Tagged: Willamette River

The Coin Flip That Shaped Northwest History

In the mid-19th century, the area that is now Portland, Oregon, wasn’t much more than an endless stand of ancient evergreens rising around the banks of the Willamette River. One day in 1843 or 1844, while traveling from Fort Vancouver to Oregon City by canoe, a pioneer from Tennessee and a lawyer from Boston stopped… Read more »