Oregon Country
(The 16th Century)
1542
Bartolome Ferrelo,
pilot for Juan Rodrigues Cabrillo,
sails North, as far as the Southwest Coast of Oregon.

1579
Sir Francis Drake,
sails North, to the Nouthern part of Oregon.

New Century
(17th Century)
1603
Martin d'Aguilar, sails along the Oregon Coast,
and sights a river,
where the Columbia was later discovered.

1603
 Sebastian Vizcaino, sights Cape Sebastian

Another New Century
1765
"Ouragon," first known use of Oregon,
in a proposal by Major Robert Rogers.

1774
Juan Perez,
first known Spanish Explorer in 170 years,
sails along the coast.

1775
Bruno Heceta and Juan Francisco de Bodega y Quadra,
land on what is now Washington soil.
First recorded Europeans,
known to stand on Northwest soil.

1778
Captain James Cook, visits the Northwest Coast,
on a voyage of discovery and,
via the sea-otter trade with China,
starts heavy fur trading by many nations in this area.

1779
"Oregon" first used in print by Jonathan Carver.

1788
Captain Robert Gray, first American, landing in Oregon,
arrives at Tillamook.

*
Markus Lopius,
first black to set foot on Oregon soil,
is aboard Robert Gray's sloop Lady Washington.

1792
Captain Robert Gray discovers the river of the West,
naming it the Columbia,
after his ship, the Columbia Rediviva.

1793
Sir Alexander Mackenzie,
the first white man to cross
the North American Continent, canoes down the
Bella Coola River, to the Pacific Ocean.

Yet Another New Century
1803
President Jefferson,
purchases Louisiana, from France.
American interests, now turn to this new land,
of Louisiana, and the unknown wilderness beyond it,
called Oregon Country.

1804-1806
Captain's Lewis and Clark (and party),
travel from St. Louis, to the mouth of the Columbia.

*
A Shoshone Indian, Sacajawea,
and her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau,
serve as guides and interpreters,
from what is now North Dakota, to the Pacific.

1807-1812
David Thompson, a British fur trader,
of the North West Company and explorer,
is the first white man to travel
the entire length of the Columbia River.

1811
The Pacific Fur Company,
financed by John Jacob Astor,
is established near the mouth of the Columbia River,
where Astoria now stands.

1812
South Pass, the gateway through the Rocky Mountains,
is discovered by Robert Stuart,
of the Pacific Fur Company,
and is later used by pioneers on the Oregon Trail.

1813
Astoria is sold to the North West Fur Co.,
a British enterprise, and later is taken by the British,
and considered a prize of the War of 1812.
It is later renamed Fort George.

1814
Jane Barnes,
first white woman to land in the Pacific Northwest,
arrives at Fort George.

1814
First livestock in the Pacific Northwest,
is brought from California by ship.

1817
William Cullen Bryant,
uses the name "Oregon", in his poem Thanatopsis.

1818
Fort George returns to American ownership,
by Treaty of 1814. A treaty of joint occupancy,
is signed by U.S. and Great Britain,
for this Pacific Northwest territory.

1824
Hudson's Bay Co. headquarters,
moves from Fort George, to a newly selected
Fort Vancouver site, on the North bank of the Columbia.

*
Dr. John McLoughlin, becomes chief factor at the post,
where he remained for 22 years.

1827
First sawmill in the Pacific Northwest,
built by Dr. McLoughlin.

1828
Jedediah Smith, fur trapper,
reaches the Pacific Northwest, from California,
the first party to come overland from California.
Fifteen of his 18 men were massacred
by Indians on the Umpqua River.

1828
First grist mills built by Hudson's Bay Co.,
at Fort Vancouver and Fort Colville.

1829
Hudson's Bay Co. post established at Willamette Falls,
present site of Oregon City.

1831
Four Indians of the Flathead and Nez Perce tribes,
travel to St. Louis seeking missionaries,
to come to Oregon.

1832
Captain Bonneville and his party of 110 men,
come West, via the Rocky Mountains,
and travel to Fort Walla Walla.

1832
First expedition of Nathaniel Wyeth,
travels into Columbia River country.
Hudson's Bay Co.,
establishes fort on the Umpqua River.

1833
First school in the Pacific Northwest at Fort Vancouver.
Teacher is John Ball, member of Wyeth's party.

*
Same year, first timber to be shipped from Oregon,
is sent to China.

1834
Fort Hall, in what is now Idaho,
is established by Nathaniel Wyeth,
on his second expedition.

*
This same year, the Jason Lee party,
of the first Protestant missionaries,
arrives at Fort Vancouver with Wyeth.
Later established the Willamette Mission,
near present-day Salem.

1836
The Beaver, first steamboat on the Pacific Ocean,
is brought to Fort Vancouver.

*
Protestant missionaries,
Dr. Marcus Whitman, H.H. Spalding, their wives,
and W.H. Gray, arrive in Oregon Country.
Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding,
are the first white women,
to come across the continent, to Oregon Country.
This is the first group to bring wagons,
West of Fort Hall. Waiilatpu Mission (Protestant),
is established by Dr. Whitman at this time.
(Alice Clarissa, the Whitman's daughter,
was the first white American child born here.)

1837
Alice Clarissa Whitman,
born March 14,1837,
died June 23, 1839,
2 years 3 months 9 days old.
(Drowning)

1838
Congress is asked to extend
United States jurisdiction over Oregon.

*
The Reverends Francis Blanchet, and Modesti Demers,
celebrate the first Catholic Mass,
in the Pacific Northwest.

*
The first cattle drive of the West,
arrives from California.

1839
First printing press in the Northwest,
brought to Lapwai (now Idaho), from Honolulu,
and used to print a Nez Perce primer;
the first book produced in the Pacific Northwest.

