Oregon Trivia & Tidbits - Page 11

Looking for Oregon trivia? Try our list Oregon little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

A native of Silverton (pop. 7,414), Homer Davenport targeted the corporate giants of the late 1800s and early 1900s with his drawings for Hearst newspapers in San Francisco and New York, becoming a nationally recognized political cartoonist. Silverton celebrates his achievements with Homer Davenport Days each August, a family festival that includes an international cartoon contest.

first appeared: 10/19/2003

When a local citizen’s group and the Oregon Game Commission began stocking Paulina and East Lakes, near La Pine (pop. 5,799), with rainbow trout in 1912, the fish had quite a journey. They were shipped to Bend (pop. 52,029) by train, to Paulina Prairie by horse-drawn wagon, to Paulina Lake by pack horse, across Paulina Lake in live boxes towed behind boats, and then carried to East Lake in 5-gallon kerosene cans. The two lakes are still known for their trout fishing.

first appeared: 10/12/2003

Established in 1871, R.R. Hinton’s Imperial Stock Ranch near Shaniko (pop. 26) was a top producer of wool and sheep by 1901, with 15,000 acres and 15,000 sheep. Hinton also experimented with cross-breeding sheep, creating what would become the Columbia breed. The ranch, which later grew to 70,000 acres, is now owned by the Carver family, who still raise Columbia sheep, along with cattle and wheat. Its headquarters was declared a National Historic District in 1994.

first appeared: 10/5/2003

Covering 2,200 acres, (the equivalent of 1,665 football fields) the Armillaria ostoyae, or honey mushroom, fungus discovered in eastern Oregon’s Malheur National Forest in 1999 is reported to be the world’s largest living organism. This single fungus is visible as honey-colored mushrooms in the fall, but lives up to 3 feet below the ground, and is at least 2,400 years old.

first appeared: 9/28/2003

Discovered in 1858, the Bohemia Mining District 35 miles southeast of Cottage Grove (pop. 8,445) was the most productive gold district in the West Cascade Mountains. From 1891 to 1949, for example, the Music Mine produced about $300,000 in gold, while the Helena Mine produced another $250,000 in gold from 1896 to 1950.

first appeared: 9/21/2003

The state adopted the Chinook salmon as its state fish in 1961. The fish is the largest of the Pacific salmon (averaging 20 pounds, a Chinook can weigh as much as 100 pounds), migrating up rivers such as the Columbia each year to spawn—something that Lewis and Clark reported seeing almost two centuries ago.

first appeared: 9/14/2003

Chemist Linus Carl Pauling was born in Portland in 1901 and spent his childhood there and in Condon (pop. 759). Pauling received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954 for his work on the nature of chemical bonds, and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1963, for his campaigns against nuclear-bomb testing and the arms race. He’s also well known for his research into vitamin C’s health benefits.

first appeared: 9/7/2003

Established in 1811 by New York financier John Jacob Astor, Astoria (pop. 9,813) is the oldest American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The Astoria area was first visited by Capt. Robert Gray in 1792, with the Lewis and Clark Expedition following in 1805.

first appeared: 8/31/2003

At 11,239 feet, Mount Hood is the state’s highest elevation. The lowest is, of course, along the coast at sea level.

first appeared: 8/24/2003

Oregon lies in the Pacific Time zone, except for most of Malheur County—including the state’s easternmost city, Ontario (pop. 10,985)—which observes Mountain Time.

first appeared: 8/24/2003

David Hume Kennerly, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1972 for his Vietnam War photographs, had his first picture published in his high school paper, in Roseburg (pop. 20,017), when he was 15. Kennerly has since photographed more than 35 covers for Time and Newsweek, covered assignments in more than 130 countries, and has more than a million photographs in his archives.

first appeared: 8/17/2003

In 1926, President Calvin Coolidge and President-to-be Herbert Hoover visited the Bar M Ranch, 30 miles east of Pendleton (pop. 16,354). Built in 1864, the main ranch house was a stagecoach stop during the Civil War. The Bar M began life as a guest ranch—which it remains—in 1938.

first appeared: 8/10/2003

More than 150 years old, the state’s oldest lilac tree can be found at the Philip Foster Farm, now a historic site in Eagle Creek, near Estacada (pop. 2,371). Mary Charlotte Foster took a cutting from a lilac at her Maine home before setting out via ship around Cape Horn and the Sandwich Islands in 1843. She then planted it on the 640-acre homestead that she and her husband claimed in Oregon.

first appeared: 8/3/2003

The first automobile arrived in Oregon in 1899. Vehicle registration began six years later, and by the time that the first section of the Oregon Coast Highway was completed in 1914, the state had 19,245 registered cars. Today, the state has about 4 million registered vehicles.

first appeared: 7/27/2003

The Evergreen Aviation Museum near McMinnville (pop. 26,499) is home to the Spruce Goose—the world’s largest airplane, based on its wingspan of 320 feet. Developed as a military transport plane by Howard Hughes, the wooden aircraft flew only once, in 1947, but has been named an engineering landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

first appeared: 7/20/2003

Built in 1900, the Ries-Thompson House is the oldest residence in Parkdale (pop. 266). The house, on the grounds of Parkdale’s Hutson Museum, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992, and displays period furnishings.

first appeared: 7/13/2003

The Seaside Aquarium in Seaside (pop. 5,900) was the world’s first aquarium to successfully breed harbor seals in captivity. The aquarium’s first seal was born June 19, 1952.

first appeared: 7/6/2003

The Hacky Sack—a small bean bag that’s kept in play with various kicking moves—was invented in Oregon City (pop. 25,754) in 1972. Mike Marshall and John Stalberger originally called the game “Hack the Sack,” but later named the beanbag “Hacky Sack” and the sport “footbag.”

first appeared: 7/6/2003

Florence (pop. 7,263) is known as the state’s rhododendron capital. Each spring, wild rhododendrons begin to bloom in the hills and fields around the community and, by June, the area is surrounded with the white-pink flowers. To the pioneers, the flower was a sign that summer was coming. Florence held its first Rhododendron Festival in 1908.

first appeared: 6/29/2003

Hood River (pop. 5,831) is home to one of the world’s largest museums devoted to antique carousels. The International Museum of Carousel Art has more than 150 carved carousel animals on display, plus an operational Wurlitzer band organ and a carousel steam engine. The museum’s founders have helped restore seven antique carousels around the United States, including a 1914 carousel in Portland.

first appeared: 6/22/2003

jump to page: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18

newspaper partner login create account

Recent

Popular

Recipes

Below are the most recent American Profile articles:

Below are the most recent, highest rated American Profile articles:

Below are the most recent, highest rated American Profile recipes:

Relish

Spry

Below are the most recent articles from our Relish sister site. Click on the "Spry" tab above to see the most recent articles from our other sister site.

Below are the most recent articles from our Spry sister site. Click on the "Relish" tab above to see the most recent articles from our other sister site.