Portal:Oregon

Coordinates: 44°00′N 120°30′W / 44°N 120.5°W / 44; -120.5
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The Oregon Portal

Oregon
State of Oregon
Map of the United States with Oregon highlighted
Map of the United States with Oregon highlighted

Oregon (/ˈɔːrɪɡənˌ ɒr-ˌ -ə-ˌ -ˌɡɑːn/ OR-ih-ghən, ORR-, -⁠ə-, -⁠gahn) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Oregon is a part of the Western United States, with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. The 42° north parallel delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada. The western boundary is formed by the Pacific Ocean.

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...)

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The Columbia River Basalt Group
The Columbia River Basalt Group is a large igneous province that lies across parts of the states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho in the United States. During late Miocene and early Pliocene times, one of the largest flood basalts ever to appear on the earth's surface engulfed about 163,700 km² (63,000 mile²) of the Pacific Northwest, forming a large igneous province with an estimated volume of 174,300 km³. Eruptions were most vigorous from 17—14 million years ago, when over 99% of the basalt was released. Less extensive eruptions continued from 14—6 million years ago. These lava flows have been extensively exposed by the erosion resulting from the Missoula Floods, which laid bare many layers of the basalt flows at Wallula Gap, the lower Palouse River, the Columbia River Gorge and throughout the Channeled Scablands. Over a period of perhaps 10 to 15 million years lava flow after lava flow poured out, eventually accumulating to a thickness of more than 1.8 km (6,000 feet). The subsidence of the crust produced a large, slightly depressed lava plain now known as the Columbia Basin or Columbia River Plateau. Flowing from modern Eastern Oregon, the flows would make it as far as the modern Oregon Coast and form portions of the Oregon Coast Range. The ancient Columbia River was forced into its present course by the northwesterly advancing lava. The lava, as it flowed over the area, first filled the stream valleys, forming dams that in turn caused impoundments or lakes. In these ancient lake beds are found fossil leaf impressions, petrified wood, fossil insects, and bones of vertebrate animals.

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Betty R. Roberts
Betty Cantrell Roberts (1923–2011) was a politician and judge in the U.S. state of Oregon. She was the 83rd Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, the highest state court in Oregon. She was the first woman on the Oregon Supreme Court, and had also been the first woman on the Oregon Court of Appeals. Roberts served from 1982 to 1986 on the high court and from 1977 to 1982 on the Court of Appeals. Roberts was born in Texas in 1923, growing-up in that state during the Great Depression of the 1930s. After attending Texas Wesleyan College for one year starting in 1941, she married and left school, eventually moving to Oregon. In 1958, Roberts earned a bachelor of science degree from Portland State University, followed by a masters degree at the University of Oregon, and in 1966, a JD from Lewis & Clark Law School. In 1964, Roberts the Democrat won election to the Oregon House of Representatives, serving until 1968 when she was elected to the Oregon Senate. During the 1975 legislature, Betty served in the Senate where both her step-daughter Mary Wendy Roberts and then-husband Frank L. Roberts also served. She was married three times, including to Frank and later to Keith Skelton, whom she would also serve with in the Oregon Legislature. Roberts lost her bid to become Oregon's governor in 1974, losing in the primary election, and then lost a campaign to become a United States Senator in the fall election. Then in 1977, Oregon Governor Robert W. Straub appointed Betty Roberts as the first woman to the Oregon Court of Appeals. In 1982, Governor Victor G. Atiyeh appointed her as the first woman to the Oregon Supreme Court where she served until 1986. She was a private mediator and senior judge until her death due to pulmonary fibrosis.

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Asian Elephants at the Oregon Zoo.
Asian Elephants at the Oregon Zoo.
Credit: Cacophony

Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) at the Oregon Zoo. From left to right: Rose-Tu, Sung-Surin ("Shine"), and Tusko. The Oregon Zoo, formerly the Washington Park Zoo, is a zoo two miles west-southwest of downtown Portland, Oregon, in Washington Park. It is Oregon's largest paid attraction, with more than 1.6 million visitors yearly.

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Gordon Smith
The Washington State football score isn’t useful when you are rooting for the Ducks or the Beavers. Our bill will correct the law so local news is local and reports of rain mean reports of rain in your own town. Our goal is to end the frustration faced by satellite subscribers.
Gordon Smith, 2007

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Pioneer Courthouse Square
Pioneer Courthouse Square
Credit: Cacophony
A 360 degree panorama of Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Oregon.

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Lighthouse of Cape Meares, Oregon

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American beaver
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Chinook salmon
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Oregon Swallowtail butterfly
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This month's Collaboration of the Month projects: Women's History Month: Create or improve articles for women listed at Oregon Women of Achievement (modern) or Women of the West, Oregon chapter (historical)

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44°00′N 120°30′W / 44°N 120.5°W / 44; -120.5