Oregon (OR) Fast Facts

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Location and Geography: Oregon is located in the portion of the United States known as the Pacific Northwest,

directly beneath the state of Washington. Oregon is known for its evergreen forests and for the Cascade Mountains, which divide the state from north to south. On the western side of the Cascades, the state is green and rainy; on the eastern side, it is dry and rugged.

Counties and Regions: The state of Oregon is divided into 36 counties, but its varied landscape is better known as being made up of the following regions:

• Oregon Coast

• Willamette Valley

• Rogue Valley

• The Cascades (Mountains)

• Klamath Mountains

• Columbia River Plateau

• Columbia River Gorge

• Oregon Outback

• Blue Mountains

• Central Oregon

• Eastern Oregon

• Southern Oregon

• Western Oregon

• Goose Lake Valley

• Oregon High Desert

• Harney Basin

• Mount Hood Corridor

• Portland Metropolitan Area

• Treasure Valley

• Tualatin Valley

• Warner Valley

Major Cities: Oregon’s largest city is Portland, with nearly six hundred thousand people (with well over two million people living in the greater metropolitan area). Other large cities are Eugene, Gresham, and the state capital, Salem. The community of Bend, currently Oregon’s seventh-largest city, is one of the fastest-growing towns in the United States.

Population: The vast majority of Oregon’s population is concentrated in the western part of the state, along the Columbia River and the Pacific Coast. The state total is more than three million, eight hundred thousand people, and it is growing fast.

 

Story Behind the Name: Nobody is sure exactly where the term “Oregon” comes from, although there are several theories. Many people think that it came from a Native American word or perhaps from the French word ouragan (meaning “hurricane”), which would be plausible because of how many French fur trappers made early contact with the natives there. The British actually referred to the entire area as “Columbia” (after the Columbia River), while “Oregon” was the American term for the territory.

History and Colonization: The Europeans and Americans who first came to the Oregon region had similar goals in mind: the discovery of the fabled Northwest Passage (a water trade route that would connect the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans). British explorer James Cook came upon the land as part of his exploration of the Pacific Coast in the late 1700s, while the American expedition of Lewis and Clark arrived a relatively short time later. As these and other individuals such as French Canadian fur trappers made inroads into the large area known as Oregon Country, several governments began to make claims on the land. The native population became decimated by disease and pushed out of their homes, as more and more white settlers moved West along the Oregon Trail.

The fur trade was the economic backbone of Oregon Country during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Great Britain and the United States argued frequently over the borders of the territory, and many thought that yet another war would break out between the two. Finally, in the 1840s, a treaty was agreed on that set the border between British and American lands, and turned what had been Oregon Country into the Oregon Territory.

A formal government was first created in Oregon Country for the main purpose of apportioning the large estate of Ewing Young, a successful trapper and businessman who died with no heirs. This led to the establishment of a system of law and a governmental body, which then lobbied the U.S. to include Oregon as a full state. At the time, it was quite important to the American North that a new anti-slavery state be added, and so Oregon became the 33rd state in 1859. This proved to be a part of the increasing level of tensions between the North and the South that led to the American Civil War a scant few years later.

 In the twentieth century, Oregon’s economy suffered some depression, as the fur trade was no longer viable and more industrial businesses (other than logging) never got much of a foothold. Oregon established itself with more tourist draws and the building of many crucial hydroelectric dams, which, along with agriculture and lumber, are still some of the state’s key industries.

Click to view Oregon map