A Few of FR's Finest...Every Day...02-20-04...Oregon - "She Flies With Her Own Wings"

Mama_Bear

[Mama_Bear]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.

On Mondays please visit us to see photos of A FEW OF FR'S VETERANS AND ACTIVE MILITARY

If you have a suggestion, or an idea, or if there's a FReeper you would like to see featured, please drop one of us a note in FR mail.

We're having fun and hope you are!
~ Billie, Mama_Bear, dansangel, dutchess, Aquamarine ~

Please join us as we make a cyber-visit to another great state in this Union of ours.

Over the past few months each "Finest" hostess has profiled her home state and I will be presenting the other states in random order. Please FReepMail me if you would like to participate in spotlighting your state. I would love to have your input on what you would like to see highlighted.

These are the states we have presented to date:

05-23-03 Alabama 06-27-03 Maryland 07-11-03 Vermont 07-25-03 Utah 08-05-03 Texas 08-22-03 Nevada 08-26-03 Wash DC 09-05-03 Tennessee 09-17-03 Florida

09-19-03 Minnesota 10-03-03 New Mexico 10-14-03 Georgia 10-17-03 Louisiana 10-22-03 Michigan 11-04-03 South Dakota 11-14-03 California 01-09-04 South Carolina 02-06-04 West Virginia

As we present each of our 50 states we also salute the proud FReepers who call their state 'home'.

Today we are traveling to the great
state Oregon, "The Beaver State".

One hundred and fifty years ago,
this cry was heard throughout
the east and midwest....

"Free land in Oregon!"



The 2,000 mile long route that stretched from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City pointed the way west for an estimated 300,000 pioneers and settlers in the middle of the 19th century. What turned out to be the largest voluntary peacetime mass migration in human history was critical to America's history as it sought to become a nation that stretched from "sea to shining sea".

Tens of thousands of wagons in every description, rumbled along this dusty trail. Still visible in many places, the ruts remain as a silent testimony to those who struggled, suffered and died in pursuit of their dreams.

An Oregon-bound airline, in 1849? Don't laugh--it almost happened. Rufus Porter, founder of Scientific American, planned to fly pioneers to Oregon on propeller-driven balloons powered by steam engines. He advertised the endeavor, and 200 brave souls signed up for the trip. But the "airline" never got off the ground.

Then there was the wind wagon, a cross between a sailboat and a wagon. Because it can be very windy in the West, it seemed like a good idea on paper. A prototype was built, and for a brief moment it barreled across the plains at the advertised 15 miles per hour. Then it went out of control and crashed. The inventor, "Wind-Wagon Thomas," kept trying for years, but never succeeded.

Others took a more low-tech approach, making the trip with only a simple wheelbarrow. It's hard to imagine pushing a fully loaded wheelbarrow for 2,000 miles, but several dozen people tried. For a time, they could outpace everything on the Trail, but human endurance has its limits. It is uncertain whether any of them made it all the way.

Mormon handcarts were somewhat more sophisticated. Like wheelbarrows, they were human-powered, but handcarts were pulled, not pushed. Thousands of handcarts made it to Salt Lake City, Utah, but there is no record of anyone taking a handcart further west.

***Oregon State Facts and Trivia***

• Oregon's state flag pictures a beaver on its reverse side. It is the only state flag to carry two separate designs.
  
  
   
• Oregon has more ghost towns than any other state.
   
• Oregon and New Jersey are the only states without self-serve gas stations.
   
• Eugene was the first city to have one-way streets.
   
• Pilot Butte, a cinder cone volcano, exists within the city limits of Bend.
   
• At 329 feet the Coast Douglas-Fir in Oregon is considered the tallest tree in the state.
   
• At 8,000 feet deep Hells Canyon is the deepest river gorge in North America.
   
• The Columbia River gorge is considered by many to be the best place in the world for windsurfing.
  
  
   
• The hazelnut is Oregon's official state nut. Oregon is the only state that has an official state nut. The hazelnut is also known as the filbert.
   
• Oregon's state birthday is on February 14, Valentine's Day.
   
• The "Oregon Pioneer" statue that tops the capitol building in Salem is a work by Ulric Ellerhusen. This heroic figure represents the spirit of Oregon's early settlers.
  
