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 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack refers to the salmonellafood poisoning of over seven hundred and fifty individuals in Oregon, USA through the contamination of salad bars at ten local restaurants. Followers of Osho, then known as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, hoped to incapacitate the voting population of the town so that their own candidates would win county elections. The attack is one of only two confirmed terrorist uses of biological weapons to harm humans. Having previously gained political control of Antelope, Oregon, Osho followers based in nearby Rajneeshpuram sought election to two of the three seats on the Wasco County Court which were up for election in November 1984. After other tactics to gain political control failed, Rajneeshpuram officials decided to incapacitate voters in The Dalles, the most populated city in the county. The biological agent used was Salmonella enterica Typhimurium, which was first delivered through glasses of water to two county commissioners, and then delivered on a larger scale at salad bars and in salad dressing. A total of 751 people were sickened with salmonellosis, and 45 were hospitalized, but no fatalities. An initial investigation by the Oregon Public Health Division and the Centers for Disease Control did not rule out deliberate contamination, the source of the biological agent was only discovered one year later. At a press conference in 1985, Osho accused several of his followers of involvement in this and other crimes, including an aborted plan to assassinate a United States attorney. The Oregon Attorney General set up an inter agency task force between the Oregon State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and executed search warrants in Rajneeshpuram. A contaminant matching the bacteria that sickened the town residents was found in a Rajneeshpuram medical laboratory. Two leading Rajneeshpuram officials served twenty-nine months in a minimum-security federal prison.
... that while George C. Brownell played no part in the Oregon land fraud scandal, a published cartoon showed him as the "Pretty Moth" that flew too close to the land fraud limelight?
... that future state senator William T. Vinton was sent to jail for contempt of court when he refused to sign a city paving contract, but was later vindicated by an Oregon Supreme Court decision?
... that for 25 years after an attempt to explode a whale went awry, the Oregon TV station that filmed it regularly fielded requests for its footage?
... that the only remaining artifact in the ghost town of Fremont, Oregon, is a juniper stump notched with steps that women travelers used to mount horses in a modest fashion?
... that the completion of Interstate 205 in Oregon was delayed to mitigate air and noise pollution for a jail that closed a few months later?
We are now entering upon an important period of our development as a State. Our infancy as a Territorial Government has passed into history. Our early struggle as a young State of the Union has already turned the point of successful trial,and we now stand in the threshold of coming strength and power. With a territory ranking among the largest of the sisterhood, with a soil equal to the best, and a climate of a salubrity and healthfulness enjoyed by none other,with resources for the employment of industry of great variety and extent, it would seem difficult to predict for Oregon anything short of a most successful career. In fact, with a creditable management of public affairs, nothing stands in the way of our prosperity.
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