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Kah-Nee-Ta Lodge offers resort facilities on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. (Scenic photo no. wasD0029a)
Native Americans
Population estimate: 52,000
5 reservations
Native American Tribes
Ten federally-recognized tribes as follows:
Burns Paiute Tribe
Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
Confederated Tribes of Siletz
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reser-vation
Coquille Indian Tribe
Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians
Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone (Nevada, Oregon)
Klamath Tribe
One federally-recognized tribal community: Celilo Village, located near The Dalles
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.
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.
Lawson Inada was named Oregon's poet laureate in 2006 by Governor Ted Kulongoski.
Parks, State: 188 (2008)
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
Lawson Inada of Medford was named Oregon’s poet laureate by Governor Theodore Kulongoski in 2006 and reappointed to a second two-year term in 2008. The position was created in 1923. William Stafford was Oregon’s previous poet laureate, serving from 1975 to 1990. Inada is a third-generation Japanese American from Fresno, California. A graduate of Fresno State University and the University of Oregon, he is an emeritus professor at Southern Oregon University where he has taught since 1966. Drawing on his boyhood experience of internment during World War II, his books of poetry are Before the War, Legends from Camp, and Drawing the Line. He is the editor of Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience.
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
Lake Owyhee is the state's longest reservoir. (Scenic photo no. malD0124)
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 - 198
Student population (2007–08) - 566,067
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 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.