The 33rd state admitted to the US was Oregon, on February 14th, 1859. Oregon is for lovers, as her birthdate is on Valentine's Day. It is the 9th largest state in the union with 98,380 square miles of land. The state has the deepest lake in the US - Crater Lake, and the deepest river-carved gorge - Hells Canyon - in North America. Everything is big in Oregon, including their forests. There are almost 30 million acres, or half of the state's total area, of forested land. Oregon has 16 known hot springs, more than 6,000 lakes, and 112,000 miles of rivers and streams. There are more than 7,000 bridges in the state, and one of Portland's nicknames is "Bridge City". The state has the only Scenic Bikeway program in the entire nation, with 17 of them throughout the land. Oregon is known for its hazelnuts, and 99% of the US production of hazelnuts is made there. There are no sales taxes in the entire state, and it is mandatory that an attendant pumps your gas at the gas station. Tater Tots and Corn Dogs were invented in Oregon. The Oregon state capital is Salem, the state bird is the Western Meadowlark, the state tree is the Douglas Fir, and the state flower is the Oregon Grape.
Archaeological research shows that Paleo-Indians occupied Oregon around 13,000 years ago. Native Americans from the area all have their own stories of how they came to be that have been passed down from generation to generation. The nine federally recognized tribal groupings of ancestors of the first peoples of Oregon include the Burns Paiute Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), The Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, the Klamath Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. By the 16th century, the Columbia River in the western valleys and near the coastal waters were populated by dozens of bands of people. Between their abundantly growing crops and fish in the sea, they were able to take care of their food and shelter needs.
In the early 1540's, several European ships visited the coast of Oregon carrying smallpox and other diseases. They were in search of the mythical Northwest Passage that bridged the Pacific and Atlantic, but were drawn into the fur trade industry. The first known contact between Europeans and Oregon Natives was around 1579 when Sir Francis Drake came to Whale Cove, just south of Depoe Bay. In 1774, Perez from Spain led an expedition to the Oregon coast, but it wasn't until the following year that they "discovered" the Columbia River. Smallpox continued to plague the state into the next century. It wasn't until 1804, when President Thomas Jefferson hired Meriwether Lewis to explore the land west of the Mississippi River, that things really started to shift. She chose William Clark to co-lead the mission for the next two years. After a treacherous 8,000 mile journey, they were able to discover new geographical, ecological, and cultural areas throughout North America. They encountered over 50 different Native American tribes, bartered goods, and presented the tribal leaders with a Jefferson Indian Peace Medal. They also informed the Indigenous peoples who lived on the land their entire lives that America owned their land now, and they offered to protect them with military support in exchange for a peaceful surrender of it.
In 1843, Oregon passed legislature that prohibited slavery. The catch was that they also placed restrictions on black people from being able to live in the state. The "lash law" was passed to help make sure that all black people over 18 years of age leave the state. If they didn't, they would receive 20-39 lashes on their bare backs every six months until they left. The law was finally repealed in 1845.
In the years to come, the measles epidemic, wars, massacres, and fake treaties killed many Indigenous peoples and moved them out of the state or onto reservations together. Without access to their own land, they had no food or medicine, and were hungry, sick, and out of harmony. Soon after, the Western Oregon Indian Termination Act was passed by Congress, and it ended the recognition of 60 tribal bands by the federal government. This caused the trust and treaty agreements to become null and void, as well as all services to the tribes by the government to cease. However, six Indigenous tribes fought for decades in Congress to have their sovereignty recognized and to regain their land, and all six were successful. Today, nine federally-recognized tribes work together in developing curriculum for public schools that includes the history of Indigenous peoples. In 2003, the Native American Student Community Center opened at Portland State University, and it remains open today.
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