OTE - Oregon Travel Experience

Shifting Sands

Posted on: October 30th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |

The Coos Bay dune field is one of ten different sand dune sheets spreading across half of the Oregon coast. The Coos Bay dune field, directly across the bay in front of you, is the southern end of a 60-mile-long dunes sheet that runs north to Florence. How and when did these dunes form?Layers of a Dune “Sandwich” The Coos Bay dunes consist of layers of ever-changing sand deposits on …

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South Alternate Route of the Oregon Trail

Posted on: October 30th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |

During the late 20th Century thousands of Americans left farms, families and friends to trek the Oregon Trail toward new lives in the West. The trail was nearly 2,000 miles across prairies, mountains and parched deserts, and contrary to popular belief, it was not a single set of parallel ruts leading from Missouri to the Willamette Valley. Pioneers, always searching for shortcuts or easier traveling often followed alternative routes, and …

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Jedediah Smith

Posted on: October 30th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |

Jedediah Smith’s explorations in the American West began when he was 21 and lasted until his death at age 32. He crisscrossed the region in search of beaver pelts and new travel routes. His travel journals became a foundation for the first accurate maps of what is now the western United States.

A life of Exploration After three years in the Rocky Mountains, Jedediah Smith led trapping expeditions to California in …

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Shipley Family Homestead

Posted on: October 29th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |

Creating a Resting Place for All: Mount Union Cemetery is situated on land once belonging to Reuben and Mary Jane Shipley, one of Oregon’s earliest Black pioneer couples. Reuben was born into slavery in Kentucky and was brought to Oregon by his enslaver, Robert Shipley in 1853. In return for driving the family wagon across the continent, Robert granted Reuben his freedom. Reuben worked for Eldridge Hartless and purchased 101 …

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Santiam Wagon Road

Posted on: October 29th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |

The pass located east of here through the Cascade Range was once called Wiley Pass after Andrew Wiley. Wiley with other Willamette Valley pioneers explored it in 1859 while searching for a route to move their livestock to the grass lands of central Oregon for summer grazing. In 1864 the Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountain Military Wagon Road Company was formed and submitted plans to the U.S. Government for a …

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Sherar’s Bridge Area

Posted on: October 29th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |

This area of the Deschutes River has been a river crossing and fishing location for thousands of years. Peter Skene Ogden made note of an Indian camp and bridge when he crossed here in 1826. Early pioneers using the Meek Cutoff to the Barlow Road passed here on their way to The Dalles and the Willamette Valley. John Todd built a bridge in 1860 and in 1868 a post office …

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Sandy River Bridge

Posted on: October 28th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |

On Oct. 30th, 1792 off the point in the Columbia River where the Sandy empties its waters the boat crew from the H.M.S. Chatham (Vancouver’s Voyages) were the first white men to sight the snow clad peak which Lt. Wm. R. Broughton named Mt. Hood in honor of Vice Admiral Samuel Lord Hood of the British Navy. He called the stream Barings River. Later in November 1805 Lewis and Clark …

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River Highway

Posted on: October 28th, 2024 in Historical Marker Audio Tours, Historical Marker Details |

The Agenda.

Native peoples have resided along this river since time immemorial. These lands have provided a bountiful life and a highway for extensive trade and travel. In the 1700s, European and American seafarers began plying the Pacific coast, seeking commerce, mapping, and claiming places. In October 1792, HMS Chatham entered this river. Lieutenant W.R. Broughton, ship captain, led the party in small boats upriver to this point. His party traded with …

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Pinot Noir

Posted on: October 25th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |

Richard Sommer & HillCrest Vineyard Oregon’s successful and widely recognized wine industry can be traced to this place, where Richard Sommer first planted Pinot noir grapes in 1961. The Umpqua and Willamette valleys’ climates and topographies are much like those of European wine regions, but most winemakers of the 1960s believed it was impossible to grow fine wines in Oregon. Sommer, however, recognized the significance of sharing latitude with European …

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Philomath College

Posted on: October 25th, 2024 in Historical Marker Details |

Philomath College was chartered November 1865 as the United Brethren School for Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and California. The name combines two Greek words meaning love of learning. The building’s center structure was completed in September 1867 of bricks made from clay extruded near the building. The center structure is 40 x 60 feet in 2-feet-thick walls. The west wing was completed in 1905; the east wing in 1907. The …

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