Oregon: A Historic Overview

Oregon, before the arrival of the Europeans, was home to many Native American tribes, including the Bannock, Chinook, Klamath, and Nez Perce. 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.

About thirteen thousand years ago the first native Americans had arrived in the Northwest from Mongolia by way of Siberia and Alaska. The native Americans were followed many centuries later by Spanish and British mariners seeking the fabled "great river of the west."

Captain Gray was one of the first white men to enter Oregon in the year 1792. It wasn't until the 1840s, however, that the main influx of people began. The majority of the pioneers settled in the fertile Willamette Valley.

Discoveries of gold on the coast and in the high country led to settlement in these regions as well. Fort Astoria was the first permanent white settlement in Oregon. 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.Oregon's pioneer spirit has continued on through the years in many ways that have influenced the rest of the country.