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Spanish and English sailors are
believed to have sighted the Oregon coast in the
1500s and 1600s. Capt. James Cook, seeking the
Northwest Passage, charted some of the coastline in
1778. In 1792, Capt. Robert Gray, in the
Columbia, discovered the river named after his
ship and claimed the area for the U.S.
In 1805 the Lewis and Clark
expedition explored the area. John Jacob Astor's fur
depot, Astoria, was founded in 1811. Disputes for
control of Oregon between American settlers and the
Hudson Bay Company were finally resolved in the 1846
Oregon Treaty, in which Great Britain gave up claims
to the region.
Oregon has a $3.3 billion lumber
and wood products industry, and an $859 million
paper and allied manufacturing industry. Its
salmon-fishing industry is one of the world's
largest.
In agriculture, the state leads in
growing peppermint, cover seed crops, blackberries,
boysenberries, loganberries, black raspberries, and
hazelnuts. It is second in raising hops, red
raspberries, prunes, snap beans, and onions.
With the low-cost electric power
provided by dams, Oregon has developed steadily as a
manufacturing state. Leading manufactured items are
lumber and plywood, metalwork, machinery, aluminum,
chemicals, paper, food packing, and electronic
equipment.
Crater Lake National Park, Mount
Hood, and Bonneville Dam on the Columbia are major
tourist attractions. Other points of interest
include the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area,
Oregon Caves National Monument, Cape Perpetua in
Siuslaw National Forest, Columbia River Gorge
between The Dalles and Troutdale, Hells Canyon,
Newberry Volcanic National Monument, and John Day
Fossil Beds National Monument. |
