Oregon Travel

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For more than 150 years Oregon has sparkled in the American imagination like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It is a land where countless Americans have believed their dreams would come true. During the 19th century, mere rumors of the territory’s incredible fertility were enough to induce “Oregon fever.” Thousands of land-poor pioneers succumbed and traveled 2,000 miles across the wilds of the American West. Those who survived learned happily that most of the rumors were true. The Willamette Valley was an agricultural heaven. The winters were mild, the rain was gentle, and the soil was among the richest in North America. They also learned that Oregon was one of the West’s most diverse territories. Although the Willamette Valley was an agrarian dream, to get there, one had to cross the Snake River gorge, the Blue Mountains, and the trackless high desert east of the looming Cascade Range.