Oregon Trivia & Tidbits - Page 12

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

Tillamook (pop. 4,352) is home to one of the state’s largest cheese factories. Local farmers created the cooperative Tillamook County Creamery Association in 1909, and the association still uses a cheese-making recipe that’s more than 100 years old. Each year, more than a million people visit the factory, where some 13 varieties of cheese are produced.

first appeared: 6/15/2003

The Heceta Head Lighthouse, one of the most photographed lighthouses along the Oregon coast, also is the state’s lighthouse with the strongest illumination. The beacon, near Yachats (pop. 617), was first illuminated in 1894 and can be seen 21 miles from land.

first appeared: 6/8/2003

Established in 1892, Springfield’s Dorris Ranch is considered the nation’s oldest commercial filbert (hazelnut) orchard. The farm’s nursery once produced 70,000 filbert trees annually; today, more than half the commercial filbert trees in the United States originate from Dorris Ranch nursery stock. The 250-acre ranch continues as a living history farm and park, and still has 9,250 filbert trees planted on 75 acres.

first appeared: 6/1/2003

Darlingtonia State Natural Site is the only Oregon state park that’s a rare plant sanctuary. The 18-acre botanical park near Florence (pop. 7,263) is home to Darlingtonia californica, which is also known as the California pitcher plant or cobra lily. The plant is the only member of the pitcher plant family in Oregon, and survives in wet, acidic soils by trapping insects.

first appeared: 5/25/2003

In 19 of Oregon’s state parks, you can sleep in a yurt—a round tent with a pointy roof known for its use by nomadic peoples in central Asia. The yurts measure 16 feet across, sleep five people, and feature basic furniture, including a futon sofa and a bunk bed. They’re available year-round, and offer both heat and electricity.

first appeared: 5/18/2003

The state adopted the Douglas fir, named for botanist David Douglas, as its official tree in 1939. Valued by builders for the strength of its wood, the Douglas fir generally grows between 180 and 200 feet tall. The largest known Douglas fir can be found near Coquille (pop. 4,184). At 329 feet, the Doerner Fir is taller than a 30-story building, weighs more than a fully-loaded 747 airplane, and is probably 400 to 600 years old.

first appeared: 5/11/2003

Pilot Butte, a perfectly symmetrical cinder cone volcano, is located in Pilot Butte State Park—inside the city limits of Bend. Cinder cone volcanoes are formed when particles that have been blown out of a volcano’s vent settle back down to earth around the vent to create a circular or oval cone.

first appeared: 5/4/2003

A floating lighthouse kept watch off the mouth of the Columbia River for 28 years. The Lightship Columbia served there from 1951 until 1979, when a 40-foot-long buoy replaced her. The 617-ton steel lightship is one of the nation’s best-preserved lightships, and can be toured at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria (pop. 9,813).

first appeared: 4/27/2003

The state soil is known as Jory, after Jory Hill in Marion County. Jory soils are deep and well drained, and can be found in the foothills around the Willamette Valley. Forests of Douglas fir and Oregon white oak grow well in Jory soils, as do many of Oregon’s commercial crops, including Christmas trees, hazelnuts, wheat, and grapes.

first appeared: 4/20/2003

Pacific City (pop. 1,027) is home to one of only a few dory surf launches remaining on the West coast. Dories are flat-bottomed, keel-less boats with lengthwise planking along their bottom. At Pacific City, dories still launch from the beach into the surf on their way to fishing areas on the open sea.

first appeared: 4/13/2003

The thunderegg, or geode, was named the state rock in 1965, after a vote by state rockhounds. Thunderegg exteriors look unremarkable, but their interiors can be filled with colorful agate, quartz, and amethyst in layers and even star patterns. Thundereggs range in size from less than one inch wide to more than four feet, and are often found in Crook, Jefferson, Malheur, Wasco, and Wheeler counties.

first appeared: 4/6/2003

Archeologist Luther Cressman discovered some of the oldest shoes in the world in central Oregon’s Fort Rock Cave in 1938. Dozens of the woven sagebrush bark sandals, dating between 9,200 and 10,500 years old, were found under a layer of volcanic ash that fell some 7,500 years ago.

first appeared: 3/30/2003

The Legislature declared the Oregon grape its state flower in 1899. Native to much of the Pacific Coast, the low-growing plant has waxy green leaves that resemble holly. It bears small yellow flowers in early summer, and dark blue berries in late fall that can be used in cooking.

first appeared: 3/23/2003

Known as the “Marble Halls of Oregon,” the Oregon Caves National Monument in the Siskiyou Mountains is an active marble cave with more than 3 miles of underground marble, stalagmites, flowstone, and cave coral. The 50,000-year-old fossils of a grizzly bear and jaguar have also been found in the cave system.

first appeared: 3/16/2003

Portland, known as the City of Roses, maintains more than 20,000 roses in three public rose gardens, including the International Rose Test Garden. Founded in 1917, the test garden is the oldest of its kind in the country, and was even considered a safe haven for hybrid roses grown in Europe during World War I.

first appeared: 3/9/2003

Lincoln City (pop. 7,437) was reportedly the site of the first honeymoon in Oregon, when missionaries Jason Lee and Cyrus Shepard and their new brides camped in the town for one week. A plaque commemorating the milestone is located on NW 17th Street.

first appeared: 3/2/2003

The Benton County Courthouse in Corvallis (pop. 49,322), built in the late 1880s for approximately $70,000, is the oldest courthouse in Oregon still used as such. The building underwent extensive renovation in 1976 to restore and preserve its fading features.

first appeared: 2/23/2003

Grant Martinsen, a retired Oregon biology teacher, set an all-time fly-fishing record in October 2002 when he hooked a Chinook salmon weighing 71.5 pounds. He caught the fish on the Rogue River in Gold Beach (pop. 1,897).

first appeared: 2/16/2003

The Camas pocket gopher, a species unique to Oregon, is found only in the Willamette Valley. It derives its name from a fondness for eating the camas lily, which is disappearing from the area for that reason. The gopher’s tunnels have been known to reach more than 800 feet in length.

first appeared: 2/9/2003

Matt Groening, creator of television’s favorite animated family, the Simpsons, is a Portland native. Characters from The Simpsons actually debuted in the late 1980s on a skit for The Tracey Ullman Show. The Emmy Award-winning program has run for more than a decade.

first appeared: 2/9/2003

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