*
Father Blanchet, establishes the first actual
Catholic mission, in St. Paul, Oregon.

1841
American settlers in the Willamette Valley,
meet to create a government, but fail.

*
The Star of Oregon, first ship built by Americans,
in the Oregon Country, is launched this year.

1842
Dr. John McLoughlin,
designs plans for what is now Oregon City.

*
Willamette University,
first university West of the Mississippi,
founded by Jason Lee.

1843
Civil government established in Oregon Country.

*
The first large group of Americans,
arrives over the Oregon Trail;
approximately 900 settlers,
come to the Willamette Valley.

1844
National election slogan "54-40 or Fight",
is proof of growing American interest in Oregon.

*
First American taxes on the Pacific Coast,
were collected on a voluntary basis.

1845
Second provisional government in Oregon Country,
is organized. George Abernethy,
is elected provisional governor.

1846
Treaty between the U.S. and Great Britain,
establishes the Oregon boundary at,
49 degrees North Latitude.

*
First newspaper, Oregon Spectator,
is printed at Oregon City.

1847
Whitman Massacre at Waiilatpu.

*
The Cayuse War, first Indian war, follows.

The Oregon Territory 1848-58
1848
Oregon Territory is organized on August 14.

*
In the presidential election of 1848,
Lincoln decided to back the popular war hero,
Zachary Taylor, rather than his idol Henry Clay,
for the Whig nomination.
Lincoln's reasons were wholly practical.
"Mr. Clay's chance for an election is just no chance at all," he wrote.
"In my judgement we can elect nobody but General Taylor."
Lincoln campaigned for Taylor
in Massachusetts and Illinois.
Taylor won the election,
but much to Lincoln's disappointment,
the Democratic presidential candidate,
Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan, carried Illinois.
Lincoln wanted to run for a second term in Congress,
but it was traditional that the Whig candidate
from the Seventh Congressional District in Illinois
serve only one term. Further, Lincoln's
antiwar position made him unpopular at home,
and his former law partner Stephen Logan,
running on Lincoln's record, was defeated.
Lincoln discovered that the incoming Whig
administration had little use for his services.
He was offered nothing better than the governorship
of far-off Oregon Territory.
Lincoln rejected the appointment,
and, thoroughly dejected and believing
that his political career was over,
returned to Springfield to renew his practice of law.

1849
Gen. Joseph Lane,
first appointed Territorial governor, arrives.

*
Vancouver made military headquarters for Pacific Northwest.

1850
Donation Land Claim, law is enacted.

*
Mail service between,
San Francisco and the Columbia River,
is established.

*
Rogue River Indian War begins.

1851
Portland is incorporated.
(Named after Portland, Maine,
by flipping a coin to decide between
"Boston" and "Portland.")

1851
Territorial Government enacts a law,
allowing black pioneer and humanitarian,
George Washington Bush, to settle in Oregon.

1851
The first person of Chinese ancestry,
to settle in Portland, Sung Sung.

1853
Washington Territory,
created from part of Oregon Territory.
Southern boundary is marked by the Columbia River.

1853
The Typographical Society,
is the first labor union in Oregon.

1855
The Yakima Indian War begins,
fought on both sides of the mid-Columbia.

*
First telegraph company is operated in Oregon.

1855
Oregon's first State Capitol, erected in 1854, burns.

1856
Eastern Washington and Oregon,
are closed to settlers by Army order, due to Indian war.

1858
First election of Oregon state officers.

State of Oregon 1859-Present

1859
(February 14)
Congress ratifies Oregon State Constitution.
This is the formal birthday of the state.

*
(June 3)
Congressional proposal to admit Oregon into the Union is accepted by the state. John Whiteaker becomes the first elected governor of Oregon. Ladd and Tilton Bank, first in the state, is founded.

1860
Daily stagecoach service inaugurated
between Portland and Sacramento.

1861
Historic village of Champoeg, destroyed
by one of worst floods in Northwest history.

1863
Idaho Territory created,
eventually making three full states
out of original Oregon Country.

1864
Salem becomes the State Capital by popular vote.

*
Transcontinental telegraph lines into Portland,
via California, are first existent.

1867
The first Chinese Temple or "Jess House"
built and dedicated to Kuan-yin,
a revered Buddhist saint.

1868
Corvallis College,
designated as Agricultural College of Oregon,
(now Oregon State University),
is first state-supported institution
of higher education in Oregon.

1869
First public high school, is established in Oregon.

1871
Abigail Scott Duniway,
first introduces Susan B. Anthony in Oregon,
to help galvanize a woman suffrage crusade.

1872
Modoc Indian War.

1873
Oregon Pioneer Association,
the state's first historical society,
founded in Butteville.

1876
University of Oregon, opens in Eugene.

1877
Nez Perce War.

1878
Bannock Indian War.

1880
Miyo Iwakoshi,
is the first person of Japanese ancestry,
to settle in Oregon.

1882
State normal schools for training teachers,
established at Monmouth and Ashland.

1883
The Transcontinental Railroad, is completed.

1886
Mary Leonard,
becomes the first woman admitted
to the bar, to practice law in Oregon.

1888
Oregon Volunteer group,
is in the first military expedition to the Philippines.

1888
Oregon Historical Society, incorporated.

1890
The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association,
is established.

1892
Portland Art Association, is founded.

Click, For A Great New Century

Fonts Used - Arial Black And Arial Rounded MT Bold

Copyright © (1998 - 2004) by Larry's Dream, Inc.

(Song *In The Garden* Composed by: Bruce DeBoer
Bruce DeBoer's Original Compositions
Used With Permission Copyright 1998 All Rights Reserved)