Imposing a Different Order on the Landscape: Sometime during the mid-1830s, the Willamette Valley passed through a demographic, cultural, and economic divide.

Pulling up Stakes in Great Numbers: The Lewis and Clark expedition sparked increased interest in the Oregon Country.

Missions in Oregon: Missions in Oregon aided the settlement process by broadcasting information about the Northwest’s favorable climate and agricultural potential.

As Thick as Mosquitoes in this Part of the World: When the large immigrant group known as the “Great Migration” arrived in the Willamette Valley in 1843, some expressed alarm that the country was “settling fast.”

A New Legal Landscape: The immigration of Americans to the Oregon Country in the early 1840s created the need for a legal system that would impose some order to the growing patchwork of settlements.

Slavery and Race: Slavery and race were more than academic issues in early Oregon.

Oregon Donation Land Law: The Oregon Donation Land Law favored Euro-American immigrants and dispossessed Indian tribes who had been part of the land for thousands of years.

Decline of the Native Population: Under the rules of resettlement, Native populations were confined to reservation where conditions did not favor their increase.

Oregon Style Journalism: During the 1850s and 1860s rival Oregon newspapers engaged in a journalism that promoted unrestrained attacks on competing papers and political opponents.

After the Gold Rush: The California gold rush served as a catalyst for agricultural growth and commercial development in Oregon.

Activity in the Oregon Outback: Increased movement on the Columbia River traffic established The Dalles as a trading center and led to the settlement of several interior towns adjacent to the mines.

Indispensible Signs of Civilization and Progress: Railroads, for most Oregonians, symbolized the mark of a progressive people and served as the “engines of empire.”

Relocation to Reservation Lands: Once the federal government had resolved the western Oregon Indian question, officials turned their attention to central and eastern Oregon.

A Few Settlements across a Vast Land: The gold seekers came first and set up camps throughout the Blue Mountain region.

The Coming of Range Cattle: While farmers turned northern sage country to the plow, grazers concentrated their herds in the more marginal areas of the Harney Basin and the Malheur and lower Owyhee river valleys.