1542: A Spanish expedition led by
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo explores north along the West Coast of North America, possibly reaching present-day Oregon before turning back.[6]
1565-1700s: Spanish explorers originating from the
Philippines reach the West Coast of North America. Most landed in
California, but some shipwrecked along the Oregon Coast.[7]
1700 - January 26: An
earthquake with an estimated
moment magnitude of 8.7–9.2 strikes the region, causing damage to native settlements and sending a tsunami across the Pacific.[9][10]
February 22: The
Adams-Onis Treaty is signed between the United States and Spain, which includes Spain withdrawing its claim to the Pacific Northwest.
1821: The North West Company merges with the
Hudson's Bay Company with the latter becoming the British authority in the region.
1824:
Fort Vancouver in the present day Washington city of the same name becomes the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia District headquarters.
1830s: Pioneers from the United States begin coming to Oregon via the
Oregon Trail. Transportation improvements brought declines in wagon traffic on the trail in the 1850s and 1860s, but the trail continued to be in use as late as the 1890s.
Hudson's Bay Company moves their Columbia District headquarters to
Fort Victoria in the present day
British Columbia city of the same name.
Oregon City becomes the American capital of Oregon Country.
1844 - June 24: A
law is enacted to limit settlement of
African Americans in Oregon Country including them being lashed every six months. Portions of this law were repealed that December.[14]
1845:
Portland is founded. It would later become the state's largest city.
1846 - June 15: The
Oregon Treaty between the United Kingdom and United States is signed, setting the boundary between the two nations occupying Oregon Country at the
49th parallel and placing present day Washington in
Oregon Territory.
1847 - November 29: The
Whitman massacre occurs near present-day
Walla Walla, Washington, starting the initial phase of the
Cayuse War which took place throughout the Northwest and lasted until 1853.
1850 to 1899
1851:
Salem becomes the capital of Oregon Territory.
1855 - October: A volunteer militia attacks a group of
Takelma people who returned to an ancestral village, sparking the
Rogue River Wars which lasted into 1856.
1858: The first railroad in Oregon, operated by the Cascade Railroad Company, serves the
Columbia River Gorge.[15]
1859 - February 14:
Oregon is granted statehood with its present boundaries. The remaining portion of the territory to the east of the present state is added to Washington Territory.
A lock and canal is built to bypass
Willamette Falls, allowing boat traffic to pass between the sections of the
Willamette River above and below the falls.[16]
A
fire destroys twenty-two blocks of downtown Portland.
1937:
Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River east of Portland begins to operate. It was the second dam built on the Columbia River, and the first built on a stretch of the river in Oregon.
1940: The
U.S. Census records a population of over one million in Oregon for the first time.
1945 - May 5: A
Japanese balloon bomb explodes in
Lake County, killing six. These were the only people on American soil whose deaths were attributed to an enemy balloon bomb explosion during World War II.[23][24]
1948: The
Columbia River floods, destroying the community of
Vanport which was the second largest city in Oregon at the time.[25]
1950 to 1999
1962: The
remnants of Typhoon Freda strike the Pacific Northwest, causing a total of 46 deaths and $230 million (1962
USD) in damage.
1964-1965:
Widespread flooding in December and January, including the Willamette River which inundated over 100,000 acres (40,000 ha).[26]
1967 - July 6: Governor
Tom McCall signs a bill establishing Oregon beaches as public land.[27]
1972: A law goes into effect charging customers who purchase certain bottled products with the fee being refunded when the bottle is recycled.
1984 - August to October: Followers of
Rajneesh who settled in
Wasco Countyinfect 751 people after contaminating salad bars in
The Dalles with Salmonella in an attempt to limit the number of people who vote in that year's election thus giving their candidates a better chance of winning. This was the first and remains the largest act of
bioterrorism in the United States.
1996 - February: Heavy rain on existing snowpack caused
regional flooding that produced $700-800 million (1996 USD) worth of damage throughout the Pacific Northwest.[28]
1998 - November 3: Oregon voters pass a measure to expand the
vote by mail system to have it used in all elections.
21st Century
2014 - May 19: Oregon's ban on
same-sex marriage is struck down by a federal court.
^
abHayes, Derek. Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest: Maps of exploration and Discovery. Sasquatch Books. 1999.
ISBN1-57061-215-3. pp. 38-39.
^Crooks, Ramsay (March–December 1916).
"Who Discovered the South Pass?". In Young, Frederic George (ed.). Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society. Vol. XVII. Portland, Oregon: Ivy Press.
^Mcclintock, Thomas C. (1995). "James Saules, Peter Burnett, and the Oregon Black Exclusion Law of June 1844". The Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 86 (3): 121–130.
JSTOR40491550.
^Horner, John B. (1919). Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature. The J.K. Gill Co.: Portland. p. 83
^Corning, Howard M. Dictionary of Oregon History. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956.