OTE - Oregon Travel Experience

Pinus jeffreyi

In Oregon, Jeffrey pines are found only in the state’s southwest corner. They are especially adapted to local dry, infertile, serpentine soils as seen in the surrounding flat lands and distant mountains. These trees resist fire kill through a variety of adaptations like thick, insulating bark and open crowns. During construction of the Siskiyou Smokejumper base, this Jeffrey pines was likely spared for use as a telephone pole and …

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Juglans nigra – Black Walnut

This black walnut is a remnant of a larger grove, planted around 1865, that marks the farthest navigable point on the Coos River. Before S. Coos River Lane was built in the 1920s, people and goods unloaded atthis community landmark and popular meeting place. The Smith Farm Walnut is an example of how treeswere often used as important landmarks for navigation before the advent of electricity …

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Quercus garrayana

The Signature Oak is a symbol of the lasting importance of the Oregon white oak to the ecology and culture of the Willamette Valley. It is the oldest and largest tree in a grove of Oregon white oaks that predates settlement of the Willamette Valley by European immigrants and their descendants. The latest native inhabitants of the region were the Santiam group of the Kalapuyan tribe.

Native people in the …

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Mixed Grove

Established by Adam R. Shipley in 1862, the grove surrounding the farmhouse across the meadow, exemplifies early settlers planting trees from their home states. Shipley, a leader in the pioneer community of Hazelia, served as State Grange Master and Regent for Oregon Agricultural College. The Cook Family has served as stewards of this impressive grove since James P. Cook purchased the farm from the Shipleys in 1900.

Tree Facts

Planted:  1860’s …

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Pinus radiata – Monterey Pine

This Monterey pine was planted between 1906 and 1921 by the Simpson family as part of their extensive estate. Louis J. Simpson was a lumberman, shipbuilder, and founder of the city of North Bend. In 1942, Simpson sold his estate to Oregon, designating it as a park. This tree was recognized in 2002 as the largest of its species in the United States by the National …

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Carya ovata – Hickory

This tree sits on property settled in 1868 by W.S. Frazier, the founder of Milton, Oregon. The Frazier family carried the hickory nuts along the Oregon Trail from their home in Texas. The nuts were planted shortly after their arrival.

Approx. height: 60′

Planted in: late 1860’s

Circumference: 6′ 6″

Dedicated on: April 4, 1998

Location: Frazier Farmstead Museum, 1403 Chestnut St., Milton-Freewater

Pseudotsuga menziesii – Douglas fir

When most other Douglas fir was logged to create farmland, this fir remained as a landmark on the 640-acre Donation Land Claim of Robert Valentine Short. A land surveyor, R.V. Short surveyed claims throughout the northern Willamette Valley, and in 1850 created the first plat of Portland. He was a member of the first Oregon Constitutional Convention, the first Yamhill County surveyor, and a state legislator.

Tree …

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Fagus sylvatica – Copper beech

This European copper beech tree has witnessed more than 100 years of urban development. In the 1890s, Joseph and Mary Watson planted this beech tree in front of their home in what was a quiet neighborhood on the edge of Portland. The Watson family had deep ties to Oregon’s iron and banking industries and Portland city politics. In the 1960s, Portland State University purchased the site …

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