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Probate Court: David Leslie assigned executor of Ewing Young's estate

Probate Court: David Leslie assigned executor of Ewing Young's estate

This scrap of paper—handwritten, covered in centuries-old smudged fingerprints—is a remnant of the first significant attempt to create a functioning non-Native government in Oregon Country. …

Oregon History Project
R.W. Tower Sawmill

R.W. Tower Sawmill

These workers take a short break at the R.W. Tower sawmill to pose for this photo, circa 1912.  The Tower Mill, located three miles south …

Oregon History Project
Reservations & Tracts of Land Purchased from the Various Indian Tribes

Reservations & Tracts of Land Purchased from the Various Indian Tribes

By 1864, Oregon representatives of the U.S. government had bought up most of the traditional tribal land in Oregon. The government recognized Indian ownership of …

Oregon History Project
Settlers to Siletz Reservation Agent Fairchild

Settlers to Siletz Reservation Agent Fairchild

This letter is indicative of the hostility that some early settlers had for Native people. A band of Athapaskan Indians, known as the Kwatami, lived …

Oregon History Project
Sketch of the Wallamette [sic] Valley, 1851

Sketch of the Wallamette [sic] Valley, 1851

Oregon became a United States territory in 1848, and the rapid growth of Euro American settlement in the Willamette Valley increased tension between the immigrants …

Oregon History Project
Whale Butchering at Coos Bay

Whale Butchering at Coos Bay

This sketch, published in an article in the June 1856 issue of Harper’s Monthly, depicts a group of Coos butchering a whale on the …

Oregon History Project
A New Status for the American Indian

A New Status for the American Indian

On March 23, 1957, the Oregon Historical Society held its Third Annual Historical Forum, a discussion of events that had influenced Oregon’s political, social, cultural, …

Oregon History Project
BPA Office Takeover, 1975

BPA Office Takeover, 1975

On the morning of August 15, 1975, about 100 Indian protesters took over the Portland offices of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), a federal agency …

Oregon History Project
Cannon Beach Cannon

Cannon Beach Cannon

This photograph, taken by Arthur M. Prentiss, depicts the cannon that gave Cannon Beach its name. The cannon’s history includes a period as a U.S. …

Oregon History Project
Capt. Bonneville to Secretary of War Lewis Cass

Capt. Bonneville to Secretary of War Lewis Cass

In September 1835, Captain Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville wrote this letter to Secretary of War, Lewis Cass, in an attempt to be re-instated to …

Oregon History Project

Interpretive Essays

Interpretive essays use primary documents from the Oregon Historical Society archives to help readers imagine the events, people, and issues that shaped Oregon history.