  
   
• In 1858 the richest gold find in the Cascade Mountains was discovered in the Bohemia Mining District at Sharp's Creek near Cottage Grove.
   
• In 1876 the University of Oregon opened in Eugene. Deady Hall was the first building on campus and still exists.
   
• In 1880 a sea cave was discovered near what is now known as Florence. Sea Lion Caves is known to be the largest sea cave in the world.
   
• The nation's most photographed lighthouse is the Heceta Head Lighthouse located in Lane County.
  
  
   
• Oregon's second highest waterfall is Salt Creek Falls in the Cascade Mountain range. It drops 286 feet.
   
• Eugene is rated by "Bicycling Magazine" as one of the top ten cycling communities in the United States.
   
• There are nine lighthouses standing along the coastline. Five are still being used; the others are designated historic monuments.
   
• Portland is considered an example of outstanding urban planning. The city is known as The City of Roses.
   
• Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and is formed in the remains of an ancient volcano.
  
  
   
• High above the city of Portland the International Rose Test Garden features more than 500 varieties of roses cultivated continuously since 1917.
   
• At 11,239 feet Mount Hood stands as the tallest peak in Oregon. Mount Hood is a dormant volcano.
   
• Silver Falls State Park is the Oregon's largest state park. It features 10 waterfalls and contains a wide variety of forested hiking trails.
   
• Discovered in 1874 the caves located in Oregon Caves National Monument are carved within solid marble.
   
• Fort Clatsop National Memorial contains a replica of Lewis and Clark's 1805-1806 winter outpost.
   
• In 1905 the largest long cabin in the world was built in Portland to honor the Lewis and Clark expedition.
   
• A treaty between the United States and Spain established the current southern border between Oregon and California. The treaty was signed in 1819.
   
• The Oregon Trail is the longest of the overland routes used in the westward expansion of the United States.
   
• Haystack Rock off Cannon Beach is 235 feet high and is the third largest coastal monolith in the world.
  
  
   
• The Seaside Aquarium was the first facility in the world to successfully breed harbor seals in captivity.
  
  
  

There is much to see and do in this interesting state,
not the least of which is exploring the beautiful
and rugged Oregon coastline.

The following websites provided
historical information and graphics....
"Oregon - The Facts"
"The Oregon Trail"

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 02-16-04...Military Monday 02-17-04...Random Acts Of Kindness 02-18-04...An Observation From Fred The Cat 02-19-04...JohnHuang2 - John's Two Cents

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

Thanks, Mixer!

1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
2) Once there you can click on any month and even click to the right to go into next year. Once you are in the month that you joined FR you will need to click on the number in the calendar and then an add item screen will come up.
3) In the next box enter your name in the "Calendar Text" field and then click on submit.
4) If any of the screens fail to load simply click on refresh in your browser and that will usually fix it.
5) If all else fails or simply if you want me to do this for you send me a FReepmail and I will gladly do it for you. ~Mixer

Click on the photo to view the album. To
submit your photo, please contact dansangel or .45MAN danbh59@yahoo.com
and include Freeper Photo Album in subject line.

[SAMWolf]

Three Sisters Mountain.

[dixie sass]

Hello Aunt B. It has been so long since I have seen you on line! How are things a Klamath? What projects are you workng on now.

This must be the week for seeing people that started on FR when I did!

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Gordon Cooper receives wings

On Feb. 16, 1966, Col. Gordon Cooper, along with Col. Frank Borman and Lt. Col. Thomas P. Stafford, receive their astronaut wings from Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. McConnell.

Cooper's first flight began on May 15, 1963, when he was launched as the pilot of MA-9, the last Mercury mission. Cooper, in his Faith 7 capsule, orbited the Earth 22 times and logged more time in space than all five previous Mercury astronauts combined. During the mission, he became the first American astronaut to sleep in orbit. His mission lasted more than 34 hours, during which he completed 22 orbits and traveled 546,167 miles at 17,547 miles per hour.

Two years later, Cooper was launched as the commander of Gemini GT-5 with Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr., as the pilot, making Cooper the first person to make a second orbital flight. The eight-day mission, began on Aug. 21, 1965, and proved that astronauts could survive in space for the time it took spacecraft to go from the Earth to the moon and back.

During his two spaceflights, Cooper logged 225 hours, 15 minutes and 3 seconds. He served as the backup commander for Gemini GT-12, the last Gemini mission, and as the backup commander for Apollo 10.

