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Kah-Nee-Ta Lodge offers resort facilities on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. (Scenic photo no. wasD0029a)
Native Americans
Estimated population in Oregon, including tribal members, members of tribes without federal recognition, and those who self-identify as Native American: 52,000
Native American Tribes
Ten federally-recognized tribes as follows:
Burns Paiute Tribe (389 members)
Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians (963 members)
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde
Community of Oregon (over 5,000 members)
Confederated Tribes of Siletz (4,717 members)
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (2,719 members)
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation (about 4,900 members)
Coquille Indian Tribe (925 members)
Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians (1,480 members)
Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe (over 1,000 members in Nevada and Oregon)
Klamath Tribes (3,677 members)
One federally-recognized tribal community:
Celilo Village, located east of The Dalles (44 members)
Hazelnuts were officially named the state nut of Oregon in 1989 by the legislature. Oregon dominates the U.S. production of the versatile nut used in gourmet recipes around the world.
Paulann Petersen, Oregon's poet laureate. (Photo by Sabina Samiee)
Nut, State
The hazelnut, or filbert (Corylus avellana) was named state nut by the 1989 Legislature. Oregon grows 99 percent of the entire U.S. commercial crop. The Oregon hazelnut, unlike wild varieties, grows on single-trunked trees up to 30 or 40 feet tall. Adding a unique texture and flavor to recipes and products, hazelnuts are preferred by chefs, bakers, confectioners, food manufacturers and homemakers worldwide.
Parks, State: 251 (2010)
Physical Dimensions
United States Rank in Total Area = 10
Land Area = 96,002 square miles
Water Area = 1,129 square miles
Coastline = 296 miles
Poet Laureate
Paulann Peterson of Portland was named Oregon’s poet laureate by Gov. Ted Kulongoski in 2010. The position was created in 1923. Lawson Inada was Oregon’s previous poet laureate, serving from 2006 to 2010. Peterson was born and raised in Oregon, spending half of her adult life in Klamath Falls. A graduate of Southern Oregon University, she has taught English at Mazama and West Linn High Schools. Her books of poetry are The Wild Awake, Blood-Silk, A Bride of Narrow Escape, and Kindle. She has received several awards including Stanford University’s Wallace Stegner Fellowship.
Only about 12,000 people lived in Oregon when Governor Lane took office in 1849.
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Precipitation
Record 24-hour maximum rainfall: 14.3" on November 6, 2006 at Lees Camp in the Tillamook County Coast Range
Average yearly precipitation at Salem: 40.23"
Record 24-hour snowfall: 39" on January 9, 1980 at Bonneville Dam
Record annual snowfall: 903" in 1950 at Crater Lake
The John Day River is the longest river entirely in the state. (Photo No. sheDA0046)
Reservoir, Longest: Lake Owyhee - 52 miles
Rivers, Longest
Partially in the State of Oregon:
Columbia River, 1,232 miles
Snake River, 1,038 miles
Entirely in the State of Oregon:
John Day River - 281 miles
Willamette River - 187 miles
Oregon's state rock, the Thunder-egg, is a favorite of rockhounds for its vivid colors and beautiful designs.
Rock, State
The Thunder-egg (geode) was named the Oregon state rock by the 1965 Legislature after rockhounds throughout Oregon voted it first choice. Thunder-eggs range in diameter from less than one inch to over four feet. Nondescript on the outside, they reveal exquisite designs in a wide range of colors when cut and polished. They are found chiefly in Crook, Jefferson, Malheur, Wasco and Wheeler Counties.
Also see related learning resource.
Schools, Public
Education Service Districts - 20
School Districts - 197
Student population (2009–10) 561,698
The state seal bears the inscription "The Union." Enlarge image.
Seal, State
The state seal consists of an escutcheon, or shield, supported by 33 stars and divided by an ordinary, or ribbon, with the inscription “The Union.” Above the ordinary are the mountains and forests of Oregon, an elk with branching antlers, a covered wagon and ox team, the Pacific Ocean with setting sun, a departing British man-of-war ship signifying the departure of British influence in the region and an arriving American merchant ship signifying the rise of American power. Below the ordinary is a quartering with a sheaf of wheat, plow and pickax, which represent Oregon’s mining and agricultural resources. The crest is the American Eagle. Around the perimeter of the seal is the legend “State of Oregon 1859.” On September 17, 1857, the Constitutional Convention adopted a resolution that authorized the U.S. president to appoint a committee of three—Benjamin F. Burch, L.F. Grover and James K. Kelly—to report on a proper device for the seal of the state of Oregon. Harvey Gordon created a draft, to which the committee recommended certain additions that are all incorporated in the state seal.
Also see related learning resource.
The Oregon state seashell.
Seashell, State
In 1848, a conchologist (shell expert) named Redfield named the Fusitriton oregonensis after the Oregon Territory. Commonly called the Oregon hairy triton, the shell is one of the largest found in the state, reaching lengths up to five inches. The shells are found from Alaska to California and wash up on the Oregon coast at high tide. The Legislature named the state shell in 1991.
Shoes, Oldest
Nine-thousand-year-old sandals made of sagebrush and bark were found at Fort Rock Cave in central Oregon in 1938 by archaeologist Luther Cressman.