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...)
Willamette University College of Law is a private law school located in Salem. Founded in 1842, Willamette University is the oldest university in the Western United States. The College of Law, which was founded in 1883 and is the oldest law school in the Pacific Northwest, has approximately 30 law professors and a yearly entering class of 165 students. The campus is located across the street from the Oregon State Capitol and the Oregon Supreme Court Building. Housed in the Truman Wesley Collins Legal Center, Willamette's College of Law offers full-time enrollment for the Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree, a joint-degree program, and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) program. Students may attend part time for the LL.M. program, which focuses on international legal issues. The joint-degree program allows students to earn both a J.D. and a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) concurrently in a four-year program.
Paul Gardner Allen (born January 21, 1953) is an American entrepreneur who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates. Born and raised in Seattle, Allen regularly appears on lists of the richest people in the world. As of September 2007, Forbes ranks him as the eleventh richest American, worth an estimated $16.8 billion. He is the founder and chairman of Vulcan Inc., which is his private asset management company, and is chairman of Charter Communications. Allen also has a multibillion dollar investment portfolio which includes large stakes in DreamWorks Animation SKG, Digeo, real estate holdings, and more than 40 other technology, media, and content companies. Allen also owns three professional sports teams: the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League, the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association, and the Seattle Sounders FC franchise in Major League Soccer that will begin playing in the 2009 season. As owner of the Trail Blazers since 1988, he also once again owns their home arena, the Rose Garden. He re-acquired the arena in 2007 after allowing the holding company that owned the arena to go bankrupt in 2004.
... 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?
... that Gus C. Moser served five 4-year terms in the Oregon State Senate, including two non-consecutive 2-year periods as senate president, to which post he was elected unanimously in 1917?
I believe I'll turn out for baseball this year and skip spring football. I'll really give my pitching arm a chance to develop. Then I'll decide if I'm a prospect for the big leagues, and if I think I'll make it, then I may quit football.
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