Northwest Oregon is a geographic and cultural region of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, composed of

Clatsop The Clatsop is a small tribe of Chinookan-speaking Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In the early 19th century they inhabited an area of the northwestern coast of present-day Oregon from the mouth of the Columbia R ...

, Columbia, and

Tillamook Tillamook may refer to: Places: * Tillamook County, Oregon, United States * Tillamook, Oregon, a city, the seat of Tillamook County * Tillamook River, United States * Tillamook Bay, a bay in the northwestern part of Oregon * Tillamook Head, a natu ...

counties. The region encompasses the northernmost parts of the state along the lower Columbia River.

History

The region was inhabited for thousands of years by the Chinook and

Salish peoples The Salish peoples are indigenous peoples of the American and Canadian Pacific Northwest, identified by their use of the Salish languages which diversified out of Proto-Salish between 3,000 and 6,000 years ago. The term “Salish” originated i ...

. In May 1792, American explorer Robert Gray became the first European American to navigate the Columbia River, trading with the native tribes and exploring up to 15 miles upriver. Gray created a chart of the lower river, a copy of which was acquired by British explorer George Vancouver. Vancouver conducted a more thorough expedition of the river, traveling as far up as Mount Hood. Lewis and clark-expedition

The

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gr ...

, led by Meriwether Lewis and

William Clark William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Miss ...

, sighted the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

for the first time on November 7, 1805, arriving two weeks later.History & Culture - Lewis and Clark National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)
/ref> The expedition faced its second bitter winter camped on the north side of the Columbia River, in a storm-wracked area. Lack of food was a major factor. The elk, the party's main source of food, had retreated from their usual haunts into the mountains, and the party was now too poor to purchase enough food from neighboring tribes. Ambrose, 1996 p.326 On November 24, 1805, the party voted to move their camp to the south side of the Columbia River near modern Astoria, Oregon. Sacagawea, and Clark's slave

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, were both allowed to participate in the vote, so this may have been the first time in American history where a woman and a slave were allowed to vote in an election run by European immigrants. Indigenous people had included women previously. On the south side of the Columbia River, upstream on the west side of the Netul River (now

Lewis and Clark River The Lewis and Clark River is a tributary of Youngs River, approximately long, in northwest Oregon in the United States. It drains of the Northern Oregon Coast Range in the extreme northwest corner of the state, entering Youngs River just above i ...

), they constructed

Fort Clatsop Fort Clatsop was the encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia River during the winter of 1805–1806. Located along the Lewis and Clark River at the north end of the Clatsop Plains approxi ...

. They did this not just for shelter and protection, but also to officially establish the American presence there, with the American flag flying over the fort. Ambrose, 1996 p.170 During the winter at Fort Clatsop, Lewis committed himself to writing. He filled many pages of his journals with valuable knowledge, mostly about botany, because of the abundant growth and forests that covered that part of the continent. The health of the men also became a problem, with many suffering from colds and influenza. In 1811, British explorer David Thompson, the first person known to have navigated the entire length of the Columbia River, reached the partially constructed

Fort Astoria Fort Astoria (also named Fort George) was the primary fur trading post of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company (PFC). A maritime contingent of PFC staff was sent on board the ''Tonquin (1807 ship), Tonquin'', while another party traveled overl ...

near the mouth of the river. He arrived just two months after the

Pacific Fur Company The Pacific Fur Company (PFC) was an American fur trade venture wholly owned and funded by John Jacob Astor that functioned from 1810 to 1813. It was based in the Pacific Northwest, an area contested over the decades between the United Kingdom o ...

's ship, the '' Tonquin''. The fort constructed by the Tonquin party established Astoria as a U.S., rather than a British, settlement. It became a vital post for American exploration of the continent and was later used as an American claim in the

Oregon boundary dispute The Oregon boundary dispute or the Oregon Question was a 19th-century territorial dispute over the political division of the Pacific Northwest of North America between several nations that had competing territorial and commercial aspirations in ...

with European nations. Astoria is the oldest permanently inhabited settlement established by Americans on the Pacific coast. In 1848, the area became part of the

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. O ...

, and became part of the state of Oregon following Oregon's admission to the Union in 1859.

Geography

Northwest Oregon is bounded on the north and much of the east by the Columbia River which separates it from the state of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, on the west by the

, and on the southeast by the rest of Oregon. The Willamette meridian marks the southeast corner. Saddle Mountain, at an elevation of 3,288 feet, is the highest mountain in the region. It is part of the

Oregon Coast Range The Oregon Coast Range, often called simply the Coast Range and sometimes the Pacific Coast Range, is a mountain range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, in the U.S. state of Oregon along the Pacific Ocean. This north-south ru ...

, which takes up most of the interior of the region.

Counties

Generally, the following three counties are considered to be part of Northwest Oregon. Sometimes, parts of Washington County are included as well. * Clatsop County (population 37,831) * Columbia County (population 49,600) * Tillamook County (population 25,653) The total population of the region is 113,084.

Cities

Politics

Politically, Northwest Oregon is divided. Clatsop County leans Democratic, having not voted for a Republican in a presidential election since 1956. Columbia County is traditionally Democratic, although in 2016 it voted for a Republican (

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

) for the first time since 1928. Tillamook County is more of a swing county, voting Democratic 15 times and Republican seven times since 1932. Since 1920 it has also acted as somewhat of a

bellwether A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.bellwether
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Ret ...

, voting for the national winner all but three times since then. Northwest Oregon is represented congressionally by Representatives

Suzanne Bonamici Suzanne Marie Bonamici ( ; born October 14, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Oregon's 1st congressional district, a seat she was first elected to in a 2012 special election. The district includes m ...

(Clatsop and Columbia) and

Kurt Schrader Walter Kurt Schrader (born October 19, 1951) is an American politician and veterinarian serving as the U.S. representative for since 2009. His district covered most of Oregon's central coast, plus Salem, and many of Portland's southern suburb ...

(Tillamook), both Democrats. Most of the region is represented in the Oregon State Senate by Betsy Johnson, a Democrat; it is represented in the Oregon House of Representatives by Brad Witt and Deborah Boone, also Democrats. Southern Tillamook County is served by Senator

Arnie Roblan Arnold L. "Arnie" Roblan (born April 8, 1948) is an American former educator and a Democratic politician who served as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from the 9th district, which spans the southern Oregon Coast. He also served ...

and Representative

David Gomberg David Gomberg (born June 9, 1953) is a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic member of the Oregon House of Representatives, representing District 10 on the state's central coast since January 14, 2013. He served in political staff and lo ...

, also Democrats.

References