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Dateline
- 13,000 B.C.: Massive floods, as much as 1,200 feet deep, rage down Columbia River and carve the Columbia Gorge.
- 10,000 B.C.: Earliest known human inhabitation of Oregon.
- 5,000 B.C.: Mount Mazama erupts violently, creating a caldera that will later fill with water and be known as Crater Lake.
- A.D. 1542: Spanish exploratory ship reaches what is now the southern Oregon coast.
- 1579: Englishman Sir Francis Drake reaches the mouth of the Rogue River.
- 1602: Spain's Martín de Aguilar explores the coast of Oregon, probably as far as Coos Bay.
- 1792: Robert Gray becomes the first explorer to sail a ship into a great river he names the Columbia, in honor of his ship the Columbia Rediviva.
- 1805-06: Expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark crosses the continent and spends the winter at the mouth of the Columbia River.
- 1810: Americans attempt first settlement at the Columbia River's mouth.
- 1819: Spain cedes all lands above 42° north latitude.
- 1824-25: Russia gives up claims to land south of Alaska; Fort Vancouver founded by Hudson's Bay Company on Columbia River near present-day Portland.
- 1834: Methodist missionary Jason Lee founds Salem, which later becomes the state capital.
- 1840: First settlers move to what is now Oregon.
- 1842: Jason Lee founds first school of higher learning west of the Mississippi.
- 1843: First wagons cross the continent on the Oregon Trail; Asa Lovejoy and William Overton stake claim on land that will soon become Portland.
- 1844: Oregon City becomes the first incorporated town west of the Mississippi.
- 1846: The 49th parallel is established as the boundary between American and British territories in the Northwest.
- 1848: Oregon becomes first U.S. territory west of the Rockies.
- 1851: Portland is incorporated; gold is discovered in southern Oregon.
- 1915: Columbia Gorge scenic highway is constructed.
- 1935: Angus Bowmer stages As You Like It in Ashland and plants the seed of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
- 1940s: Kaiser shipyards in the Portland area become the world's foremost shipbuilders.
- 1945: Oregon becomes the only state with civilian war casualties when a Japanese balloon bomb kills six children.
- 1957: The Dalles Dam is completed; backwaters inundate Celilo Falls, the region's most productive Native American salmon-fishing grounds.
- 1974: In a bold step toward making Portland a more livable city, a freeway along the city's downtown waterfront is removed.
- 2005 The replica of Lewis and Clark's Fort Clatsop near Astoria burns down only months prior to planned bicentennial celebrations.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
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