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 United States. 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 assassinateaUnited 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.
Jack Ely (1943–2015) was an American guitarist and singer, best known for singing The Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie". Born in Portland, Oregon, his father died when he was five. Ely was classically trained in piano and began playing guitar after seeing Elvis Presley on television. In 1959 while in high school, Lynn Easton invited him to play with him at a hotel gig. The two grew up together, and would perform at yacht club parties, and soon added Mike Mitchell on guitar and Bob Norby on bass to round out a band. They called themselves The Kingsmen, taking the name from a recently disbanded group. Ely played with the Kingsmen as he attended Portland State University. The group recorded "Louie Louie" in 1963, with Ely's famously incoherent vocals partly the result of his braces and the rudimentary recording method. Before the record became a hit, Ely was forced out of the group and began playing with his Courtmen. In later years Ely lived in TerrebonneinCentral Oregon, where he trained horses. He released a Christian rock album, Love Is All Around You Now, in 2012.
... 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 Hayden Bridge is the oldest intact bridge in the US state of Oregon?
I fed the hungry, caused the sick to be tended to and nursed, furnished them assistance as long as they required it, and which some have not paid to this day, though abundantly able, and for which if they do not pay I am answerable to the Hudson's Bay Company. It may be said, and has been said, that I was too liberal in making these advances. It was not so but was done judiciously and prudently.
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