Oregon has been home to many indigenous nations for thousands of years. The first European traders, explorers, and settlers began exploring what is now Oregon's Pacific coast in the early to mid-16th century. As early as 1564, the Spanish began sending vessels northeast from the Philippines, riding the Kuroshio Current in a sweeping circular route across the northern part of the Pacific. In 1592, Juan de Fuca undertook detailed mapping and studies of ocean currents in the Pacific Northwest, including the Oregon coast as well as the strait now bearing his name. The Lewis and Clark Expedition traversed Oregon in the early 1800s, and the first permanent European settlements in Oregon were established by fur trappers and traders. In 1843, an autonomous government was formed in the Oregon Country, and the Oregon Territory was created in 1848. Oregon became the 33rd state of the U.S. on February 14, 1859.
Today, with 4.2 million people over 98,000 square miles (250,000 km2), Oregon is the ninth largest and 27th most populous U.S. state. The capital, Salem, is the third-most populous city in Oregon, with 175,535 residents. Portland, with 652,503, ranks as the 26th among U.S. cities. The Portland metropolitan area, which includes neighboring counties in Washington, is the 25th largest metro area in the nation, with a population of 2,512,859. Oregon is also one of the most geographically diverse states in the U.S., marked by volcanoes, abundant bodies of water, dense evergreen and mixed forests, as well as high deserts and semi-arid shrublands. At 11,249 feet (3,429 m), Mount Hood is the state's highest point. Oregon's only national park, Crater Lake National Park, comprises the caldera surrounding Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States. The state is also home to the single largest organism in the world, Armillaria ostoyae, a fungus that runs beneath 2,200 acres (8.9 km2) of the Malheur National Forest. (Full article...)
The Oregon and California Railroad Revested Lands (commonly known as O&C Lands), are approximately 2,600,000 acres (1,100,000 ha) of land located in eighteen counties of western Oregon. Originally granted to the Oregon & California Railroad to build a railroad between Portland, Oregon and San Francisco, California, the land was reconveyed to the United States government by act of Congress in 1916 and is currently managed by the United States Bureau of Land Management. Since 1916, the 18 counties where the O&C lands are located have received payments from the United States government as compensation for the loss of timber and tax revenue, beginning as a 50% share of timber revenue on those lands but changing over the years as timber production decreased. The governments of several of the counties have come to depend upon the O&C land revenue as an important source of income for schools and county services. The most recent source of income from the lands, an extension of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000, expired in early 2012, leaving some counties scrambling to find new sources of funding.
The Cherry Poppin' Daddies are an American band established in Eugene, Oregon, in 1989. Formed by Steve Perry (vocals) and Dan Schmid (bass guitar), the band has experienced many membership changes over the years, with only Perry, Schmid and Dana Heitman (trumpet) currently remaining from the original line-up. Initially conceived as an iconoclastic response to the grunge movement of the Pacific Northwest, the Daddies' music is a mix of swing, rock and ska. While the band's early work was heavily rooted in funk rock and punk, their eclectic studio albums have since incorporated influences from many genres of popular music and Americana into their sound, most prominently rockabilly, glam rock, psychedelia, rhythm and blues, country, worldbeat, jazz and soul. After years of extensive touring within the third wave ska scene, the Daddies ultimately broke into the musical mainstream with their swing-based compilation Zoot Suit Riot (1997). Released at the onset of the late 1990s swing revival, Zoot Suit Riot went on to sell over two million copies in the United States while its eponymous single became a radio success, launching the Daddies to the forefront of the retro-swing genre, a perceived pigeonholing the band openly denounced in favor of their ska and punk influences. By the end of the decade, however, the Daddies' mainstream popularity declined with that of the swing revival's, and the resulting commercial failure of their ska-flavored follow-up Soul Caddy led to an abrupt hiatus in 2000. The Daddies officially regrouped in 2002 to resume touring, independently recording and releasing their fifth studio album Susquehanna in 2008 before signing to indie label Rock Ridge Music the following year. Their most recent album, Skaboy JFK, was released in September 2009.
... that Gus C. Moser served five 4-year terms in the Oregon State Senate, including two non-consecutive 2-year periods as senate president, to which post he was elected unanimously in 1917?
