Oregon Territory

Crater Lake, Oregon,
copyright 1913.
Taking the Long View, 1851-1991

On August 14, 1848, Congress created the Oregon Territory, an area encompassing present-day Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and western Montana. Peter Burnett, a Missouri lawyer who joined an expedition to the Oregon Territory in 1843, hoped to make enough money there to repay his accumulated debt. Forty years later, he recalled:

During the winter of 1842-'43, the Congressional report of Senator Appleton in reference to Oregon fell into my hands…I saw that a great American community would grow up, in the space of a few years, upon the shores of the distant Pacific; and I felt an ardent desire to aid in this most important enterprise.

Peter H. Burnett,
Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer,
1880.
California as I Saw It: First-Person Narratives, 1849-1900

The journey, the practical Burnett noted, would also resolve the condition of his wife who had been ill throughout the past winter. He wryly remarked that "her physician said the trip would either kill or cure her."

A Man and Woman With a Covered Wagon, Prospect, Oregon,
George E. Nichols, photographer,
1913.
American Environmental Photographs, 1891-1936

The Oregon Territory quickly became a magnet for diverse groups of immigrants and settlers. The deep wagon wheel ruts created by the massive migration can still be seen, marking the Oregon Trail.

After the Civil War, former Confederates, the majority of whom were Democrats, dominated the territorial legislature. Having lost none of their antipathy for Lincoln's Republican party, these transplanted Southerners tended to quarrel with the succession of governors appointed by Republican administrations in Washington, D.C., making it even more difficult to govern the already fractious territory.

Mrs. J.R. Bean recalled the unsettled atmosphere of these early days in her recollection of a social occasion suddenly interrupted by gunshots:

I was sitting with my mother on the stage or rostrum of the hall where the party was, when suddenly a bullet whizzed over our heads. A man there stole somebody else's girl…I don't think he was killed, but his assailant, if I recall correctly, was imprisoned for life.
"Overland Trail Lore and Early Life,"

Interview with Mrs. J.R. Bean,
Oswego, Oregon,
Sara B. Wrenn, interviewer,
January 31, 1939.
American Life Histories, 1936-1940

Horse Breeding Ranch,
Grant County, Oregon,
Russell Lee, photographer,
July 1942.
FSA/OWI Color Photographs, 1938-1944

The many farms and ranches of Oregon provide rich agricultural resources.

Stand of Virgin Ponderosa Pine,
Malheur National Forest, Grant County, Oregon,
Russell Lee, photographer, July 1942.
FSA/OWI Color Photographs, 1938-1944

About one-half of Oregon is covered with forest and produces commercial timber.

Indians Fishing for Salmon, Celilo Falls, Oregon.,
Grant County, Oregon,
Russell Lee, photographer, September 1941.
Black-and-White Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945

Salmon fishing, traditional to Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest, remains an important industry in Oregon.

• Search the following collections on Oregon to find numerous photographs and maps of the state:
  • FSA/OWI Photographs, 1935-1945
  • American Environmental Photographs, 1891-1936
  • Taking the Long View: Panoramic Photographs, 1851-1991
  • Map Collections (1500-Present)
• The collection California As I Saw It, 1849 to 1900 brings together 190 first-person narratives of journeys to the West, many of them written by settlers who spent time in Oregon as well as California in the 1840s and 1850s.
• Read more accounts of the early settlement of the American West. Search the collection, American Life Histories, 1936-1940 on state names such as Oregon, California, Idaho or Montana.
• Search the Today in History Archive for pages on Montana, Washington, and other states.
• Search the collection American Indians of the Pacific Northwest on Oregon to find photographs of the people indigenous to the Oregon Territory, as well as a number of reports of the Indian agencies.

Umatilla Women Pose in Woods, Oregon,
Lee Moorhouse, photographer,
probably before 1920.

Cayuse Chief Named Wa-Tis-Te-Me-Ne, Oregon,,
circa 1900.

Nez Perce (or Possibly Yakama) Group Pose in Ceremonial Dress at Celilo Falls, Oregon,
before 1957.
American Indians of the Pacific Northwest