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Although there is considerable evidence that humans
lived in the Pacific
Northwest 15,000 years ago, the first record of
human activity in present day Oregon came from
archaeologist Luther
Cressman's 1938 discovery of sage bark sandals
near Fort Rock Cave
that places human habitation in Oregon as early as
13,200 years ago. By 8000 B.C. there were
settlements across the state, with the majority
concentrated along the lower Columbia River, in the
western valleys, and around coastal estuaries.
By the 16th
century Oregon was home to many
Native
American tribes, including the
Bannock,
Chasta,
Chinook, Kalapuya,
Klamath, Molalla,
Nez Perce, and
Umpqua.
James Cook explored the coast in
1778 in search of the Northwest
Passage. The Lewis
and Clark Expedition traveled through the region during
their expedition to explore the
Louisiana Purchase. They
built their winter fort at Fort
Clatsop, near the mouth of the
Columbia River. Exploration by Lewis and Clark
(1805–1806) and the United Kingdom's
David Thompson
(1811) publicized the abundance of fur-bearing animals in
the area. In 1811, New York
financier John Jacob Astor
established Fort Astoria at the
mouth of the Columbia River as a western outpost to his
Pacific Fur Company.
Fort Astoria was the first
permanent white settlement in Oregon.
In the
War of 1812, the
British gained control of all of the Pacific Fur Company
posts. By the 1820s and 1830s, their
Hudson's Bay Company
dominated the Pacific Northwest from its Columbia District
headquarters at Fort Vancouver
(built in 1825 by the District's Chief Factor
John McLoughlin across the
Columbia from present-day Portland).
In 1841,
the master trapper and entrepreneur
Ewing Young died with considerable wealth, with no
apparent heir, and no system to probate
his estate. A meeting followed Young's funeral at which a
probate government was proposed. Doctor
Ira L. Babcock of
Jason Lee's
Methodist Mission was elected
Supreme Judge. Babcock chaired two meetings in 1842 at
Champoeg (half way between
Lee's mission and Oregon City)
to discuss wolves and other animals of
contemporary concern. These meetings were precursors to an
all-citizen meeting in
1843, which instituted a provisional government headed by an
executive
committee made up of
David Hill,
Alanson Beers, and
Joseph Gale. This government was
the first acting public government of the
Oregon Country before American
annexation.
The
Oregon Trail infused the region
with new settlers, starting in 1842–1843, after the United
States agreed to jointly settle the
Oregon Country with the
United Kingdom. The border was
resolved in 1846 by the Oregon
Treaty after a period during which it seemed that the
United States and the United Kingdom would go to war for a
third time in 75 years. Cooler heads prevailed, and the
Oregon boundary dispute
between the United States and
British North America
was set at the 49th parallel.
The Oregon Territory was
officially organized in 1848.
Settlement
increased because of the
Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, in conjunction with the
forced relocation of the
native population to
Indian
reservations in Oregon. The state was admitted to the
Union on February 14,
1859.
At the
outbreak of the American Civil
War, regular U.S. troops were withdrawn and sent east.
Volunteer cavalry were recruited in California and were sent
north to Oregon to keep peace and protect the populace. The
First Oregon Cavalry
served until June 1865.
In the
1880s, the proliferation of railroads assisted in marketing
of the state's lumber and
wheat, as well as the more rapid growth
of its cities.
Industrial
expansion began in earnest following the construction of the
Bonneville Dam in 1943 on the
Columbia River. The power, food, and lumber provided by
Oregon helped fuel the development of the West, although the
periodic fluctuations in the nation's building industry have
hurt the state's economy on
multiple occasions.
The state
has a long history of polarizing conflicts: Native Americans
vs. British fur trappers, British vs. settlers from the
U.S., ranchers vs. farmers, wealthy growing cities vs.
established but poor rural areas, loggers vs.
environmentalists,
white supremacists vs.
anti-racists, social progressivism
vs. small-government conservatism,
supporters of social spending
vs. anti-tax activists, and
native Oregonians vs. Californians (or
outsiders in
general). Oregonians also have a long history of
secessionist ideas, with people in various regions and on
all sides of the political spectrum attempting to form other
states and even other countries. Oregon state ballots often
include politically conservative proposals (e.g. anti-gay,
pro-religious measures) side-by-side with politically
liberal ones (e.g. drug
decriminalization), illustrating the wide spectrum of
political thought in the state.
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