As the storm clouds of a world war gathered in the spring of 1941, Maj. G. Robert Dodson said, "We've got people, we've got a place, and we're ready!" Oregonians responded to the call to arms as the United States prepared for the coming conflict. In April 1941, the Oregon National Guard's 123rd Observation Squadron became the state's first aviation unit and pioneered Oregon military aviation into the postwar Oregon Air National Guard (ORANG). In the 70 years since its start, the citizen airmen of the ORANG have served their community, state, and nation from locations in Oregon, throughout the United States, and worldwide. They stand ready today to answer the call of duty, no matter when it comes.
The Oregon State Fair
9780738548777
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Since the first Oregon State Fair was held on four acres along the Clackamas River in the Gladstone/Oregon City area in 1861, the fair has been the focal point of Oregon culture--a place to see and be seen and to compete against the best in the state. It has been a place of victory and a place of discovery for nearly 150 years. For many generations of Oregonians, the fair was a chance for families and friends to reunite and share the excitement of this grand, uniquely Oregon event. Today the fair's popularity continues and, for 12 days each year, transforms the fairgrounds in Salem into the fifth largest city in the state.
Tigard
9780738596952
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Tigard, Oregon, began as an elegant farming community on the Tualatin Plains in the Northern Willamette Valley and became an upscale metropolitan residential community. The Native American Atfalati Kalapuyas interacted with early trappers, traders, missionaries, and pioneer settlers. Pioneers arrived in the 1850s to take up donation land claims. Tigard was originally called East Butte, and numerous nationalities and religions populated the settlement. A grange was formed to aid farmers' causes, and churches were established to build a sense of neighborliness. East Butte became Tigardville when Charles Fremont Tigard opened a post office in his general merchandise store in 1886 and named the postal station after his parents. Tigardville became Tigard when the Oregon Electric Railway came through in 1908, and residents distinguished Tigard from Wilsonville. The Oregon Electric shipped Tigard's farm produce north to Portland and south to Salem. Tigard was incorporated as a city on September 11, 1961, and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011.
Tillamook Rock Lighthouse
9781467128322
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Built in 1880, Oregon's Tillamook Rock Lighthouse has had the most notorious reputation of any lighthouse on the Pacific Coast of the United States. Fierce storms regularly catapulted huge boulders through the lantern, with waves that broke over its 136-foot height earning it the modern nickname "Terrible Tilly." It has been described as a pint-sized Alcatraz, and many keepers could not stand its confinement. However, there were some who actually enjoyed it and even came to love it. A rare glimpse of the more pleasant side of daily life on "the Rock" is shown in newly rediscovered historic photographs taken by the keepers who faithfully served there. This important visual legacy serves to temper the horrific view of Terrible Tilly and provides a new perspective: that perhaps an assignment to Tillamook Rock Lighthouse was not so wholly terrible after all.
Troutdale
9780738593340
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As a link on the "Wire Trail," which was a Native American route between Celilo and Willamette Falls, Troutdale was first a site for Chinook Indian encampments. Its locale was connected to westward expansion as a landing place for Lewis and Clark and as one of the initial stops for immigrants fresh off the Oregon Trail. Troutdale's pioneers wrestled with its thick forests, rocky basalt cliffs, and the fierce east wind that funneled down from the Columbia River Gorge. Despite these obstacles, they created a community with a colorful and serendipitous history that included record-setting smelt runs, paralyzing ice storms, and being named as the "celery capital of the world." Troutdale transformed as its main street evolved from a dirt road into the first paved highway in the Pacific Northwest. This, coupled with the arrival of the railroad, has made it a gateway for tourists, day-trippers, and exuberant photographers seeking jaw-dropping vistas of the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area.
Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue
9780738593043
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In the early days of fighting fires in Beaverton, Oregon, a bugle called firefighters to the scene. The Beaverton Enterprise newspaper reported that, "with no water system, firefighters had to rely upon water buckets and (the) enthusiasm of volunteers who came running to the call." In 1935, Beaverton officially formed its first fire department, and down the road in the city of Tualatin, a group of volunteers began assembling what would become the Tualatin Rural Fire Protection District. In 1989, a merger of the latter department with Washington County Fire District No. 1 resulted in the creation of Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue. Beaverton would officially annex into the new district in 1996, and today, TVF&R is the second-largest fire department in Oregon, covering 210 square miles with 21 stations. Since the beginning, the departments that comprise the district were known for their resourcefulness and innovation, both of which continue to this day.
US Forest Service Ranger Stations of the West
9781467103152
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Pioneer US Forest Service rangers and their ranger stations are classic symbols of the American West. Rangers managed the public forests and ranges with the cattlemen, sheepmen, lumbermen, miners, homesteaders, and others who used--and, in many cases, still use-- the lands to build and sustain economies and ways of life. The early rangers are no longer around. But some of the stations from which they protected the West's national forests to secure "the greatest good for the greatest number in the long run," as decreed by the first chief of the US Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot, remain to tell their stories and inspire their successors.
USCG Air Station and Group Astoria
9780738589206
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US Coast Guard Air Station and Group Astoria was established on August 14, 1964, at Tongue Point in Astoria. It is currently located at the Warrenton-Astoria Regional Airport in Warrenton, Oregon. The group includes Air Station Astoria, the Aids to Navigation Team, Station Grays Harbor at Westport, Washington, Station Cape Disappointment in Ilwaco, Washington, and Station Tillamook Bay at Garibaldi, Oregon. They also supply support for the USCG cutter Alert (WMEC-630), USCG cutter Steadfast (WMEC-623), USCG cutter Fir (WLB-213), the National Motor Lifeboat School, the Electronic Support Detachment at Astoria, the Advanced Rescue Swimmer School, the Marine Safety Detachment, and the Advanced Helicopter Rescue School. In August 2011, the unit became USCG Sector Columbia River.
