its premiere in Portland. There
are an estimated 6 to 10 thousand Muslims of various ethnic
backgrounds in Oregon.
2000–2003 population trends
Estimates released show double-digit growth in Latino and Asian
American populations since the 2000 Census. About 60% of the
138,197 new residents come from ethnic and racial minorities. Asian
growth is located mostly in the metropolitan areas of Portland,
Salem, Medford and Eugene; Hispanic population growth is across the
state.
Education
Primary and secondary
As of 2005, the state had 559,215 students in public primary and
secondary schools. There were 199 public school districts at that
time, served by 20
education service districts.
The five
largest school districts as of 2007 were: Portland Public Schools
(46,262 students), Salem-Keizer School District
(40,106), Beaverton School
District (37,821), Hillsboro School District
(20,401), and Eugene School District
(18,025).
Colleges and universities
OSU's Bell Tower.
Public
The Oregon University System supports seven public universities and
one affiliate in the state.
The University of Oregon in Eugene is Oregon's flagship liberal arts
institution, and was the state's only nationally ranked university
by U.S.
News & World
Report.
Oregon State University is located in Corvallis and holds the distinction
of being the state's flagship in science, engineering and
agricultural research and academics. The university is also
the state's highest ranking university/college in a world survey of
academic merit.
The
State has three regional universities: Western
Oregon University
in Monmouth, Southern Oregon University
in Ashland, and Eastern
Oregon University
in La Grande. Portland
State University is Oregon's largest. The Oregon
Institute of Technology
has its campus in Klamath Falls.
The
affiliate Oregon Health & Science
University
(OHSU) comprises a medical, dental, and nursing
school in Portland and a science and engineering school in
Hillsboro.
Oregon has historically struggled to fund higher education.
Recently, Oregon has cut its higher education budget over 2002–2006
and now Oregon ranks 46th in the country in state spending per
student. However, 2007 legislation forced tuition increases to cap
at 3% per year, and funded the OUS far beyond the requested
governor's budget.
The state also supports
17 community
colleges.
Private
Oregon is home to a wide variety of private colleges.
The University of Portland
and Marylhurst University
are Catholic institutions in the Portland
area. Reed College
, Concordia
University, Lewis & Clark College
, Multnomah Bible College
, Portland Bible College
, Warner Pacific
College, Cascade
College
, the National College of Natural
Medicine and Western Seminary,
a theological graduate school, are also in Portland.
Pacific
University
is in the Portland suburb of Forest
Grove
.
There are also private colleges further south in the Willamette
Valley.
McMinnville has Linfield College
, while nearby Newberg is home to George
Fox University
. Salem is home to two private schools,
Willamette University
(the state's oldest, established during the
provisional period) and Corban College
. Also located near Salem is Mount
Angel Seminary
, one of America's largest Roman Catholic
seminaries. Eugene is home to three private colleges:
Northwest Christian
University, Eugene Bible College
, and Gutenberg
College.
Sports
The only major professional sports team in Oregon is the
Portland Trail Blazers of the
National Basketball
Association. From the 1970s to the 1990s, the team was one of
the most successful teams in the NBA in terms of both win-loss
record and attendance. In the early 2000s, the team's popularity
declined due to personnel and financial issues, but revived after
the departure of controversial players and the acquisition of new
players such as
Brandon Roy,
LaMarcus Aldridge, and
Greg Oden.
The
Blazers play in the Rose Garden
in Portland's Lloyd District, which is also home to
the Portland LumberJax of the
National Lacrosse League
and the Portland Winterhawks of
the junior-league Western Hockey
League.
Portland
has two minor-league sports teams who play at PGE Park
: The Portland
Timbers of the USL First
Division are a very popular soccer team, and the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League are the Triple-A
affiliate of the San Diego
Padres. Portland has actively pursued a
Major League Baseball team. It was
announced in March 2009 that the Portland Timbers will begin MLS
play starting in 2011. This will make them the second major
professional sports team in the state.
Eugene and Salem also have minor-league baseball teams. The
Eugene Emeralds and the
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes both play in
the Single-A
Northwest League.
Oregon also has four teams in the fledgling
International Basketball
League: the
Portland Chinooks,
Central Oregon Hotshots,
Salem Stampede, and the
Eugene Chargers.
The
Oregon State Beavers and
the University of
Oregon Ducks football
teams of the
Pacific-10
Conference meet annually in the
Civil War, one of the
oldest
college football
rivalries in the United States, dating back to 1894. Both
schools have had recent success in other sports as well: Oregon
State won back-to-back
college
baseball championships in 2006 and 2007, and the University of
Oregon won back-to-back
NCAA men's cross country
championships in 2007 and 2008.
Sister states
See also
References
- http://www.ous.edu/news_and_information/news/111308.php
- [1]
- Where does the name "Oregon" come from? from
the online edition of the Oregon Blue Book
- Oregon Fast Facts
- [2]
- Harrington confident about Detroit QB
challenge
- See no evil, hear no evil: Joey Harrington
scoffs at criticism as he struggles to right the
Lions
- United States—States; and Puerto Rico: GCT-PH1-R.
Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density. U.S. Census
Bureau. Retrieved on March 28, 2008.
- Beale, Bob. 10 April 2003. Humungous fungus: world's largest organism? at
Environment & Nature News, ABC Online. Accessed January 2,
2007.
- Map of Oregon
- 50 Fastest-Growing Metro Areas Concentrated in West
and South. U.S. Census Bureau 2005. Retrieved October 16,
2007.
- Portland, OR monthly averages. US Travel
Weather.com. Retrieved October 16, 2007.
- See Summary of
2006 ballot measures
-
http://www.co.multnomah.or.us/dbcs/elections/election_information/voting_in_oregon.shtml
- http://www.bea.gov/regional/gsp/
-
http://beargrylls.blogspot.com/2008/11/man-vs-wildborn-survivor-complete.html#links
- 2006 Oregon full-year resident tax form
instructions
- R0201. Percent of the Total Population Who Are
White Alone: 2006 Accessed 8 March 2008.
-
http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/reports/state/41_2000.asp
- Wentz, Patty. He’s Back. Willamette Week, February 11, 1998.
Retrieved on March 14, 2008.
- Binus, Joshua. The Oregon History Project: Russian Old
Believers. Oregon Historical Society.
Retrieved on March 14, 2008.
- Islam in Oregon and America—The Facts
- Oregon Blue Book: Oregon Almanac: Native Americans
to Shoes, Oldest. Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on March
28, 2008.
- Oregon Public School Enrollment Increases during
2007-08. Oregon Department of Education. Retrieved on March 28,
2008.
- USNews.com: America's Best Colleges 2008: National
Universities: Top Schools
-
http://portlandtimbers.com/newsroom/headlines/index.html?article_id=1108
Further reading
- O'Hara, E. (1911). Oregon. In the Catholic Encyclopedia. New
York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved July 25, 2009, from New
Advent.
External links
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