The INDEPENDENT, February 19, 2009
Page 21
History and cake both played a part in Oregon’s 150th birthday
By Robb Wilson
Do you feel older today?
Did you know that Oregon is
celebrating its “sesquicentenni-
al”?
This means that we are
turning 150 years old. Now that
is old!
“Whereas the people of Ore-
gon have framed, ratified and
adopted a constitution of state
government which is republican
in form, and in conformity with
the Constitution of the United
States and have applied for ad-
mission into the Union on an
equal footing with the other
states...”
The above, along with five
other paragraphs describing
land and boundaries, stipula-
tions, representative to con-
gress and propositions, was
Oregon’s constitution when it
became the 33rd state on the
14th day of February, 1859.
Now that we were official,
how did it come about? Where
did the name Oregon come
from?
On the earliest map (1700s)
there was no Pacific Ocean
boundary to the west. Nobody
knew much about anything
that was west of the Mississip-
pi River.
The origin of the name of our
state is not certain. One of the
thoughts is that, on these early
maps, the “Ouisicon-Sink Riv-
er” was shown. It wasn’t
known, but it was thought that
its head waters started some-
where in the far west.
French-Canadian trappers
referred to the unknown west-
ern area as the “Ouisicon-Sink”
(Wisconsin). On maps pro-
duced a few years later, the let-
ter ‘s’ was replaced with the let-
ter ‘r’, changing the name to
“Ouiricon.” As the French-
Canadian trappers came fur-
ther west and passed the now-
discovered headwaters, they
called this unexplored area
“Oricon”.
Another theory is that other
trappers dropping south from
modern day Canada on the
“mighty river” (Columbia) came
through the area of what we
call today The Dalles and Cas-
cade Locks, and finding the riv-
er so turbulent called it “Oura-
gan” a French word, meaning
“like a hurricane.”
Another idea is that the
Spaniards who settled the Cal-
ifornias might have called the
area north of them “Obregon”,
a Spanish surname, perhaps
for an explorer.
So take your pick. For what-
ever reason, we call it “Ore-
gon” today, and have since
1817, when literature referred
to the area as the Oregon
Country. The pioneers who
came west in 1843 on the Ore-
gon Trail started referring to the
area as “the Garden of Eden”
because of what they were told
about the lush and lovely
Willamette Valley of Oregon.
It wasn’t until 1848 that, with
the help of Hillsboro’s own pio-
neer Joe Meek, who traveled to
Washington, D.C., that the
area became legally and offi-
cially known as the Oregon Ter-
ritory.
It took another 10 years of
soliciting the United States
Congress until we got our
Statehood!
The first place in the territory
to learn of our acceptance as a
state was Rainier, where a ship
coming up the Columbia River
made its first stop while deliver-
ing mail from the east coast,
and announced the good news.
“The town folk went wild, hoot-
ing, hollering, shooting off
guns and fireworks, committing
hoopla at the excitement of
becoming the Union’s 33rd
State!!” according to one re-
port.
Oregon is the 10th largest
state by size, with its 97,000
square miles and 62 million
acres divided into 36 counties.
It measures 350 miles from
east to west and 280 miles
from north to south.
The population in 1850 was
12,000 people. By 1870 it was
91,000 folks and grew to a half-
million by 1910. Today’s popu-
lation is close to 3,750,000.
What was Vernonia like at
the time of statehood? Well, no
one was here to record any-
thing. The first settlers came in
1873. It is thought that the
Clatskanie Indians and the Tu-
alatin Indians had been living
here in the upper valley, where
they caught salmon to dry for
their winter provisions.There
are a number of sites that
have evidence of them.
Trappers who had come
through the area talked about
Senate President Peter Courtney (second from the right) cuts the first piece of Oregon's
birthday cake during the state's official sesquicentennial celebration at the Oregon State
Capitol Saturday afternoon, February 14. Governor Ted Kulongoski is at right in foreground.
Among the speakers at Saturday's event were Governor Ted Kulongoski, House Speaker
Dave Hunt, former Governor Barbara Roberts, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, Congressman Peter
Defazio, Congressman Kurt Schrader, State Treasurer Ben Westlund, Senate Republican
Leader Ted Ferrioli, Chief Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court Paul J. De Muniz, and U.S.
Senator Jeff Merkley. Picture courtesy of Robin Maxey, Communications Director, Office of
Senate President Peter Courtney.
the natural riches of the val-
ley, enticing those who became
the first settlers to this last
bastion of Oregon.
Many books on early Ore-
gon are available at libraries
and book stores, and in the
Sunday Oregonian, John Terry
writes about Oregon history
and, especially these few
weeks surrounding the birth-
day, he has been focusing on
the event.
Another source for current
information and what is hap-
pening at this historic time in
Oregon’s history can be found
at http://www.oregon150.org.
How are we doing now?
Well, we may be 150 years
young, but we don’t look a day
over 145!!
Happy 150 th
Birthday
Oregon!!!
Available at…
Gardner’s Farm & Home Supply
19340 Biggs Road
Vernonia, OR 97064
(503) 429-6481