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 U.S. 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 Oregon Ducks Track and Field program is the intercollegiate track and field team for the University of Oregon. The team competes at the NCAA Division I level and is a member of the Pacific-10 Conference. The team participates in indoor and outdoor track and field as well as cross country. Known as the Ducks, Oregon's first track and field team was fielded in 1895. The team holds its home meets at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Vin Lananna is the current head coach and since the program's inception in 1895, there have only been seven permanent head coaches. The Ducks claim 28 NCAA National Championships among the three disciplines. Due to its rich heritage, the home of the Ducks is popularly dubbed as Tracktown, USA. Four of the head coaches in Oregon's history have been inducted into the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame. Several people involved with the program have developed innovative coaching strategies and helped restructure amateur athletics. Alumni of the program have continued to the Olympics and professional ranks while some others have founded athletic corporations like Nike and SPARQ. Oregon's track and field history has been documented in two major motion films Without Limits and Prefontaine as well as the books Bowerman and the Men of Oregon and Pre: The Story of America's Greatest Running Legend. Former coaches and alumni have also written a number of books on running instruction for both top end athletes and hobbyists.
Steve "Pre" Prefontaine (1951–1975) was an AmericanOlympic runner born in Coos Bay, Oregon. Prefontaine was primarily a long distance runner, and at one point held the American record in every running event from the 2000 meters to the 10,000 meters. Prefontaine had one leg longer than the other (a common condition that does not affect running speed), and due to this he was told to give up on his dream of being the fastest runner on earth. He is considered one of the greatest American runners of all time, having inspired a running boom during the 1970s. He is known for his extremely aggressive "front-running" racing style and always believing in giving a full effort. Prefontaine died at the age of 24 in a car accident. Prefontaine set 19 National High School track records. Following high school, Prefontaine enrolled at the University of Oregon in order to continue his running under coach Bill Bowerman, who would later co-found Blue Ribbon Sports, the precursor to the Nike shoe company. After his freshman year, in which he finished 3rd in the NCAA National Cross Country meet, he suffered only two more defeats in college (both in the mile), winning three Division I NCAA Cross Country championships and four straight three-mile titles in Track and Field.He set the American record in the 5000 meter race, the event that took him to the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich where he finished fourth.
... that the seemingly unremarkable Catt family – father Ronald "Scott" Catt and his children, Hayden and Abigail – pulled off several bank robberies in Oregon and Texas?
... that it has been a goal of Oregon state senator Bill Hansell to get the potato officially designated as the state vegetable?
... that a president of the Oregon Senate crawled along a ledge of the State Capitol to access an unsecured window of the absent governor's office to place bills on his desk?
I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead; Too-Hool-Hool-Suit is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men (Ollacut) is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are - perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more against the white man forever.
— Chief Joseph, speech in surrendering to General Nelson Appleton Miles after evading a pursuit nearly to Canada in 1877 (historical evidence points to the author being Charles Erskine Scott Wood).
Mount Jefferson is an inactive stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc, the Cascade Range and is the second-highest mountain in Oregon. Situated in the far northeastern corner of Linn County about 60 miles (96 km) east of Corvallis, Jefferson is in a rugged wilderness and is thus one of the hardest volcanoes to reach in the Cascades (logging road 1044 does come within 4 miles (6 km) of the summit, however).
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