Oregon’s history has been deeply affected by its geography and its natural resources. Timber in particular dominated the state’s economy, and the industry’s products were …

Oregon History Project

This 1792 map shows the extent to which the Pacific Northwest coast had been mapped by Spanish and British explorers since James Cook’s first foray into …

Oregon History Project

This digging stick originated most likely from the Columbia Plateau.  The color is the result of fire-hardening, a technique often used to strengthen wood.  Digging …

Oregon History Project

During the Last Glacial Maximum, from about 24,000 to about 18,000 years ago, and for several thousand years thereafter, many pluvial (that is, rainfed) …

Oregon Encyclopedia

Located at the mouth of the Columbia River and marking the extreme northwestern corner of Oregon, Point Adams is a pivotal landmark in the geography …

Oregon Encyclopedia

Point Adams was given its name by Captain Robert Gray, who in his official log entry on May 19, 1792, named the spit of …

Oregon Encyclopedia

The Pokegama (pronounced Po-KEG-a-ma) Plateau, elevation about 4,200 feet, includes some 140,000 acres of privately owned land in the Southern Oregon Cascade Range midway between …

Oregon Encyclopedia

This photograph—published in the Oregon Journal on June 14, 1935—shows a state policeman clubbing a picketer several miles south of Forest Grove. The unidentified picketer …

Oregon History Project

The boom and bust cycle of the century’s first three decades left a bitter legacy in southern Oregon, and long-held political tensions surfaced anew in …

Oregon History Project

Although Oregon gained national attention as an environmental pacesetter during the early 1970s, the state had a long history of using its waterways as municipal …

Oregon History Project