Portal:Oregon
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Oregon has one of the most diverse landscapes of any state in the U.S. It is well known for its tall, dense forests; its accessible and scenic Pacific coastline; and its rugged, glaciated Cascade volcanoes. Other areas include semiarid scrublands, prairies, and deserts that cover approximately half the state in eastern and north-central Oregon. Oregon's population in 2000 was about 3.5 million, a 20.3% increase over 1990. It is estimated to have reached 3.7 million by 2006. Oregon's population is largely concentrated in the Willamette Valley, which stretches from Eugene through Salem and Corvallis to Portland, Oregon's largest city. The origin of the name Oregon is unknown. One account, advanced by George R. Stewart in a 1944 article in American Speech, was endorsed as the "most plausible explanation" in the book Oregon Geographic Names. According to Stewart, the name came from an engraver's error in a French map published in the early 1700s, on which the Ouisiconsink (Wisconsin) River was spelled "Ouaricon-sint", broken on two lines with the -sint below, so that there appeared to be a river flowing to the west named "Ouaricon".
Selected pictureThe Willamette Valley is the region in northwest Oregon in the United States that surrounds the Willamette River as it proceeds northward from its emergence from mountains near Eugene to its confluence with the Columbia River at Portland. Being a productive agricultural area, the valley was the destination of choice for the emigrants on the Oregon Trail in the 1840s. Selected biography
Gus Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American Academy Award nominated film director, photographer, musician, and author. Born in Kentucky, the family moved around with Van Sant living in a variety of cities, but graduated from The Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon before attending the Rhode Island School of Design in 1970. He started as a painter, but later changed his major to cinema. After school he went to Europe and then Los Angeles where in 1976 he got a job working for Ken Shapiro. His expierences in LA led to a 1981 film he filmed titled Alice in Hollywood which was never released. He would move to New York and work in advertising for a time, using the money he earned for film projects. Van Sant would return to Portland where he would work as an independent film maker and produce films such as Drugstore Cowboy. Later works include Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, and Finding Forrester. As an actor, Van Sant has appeared in a cameo on screen in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back playing himself. He has written the screenplays for most of his early movies, and has written one novel, Pink. Van As a musician, Van Sant has released two albums: Gus Van Sant and 18 Songs About Golf. The openly gay writer, director, and musician lives in Portland.
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The Provisional Legislature of Oregon was the single-chamber legislative body of the Provisional Government of Oregon. It served the Oregon Country of the Pacific Northwest of North America from 1843 until early 1849 at a time when no country had sovereignty over the region. This democratically elected legislature became the Oregon Territorial Legislature when the territorial authorities arrived after the creation of the Oregon Territory by the United States in 1848. The body was first termed the Legislative Committee and later renamed the House of Representatives. Over the course of its six-year history the legislature passed laws, including taxation and liquor regulation, and created an army to deal with conflicts with Native Americans. Many of the legislators would become prominent figures during the territorial years of Oregon. At first a small committee of nine, the group was altered when the Organic Laws of Oregon were revised in 1845 and became the Oregon House of Representatives with a minimum of 13 members. Once the government was dissolved, all the laws remained in effect, except for the one that authorized the minting of coins. Governor Joseph Lane nullified that law ending production of the Beaver Coins.
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Featured articles: 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens • 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack • Balch Creek • Frank Black • Columbia River • Columbia Slough • D. B. Cooper • Elliott Smith • Exploding whale • Fanno Creek • Forest Park (Portland, Oregon) • Hanford Site • Hillsboro, Oregon • Johnson Creek • New Carissa • Oregon State Capitol • Tryon Creek • Upper and Lower Table Rock Featured lists: • List of areas in the National Park System of the United States • List of Portland Trail Blazers head coaches • List of tallest buildings in Portland, Oregon • List of U.S. states by date of statehood • List of U.S. states by elevation
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