Cooper attended the University of Hawaii where he received a commission in the U.S. Army ROTC. He transferred to the Air Force and was called to active duty for flight training on the main continent in 1949. He underwent pilot training at Perrin Air Force Base, Texas, and Williams AFB, Ariz. In 1950, after he received his wings, he was assigned to the 86th Fighter Bomber Group at Landstuhl, West Germany, where he flew F-84 and F-8 jets for four years. He later became flight commander of the 525th Fighter Bomber Squadron. While in Germany he attended the European extension of the University of Maryland night school for a year.

When he returned to the U.S. in 1954 he attended the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio, for two years. He graduated there with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering in August 1956, and was assigned to Edwards AFB, Calif., where he attended the Experimental Flight Test School until 1957. When he graduated from the school he was assigned to the Fighter Section of the Flight Test Engineering Division at Edwards as a project engineer and test pilot at the Air Force Flight Test Center. There he worked on the F-102A and the F-106B test programs. He corrected several deficiencies in the F-106, saving the Air Force a great deal of money.

Cooper was called to Washington, D.C. for a "secret" briefing. NASA engineers spent an entire morning giving the 110 invited military test pilots a technical rundown on Project Mercury and what the astronauts' part in it would be. The pilots were asked later in the day to give their reactions to what they had seen and heard, and to indicate whether or not they were interested. Cooper replied that he was definitely sold on the program and that he very much wanted to become

[dutchess]

Hey Lori....UPS man just dropped off your package. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! The icepacks were still cool. Time to start marinating :o)

Just finished washing the outside windows and...it started raining. Ah well!

[dixie sass]

Crater Lake, Oregon Vortex and Mount Hood, what neat places!

[Texagirl4W]

Things are great here in Texas. We had snow last Saturday in Dallas, and this week we're in the 60's. I didn't even wear a coat to work today. I checked out your home page earlier. Will have to look at it again tonight as I don't have a sound card at work. Beautiful pictures.

[Mama_Bear]

Gordon Cooper receives wings

Very interesting. What fascinating lives some people live. Did you see this link that WaterDragon posted to a story about an amazing woman who, no doubt, would be an astonaut today if she were still alive?

[dixie sass]

Gorgeous! Is the snow there all year round!!!!!

[Mama_Bear]

The icepacks were still cool.

Oh, I am so happy to hear that! Even though I was assured that the package could be at room temperature for many, many hours without harm, I was still stressing over it. LOL!

Glad it has arrived and I can quit worrying about it now.

[Mama_Bear]

Just finished washing the outside windows and...it started raining. Ah well!

Isn't that way it always goes? :-(

[dutchess]

Oops sorry Aeuronaut...the post was meant for Mama_bear. You're probably wondering what you sent me!!!

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

I've never heard of her. Very interesting link. Thanks!

[Aeronaut]

Nah, there was enough information in the message to clue me.

[dutchess]

Thanks for the link about Mary Bruce. What a fascinating story. I think I'm going to bookmark it and read it before every flight lesson...just for an extra boost of courage.

[Mama_Bear]

Is that unusual to get snow in Dallas? I never think of snow in Texas because of it being so far south. But then I realize, of course, it isn't the location, it's the elevation that causes cold temperatures and snow. LOL

So, spring is coming to Texas? We are seeing signs of it here too. The ornamental Almond and Cherry trees are starting to bloom....always a pretty time of year in the valley.

[SAMWolf]

Not as heavy in summer and Mt Hood has Skiing all year.

[blackie]

Good job Mama_Bear!

Thanks AB!

[dutchess]

Oh...BTW, now that I've decided that I can feel comfortable flying, Mr. D. decided to start flying again. He went up twice this week and was like a little kid at Christmas. My next lesson is Sunday.

[Donaeus]

They did go to Victoria. :) Mom was telling my sister and me that when we go with them we have to make sure not to miss tea but didn't mention the Empress Hotel. I think the next time they will be up there is around August.

[Aeronaut]

Oh...BTW, now that I've decided that I can feel comfortable flying, Mr. D. decided to start flying again. He went up twice this week and was like a little kid at Christmas. My next lesson is Sunday.

That's great!
You know, there's money in aviation..., I know, I have put it there.