Oregon Trivia & Tidbits - Page 17

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

Fort Clatsop National Memorial at Astoria (pop. 9,813) gives visitors a glimpse of the 1805-06 winter encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The memorial’s saltworks unit commemorates one of the important pursuits at the winter camp—obtaining salt from seawater.

first appeared: 9/16/2001

The National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, near Baker City (pop. 9,860), offers visitors more than a beautiful view overlooking a well-preserved part of the trail. The center’s gallery and exhibits also present the history and heritage of the legendary 1840s trail.

first appeared: 9/9/2001

Tabitha Moffatt Brown is known as the Mother of Oregon. In 1846, when she was 66, Brown financed her own wagon for the arduous trip from Missouri to Oregon and co-established a boarding school for orphans, later known as Tualatin Academy. Eventually, the institution was chartered as Pacific University.

first appeared: 9/2/2001

The 1872 Butte Creek Mill in Eagle Point (pop. 4,797) is the only operating gristmill in Oregon, one of the first flour mills in the Rogue River Valley. The mill is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

first appeared: 8/26/2001

Sea Lion Caves, near coastal Florence (pop. 7,263), is a popular home for wild sea lions, particularly during fall and winter. The cave is approximately the height of a 12-story building and the length of a football field. Visitors can descend by elevator 208 feet down into the 25-million-year-old cave.

first appeared: 8/19/2001

The Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge at Plush (pop. 90) was established in 1936 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to protect the pronghorn antelope, which had been hunted to near extinction. Other wildlife on the refuge includes California bighorn sheep, mule deer, and sage grouse.

first appeared: 8/12/2001

Joseph Lafayette Meek settled on a land claim, near Hillsboro (pop. 37,520), in 1840 and conducted the first official census of the Oregon territory in 1845.

first appeared: 8/5/2001

The Clackamas River, designated a National Wild and Scenic river because of its important fish, wildlife, vegetation, historic, and recreational resources, has the last significant run of late-winter wild coho fish in the Columbia Basin and one of two remaining runs of spring chinook in the Willamette Basin.

first appeared: 8/5/2001

The Western Meadowlark was chosen state bird in 1927 by Oregon’s schoolchildren in a poll sponsored by the Oregon Audubon Society. Native throughout western North America, the bird is known for its distinctive and beautiful song.

first appeared: 7/29/2001

The 120-foot D River and Montana’s Roe River both claim to be the shortest river in the world. The D flows out of Devils Lake into the Pacific Ocean at Lincoln City (pop. 7,437).

first appeared: 7/22/2001

Sam Barlow, a Kentucky native, led the first wheeled-vehicle crossing of the Cascade Mountains on his trip along the Oregon Trail in 1845. Barlow’s party went overland instead of taking the usual raft trip down the Columbia River. The next year he built a toll road through Barlow Pass.

first appeared: 7/22/2001

Oregon’s Illinois River in the Siskiyou National Forest offers Class V white water rapids requiring skilled paddlers and still pools that are home to steelhead trout.

first appeared: 7/15/2001

Silver Falls State Park, 25 miles east of Salem, lies in the lower elevation of the Cascade Mountains and is a temperate rain forest offering views of waterfalls, wildflowers, and stands of Douglas fir, hemlock, and cedar. A hike down the Canyon Trail leads visitors to 10 waterfalls, including four where hikers can stand behind the falls.

first appeared: 7/8/2001

“The Needles,” spire-like rock formations anchored by 235-foot Haystack Rock, soar over the coastline of Cannon Beach (pop. 1,221). Monolithic Haystack Rock is one of the world’s largest freestanding single blocks of stone.

first appeared: 7/1/2001

The jagged rock outcrops of Smith Rock State Park, near Terrebonne (pop. 1,143), are a favorite among rock climbers for their appealing glow at sunrise and sunset.

first appeared: 6/24/2001

Renowned trumpeter Doc Severinsen, who grew up in Arlington (pop. 425), picked up his nickname as a child, when he became known as “Little Doc”—after his father, dentist Carl Severinsen.

first appeared: 6/24/2001

Legendary dancer/movie star Ginger Rogers would seek refuge from Hollywood at her Rogue River Ranch, near Eagle Point (pop. 3,008), when she owned the 1,000-acre parcel from 1940 to 1990. Rogers, who died in 1995, entertained many stars at the ranch—a working dairy for many years. The Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater in nearby Medford is named for her.

first appeared: 6/17/2001

In 1962, Portland anxiously awaited the arrival of a special—and unusually large—newborn baby. At 5:58 a.m. on April 14, Packy didn’t disappoint. The offspring of two Oregon Zoo elephants weighed in at 225 pounds—the first elephant born in the Western Hemisphere in more than 44 years.

first appeared: 6/10/2001

Hat Rock State Park, near Umatilla (pop. 3,046), is a nice summer spot for picnics, boating, and fishing. When Lewis and Clark passed through in 1804, it was the first distinctive landmark their expedition saw on the trip down the Columbia River.

first appeared: 6/3/2001

The sunstone, a type of feldspar known for its bright color and clarity, was named the state gemstone by the Oregon Legislature in 1987.

first appeared: 6/3/2001

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