Vanishing Portland
9780738558301
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Portland at the end of World War II was an international port and a powerhouse of the timber and shipbuilding industries. Oregon's largest city grew and changed in the decades that followed, adding new industries and population. It also endured reductions in shipbuilding capacity, a devastating flood, a declining timber industry, urban renewal, freeway construction, and social change. By the 1990s, a wave of globalization and big-box retail marketing swelled shipping at the city's port and swept away a surprising number of Portland's businesses, which remain in the fond memories of Portlanders. A few of these memorable icons include the stores Meier and Frank, J. K. Gill, Payless Drug, and Sprouse-Reitz; the restaurants Henry Theile, Jolly Joan, Tik Tok, Yaw's Top Notch, and Waddle's; the Jantzen Beach Amusement Park; the Portland Hotel; the Broadway, Fox, and Orpheum theaters; Henry Weinhard's brewery; the Ramblin' Rod television show; and Portland Wrestling.
Vanport
9781467134798
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Nestled in the floodplain between North Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, a housing project was built to help house World War II shipyard workers. Its very name, Vanport, is derived from Vancouver and Portland. When the United States entered the war, the demand for ships and for workers to build those ships became a huge priority. Workers were recruited from all corners of the United States. Portland had a serious lodging shortage, so much so that these workers lived in cars, tents, parks, and whatever shelter could be found. Vanport, built in a little over a year to house them, was a city that did not sleep. In its heyday, Vanport was the second-largest city in Oregon with a population of over 40,000 residents. It was a city with many firsts. It was a city that touched many lives in a very short period of time. And on May 30, 1948, it was a city that disappeared just as quickly as it came into existence, leaving a legacy that will not soon be forgotten.
Vernonia
9780738580418
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Nestled in the Upper Nehalem Valley in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range, Vernonia still reflects its pioneer virtues of hard work and independence. The area was first homesteaded in 1874 by Clark Parker and John Van Blaricom. The earliest settlers saw the dense old-growth firs and cedars as an obstacle to overcome in establishing farms, but those big trees soon became the lifeblood of the town's economy. Incorporated in 1891, Vernonia remained a small settlement with family-run farms, sawmills, and supporting businesses until the arrival of the long-awaited railroad in 1922. The Oregon-American Lumber Mill--at the time one of the largest of its kind--was built in 1923. The mill provided jobs and business opportunities for hundreds of people until 1957 when it closed. The population rapidly declined as people left to find work elsewhere. Vernonia has proved resilient, however, and continues to be home to over 2,000 residents who appreciate small-town life in a forested setting.
Washington County
9781467102865
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Washington County, Oregon, is one of the most sought-after places to live in the United States. Its rich history has helped form its Northwestern identity. This once lumber- and farmland-dominated county has grown into one of the most significant high-technology and sports-apparel centers in the United States. Over 200 images provide this book's reader with a visual history of Washington County from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century.
West Linn
9780738558509
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The largest iron meteorite discovered in the United States, weighing 15.5 tons, was unearthed in West Linn in 1902 and featured in the 1905 World's Fair before journeying to New York's American Museum of Natural History, where it remains. West Linn was carved onto the map years before, when Robert Moore purchased 1,000 acres of land in 1840 from the Wallamut Indians at Willamette Falls. Soon a lumber mill and flour mill were established, and the region was given a new name--Linn City--after free-state advocate Lewis F. Linn. Hugh Burns and the Miller, Fields, and Walling families also figured in early West Linn history. Though an 1861 fire, then flood, destroyed what was Linn City, the falls continued drawing industry. Officially incorporated into Oregon in 1913, West Linn, known for its hills, trees, rivers, and famous meteorite, is a sought-after community in which to raise families and made the 2005 top-100 list of best places to live.
West Salem
9780738575872
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Few people realize that West Salem was an independent town for over 30 years. From its early development in the mid-19th century--when valley homesteaders grew wheat, hops, and fruits--to the founding of Fairview School in 1868, the opening of the Center Street Bridge across the Willamette River in 1886, the rail line in 1909, and a city charter in 1913 to the surrender of that charter to Salem in 1949, the West Salem area forged its own unique identity. Today, West Salem is a thriving community full of cherished memories alongside physical reminders of its independence, such as the Art Deco-style city hall and jailhouse.
Wilhoit Springs
9781467103237
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History and legend mingle at Wilhoit Mineral Springs, a former health and recreation resort south of Molalla in Clackamas County. Although nothing remains of the rustic lodge buildings and campground today, tales of the healing soda springs enticed people to "take the waters," and indeed they did. By the late 1800s, this call for relaxation, social camaraderie, and a healthy cure escalated into a large gathering ground and community resort. The rustic getaway lured wealthy city guests from Portland, Salem, and Eugene, as well as the average local family. Wilhoit Springs Park, open to visitors today, is part riparian wilderness and part oak savannah and contains a fortress of older trees in a verdant setting. Today, people can picnic, walk through the mossy woods and meadows, and explore the lush surroundings. There are two springs, one pleasantly soda and the other highly sulfur--each is accessible today.
Woodburn
9780738576060
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For hundreds of years, French Prairie was the playground and home of the Kalapooya Indians, members of the Bannock Tribe. By the time pioneers started arriving on the Oregon Trail, the Indian population was diminishing due to exposure to diseases brought by earlier settlers. Jesse Settlemier had a vision of a nursery business and a town that could supply its workers, and he purchased property and began clearing it. Ultimately, the development of a railroad, along with fertile soil, hardy pioneers, an ideal climate, and a favorable location (between the large cities of Salem and Portland) produced the formula for a thriving city.
