Oregon

HISTORY

On October 29, 1792, Lt. William Broughton, a member of Captain George Vancouver's discovery expedition, observed a peak in what is now Oregon, and named it Mount Hood after British admiral Samuel Hood.

Mount Hood reflected in Mirror Lake, Oregon, USA.

The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest set out on the Oregon Trail with a thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri in 1843. The Oregon Trail, which stretched 2200 miles, was the longest of the land routes used in the Western expansion of the United States.

Journalist John L. O'Sullivan, writing in his newspaper The New York Morning News on December 27, 1845, argued that the United States had the right to claim the entire Oregon Country "by the right of our manifest destiny." In doing so O'Sullivan is credited with coining the term manifest destiny, which describes the then-belief in that Unites States settlers were destined to expand across North America.

Oregon was the 33rd state to join the United States on February 14, 1859. It was the only state in the Union admitted with a constitution that forbade black people from living, working, or owning property there. It was illegal for black people even to move to the state until 1926.

A map of Oregon

Rutherford B. Hayes was the first United States president to visit Oregon in 1880, 21 years after the state was officially incorporated.

The name of Portland, Oregon was decided by a coin flip—had it gone the other way, the city would be called "Boston."

Oregon passed the first compulsory minimum wage law in U.S. on February 17, 1913.

Oregon placed a one cent per U.S. gallon tax on gasoline on February 25, 1919, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.

The current flag of Oregon became official on February 26, 1925.

Oregon is the only state to have a different design on each side of its flag. The front features the escutcheon from the state seal in blue and gold and the reverse pictures a golden beaver.

Among the 135,000 birthday presents Shirley Temple received for her ninth birthday on April 23, 1937 was a prize Jersey calf from schoolchildren in Oregon.

In 1984 followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh deliberately contaminated salad bars in The Dalles, Oregon with salmonella. It was the first and single largest bio-terrorist attack in United States history.

Penny Harrington became the first woman police chief of a major city when she assumed the duties as head of the Portland, Oregon force of 940 officers and staff in 1985.

FUN OREGON FACTS

Oregon has a rail network of over 2,400 miles.

Crater Lake in south-central Oregon is the deepest lake in the United States and the tenth deepest in the world). The lake is 1,949 feet (594 m) deep, and is home to two islands: Wizard Island and Phantom Ship.

Hells Canyon in eastern Oregon is the deepest river-cut canyon in the US. It’s 7993 feet deep, and stretches through Oregon and Idaho.

The Honey mushroom in the Blue Mountains of Oregon is believed to be the largest organism in the world and has an area of almost four square miles.

Mushroom hunting is such a popular activity in Oregon, the state even has its own mushroom festival.

The State of Oregon offers an annual $50 tax credit for the permanent and complete loss of the use of two limbs.

Source Mentalfloss.com/