In January 1837, settlers in the Willamette Valley organized the Willamette Cattle Company (WCC) for the singular purpose of buying cattle in California and herding …

Oregon Encyclopedia

William Clark is indelibly connected to Oregon in many ways, some obvious and direct, such as his co-leadership of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in …

Oregon Encyclopedia

Yachats (pronounced YAH-hots) is a small resort town on the northern flank of Cape Perpetua, perched above a rocky shoreline and the crashing surf …

Oregon Encyclopedia

Yaquina Bay, an estuary on the central Oregon Coast, was once home to the famed Olympia oyster. The two-and-a-half to three-inch delicacies, prized by the …

Oregon Encyclopedia

During the 1860s, the major military-Indian conflicts of the Pacific Northwest were in the Great Basin and Snake River areas of southeastern Oregon and southern …

Oregon Encyclopedia

The Alsea River originates in creeks flowing from the west side of Mary's Peak, the highest mountain in the Coast Range (elev. 4101 ft.), and …

Oregon Encyclopedia

In a journey that spanned three years, Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville and his company of men blazed some of what became the Oregon Trail …

Oregon Encyclopedia

Camp Polk, a 151-acre meadow along Whychus Creek four miles downstream from Sisters, has been the site of centuries of human activity. The meadow is …

Oregon Encyclopedia

The Cape Arago Lighthouse sits on a small island off Cape Arago, south of the entrance to Coos Bay and separated from the mainland by …

Oregon Encyclopedia

The cartographic history of Oregon as a place in the Pacific Northwest began long before European visitation to the region. Mapmakers initially conceptualized the presence …

Oregon Encyclopedia