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...)
Johnson Creek is a tributary, about 25 miles (40 km) long, of the Willamette River in the Portland metropolitan area. Part of the drainage basin of the Columbia River, its watershed consists of 54 square miles (140 km2) of mostly urban land occupied by about 175,000 people as of 2006. Passing through the cities of Gresham, Portland, and Milwaukie, the creek flows generally west from the foothills of the Cascade Range through sediments deposited by glacial floods on a substrate of basalt. Though polluted, it is free-flowing along its main stem and provides habitat for salmon and other migrating fish. Prior to European settlement, the watershed was covered with Oregon ash, alder, and western redcedarforests and scattered black cottonwood groves in riparian areas; Douglas-fir and Oregon white oak grew in the uplands. Native Americans of the Chinook band fished and hunted in this area, and they used fire to maintain prairie openings for native plant foods such as camas. In the 19th century, the watershed was taken over by white settlers who altered the landscape. The stream is named for one of these newcomers, William Johnson, who in 1846 built a water-powered sawmill in what later became the Lents neighborhood of Portland. Data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) show that the creek reached or exceeded flood stage 37 times between 1941 and 2006. The creek's watershed includes the subwatersheds of Badger Creek, Sunshine Creek, Kelley Creek, Mitchell Creek, Veterans Creek, Crystal Springs Creek, and smaller streams. Parks along the creek and its tributaries include natural areas, a wildlife refuge, a rhododendron garden, a botanical garden, and a 21-mile (34 km) bicycle and pedestrian rail trail that follows the creek for much of its length.
David Preston Thompson (November 8, 1834 – December 14, 1901) was a United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, a mayor of Portland, Oregon, served in the Oregon State Senate, and a business person involved with the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. Thompson was born in Cadiz, Ohio, of Irish and Scottish descent. In 1853 at the age of 19 Thompson moved to Oregon Territory. There he helped build the a railroad around Willamette Falls near Oregon City, which was the first railroad in Oregon. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Thompson enlisted in the Army where he rose to the rank of captain in the First Oregon Cavalry. In 1868 David Thompson served in the state senate representing Clackamas County as a Republican. Then in 1874 he was appointed by the President as the governor of Idaho Territory, and served from 1875 to 1876. Thompson returned to the Oregon Legislature representing Multnomah County in 1878. From June 1879 until June 1882 he served consecutive terms as the Mayor of Portland, before returning to the legislature in 1889. In 1890, he lost the election for Oregon Governor as the Republican nominee, but in 1892 President Harrison appointed Thompson as United States minister to the Ottoman Empire where he served until resigning in 1893. David Thompson died December 14, 1901, in Portland. He donated a fountain to Portland located in downtown, and after his death his family donated a statue named The coming of the White Man that stands in Washington Park.
... that when Oregon journalist Larry Smyth was asked who he thought would win presidential elections, he invariably replied "the man who gets the most votes"?
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