Geography and Landforms:

Oregon is bordered by Washington on the north and California and Nevada on the south. On the east, Oregon is bordered by Idaho and on the west, the state is bordered by the Pacific Ocean.

Major rivers in Oregon include the Columbia, Deschutes, Willamette, John Day and Snake Rivers.

Oregon is divided into six geographic areas: the Coast Range, the Willamette Lowland, the Cascade Mountains, the Klamath Mountains, the Columbia Plateau and the Basin and Range Region.

The Coast Range runs north and south along the Pacific Ocean coast; it consists of low mountain ranges covered with evergreens like spruce, fir and hemlock. The Cascade Mountains are in the center of the state. They are much more rugged and contain some of the highest peaks in the United States, including Mount Hood, the highest point in Oregon. There are also many lakes within the Cascade Mountains including Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States at 1,932 feet deep. Lying between the Coast Range and the Cascade Mountains are the Willamette Lowlands along the Willamette River. The southwest corner of Oregon contains the densely forested Klamath Mountains, and the Basin and Range Region covers a section of southeastern Oregon. Most of this region is semi-desert.

Most of the eastern Oregon is covered by the Columbia Plateau, formed thousands of years ago by lava flowing from cracks in the earth’s crust. Although many of the state’s wheat farms are located on the Columbia Plateau, most of the area is quite rugged. On the Oregon—Idaho border, the Snake River has cut Hells Canyon deep into the earth at an average depth of 5,500 feet.

History:

Spanish and British sailors exploring the Pacific coast may have been the first Europeans to sight Oregon during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Sir Francis Drake of England sailed along the coast in 1579, and may have come as far north as Oregon. These explorations continued through the eighteenth century as both countries sought to claim more territory for their home countries.

The real impetus for exploration came in the eighteenth century with the quest to discover the “Northwest Passage,” a water route from the east to the Pacific, and eventually to the Far East. A £20,000 prize was offered to the first person to find the Northwest Passage. In 1778, Captain James Cook charted some of the Oregon coastline. At the same time, Russian explorers were pushing southward from Alaska, and British fur companies based in what is now Canada were also exploring the area. Of course, the primary reason for finding a possible Northwest Passage was to increase trade, and the area that is now Oregon looked to be a promising source of fur. Soon explorers and traders from several countries were hoping to claim this new land for themselves.

In 1792, Captain Robert Gray of the new United States of America discovered the Columbia River and named it for his ship. Gray was probably among the first white men to explore Oregon beyond the coast, and he claimed the area for the U.S.

Soon after the United States acquired the Louisiana Purchase land from France in 1804-05, Thomas Jefferson decided to send Lewis and Clark to explore the area and to determine if there really was a Northwest Passage. The Columbia River had long been believed to be the key to this legendary waterway, but Lewis and Clark expedition determined once and for all that there was no real Northwest Passage. However, the combination of claims from both Gray and the Lewis and Clark party strengthened the United States’ claim to the land. John Jacob Astor, perhaps one of the richest men in the country, established a fur trading station which he called Astoria in 1811. This was probably the first permanent European settlement in Oregon. Conflict for control of the area between the British fur trading companies, led by the Hudson’s Bay Company, and the US traders was finally resolved with the 1846 Oregon Treaty, in which Great Britain gave up claims to the area.

About the same time, beginning in 1842, wagon trains began to make the “great migration” westward over what was called “the Oregon Trail” from Missouri to Western Oregon. The majority of the pioneers settled in the fertile Willamette Valley. By 1848, there was sufficient settlement to create Oregon Territory. Discoveries of gold on the coast and in surrounding areas increased the number of pioneers and prospectors coming to the area.

The increase in white settlement led to conflict with the Native populations. These Indian wars with the Rogue River, Modoc, Paiute, Bannock and Nez Perce tribes inevitably led to the surrender of lands by the Indians and the movement of these groups to reservations. The settlement of these Indian wars brought further settlement, and Oregon became a state in 1859.

The railroads came to Oregon in the 1870s and agricultural products no longer had to be transported along waterways to be sold. Lumbering had been important, but became a leading industry because lumber could be more easily exported on railroads.

First Inhabitants:

Archaeologists believe the first humans to come to the area now known as Oregon were part of a group that had arrived in the Northwest from Mongolia using a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska about thirteen thousand years ago. Native Americans who lived in this area created pictographs on canyon walls, and they have legends about how Oregon was created. The earliest groups lived by fishing and hunting large game. Groups living along the lower Columbia River lived in large multi-family long houses. Other groups living further up the Columbia tended to live in smaller groups and be more nomadic. These people fished for salmon on the Willamette River, and in the spring and summer, thousands gathered to harvest the Chinook salmon and trade with one another.

It is estimated that Indians speaking more than 30 different languages lived throughout Oregon by the eighteenth century.