Washington and Oregon Compared (Portland, Eugene: live in, vs, shops)

[Nell Plotts]

How on earth did you conclude that California gets water from the Clackamas River? Perhaps you meant the Klamath River?

[xPlorer48]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

How on earth did you conclude that California gets water from the Clackamas River? Perhaps you meant the Klamath River?

Yes, this is correct. The Clackamus is near Portland. Klamath is in southern Oregon and flows into Northern California. There were (are) plans to redirect the Columbia but there is a treaty with Canada where it originates that may prohibit that.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by xPlorer48

Yes, this is correct. The Clackamus is near Portland. Klamath is in southern Oregon and flows into Northern California. There were (are) plans to redirect the Columbia but there is a treaty with Canada where it originates that may prohibit that.

They have dammed and diverted the Trinity River, which is tributary to the Klamath. There was quite a bit of irritation about the salmon kill from high water temps in the lower Klamath a few years back because California refused to release any water from the Trinity River. They send the whole river to the Central Valley for irrigation.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

How on earth did you conclude that California gets water from the Clackamas River? Perhaps you meant the Klamath River?

I was thinking perhaps it was all the Californians who moved into Happy Valley

[wolfdog]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

How on earth did you conclude that California gets water from the Clackamas River? Perhaps you meant the Klamath River?

It's the "one day a month" he tokes up.

[karlsch]

Back when World's Fairs were a big, prestigious thing, two of them were held in Washington. .

The first in 1962 in Seattle. Famous for, among other things, the futuristic Space Needle and the Monorail.

The second in 1974 in Spokane, a city similar in size to Eugene. Predicted to be a failure because of Spokane's small size, it turned out to be successful.

Meanwhile in Oregon.

With the publication in 1966 of Bill Bowerman's book “Jogging,” Eugene became famous as the birthplace of a new fitness craze which remains popular to this day. Before this book, people wanting to get in shape did “roadwork” by running around their neighborhood while wearing their old gym shorts and “tennies.” After the book, this activity, now called jogging, became much more complicated and expensive requiring special clothes, shoes and all sorts of equipment.

About this time Oregon, especially Eugene, became known as one of the hippie capitals of the United States. This was because of Springfield High School and University of Oregon graduate, Ken Kesey, one of Oregon's greatest authors. His book “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” was made into movie acclaimed to this day.

Kesey became involved in psychedelic drugs, formed the “Merry Pranksters" and took a cross-country trip in the bus “Further.” This was chronicled in Tom Wolfe's best selling 1968 book, “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test." Kesey moved back to Oregon to the family farm in Pleasant Hill and many hippies (and his friends, the "Grateful Dead") followed.

Around 1966 former Medford Senior High School student, Dick Fosbury, invented an (unlikely) new way to high jump – the Fosbury Flop. Coaches were skeptical of the new technique, but when Fosbury won the 1968 Olympic gold medal, the world of high jumping was changed forever.

And, of course, Washington has never had anybody who compares to Tonya Harding.

[Larry Caldwell]

The Spokane Worlds Fair was a hoot. It was the Environmental Fair. All the visitors overloaded the town's sewage treatment plant, so there was raw sewage floating through the fairgrounds in the Spokane River.

Don't forget The Gorge At George. It compares well with the Britt Festival, though it doesn't have the range of music that the Britt has.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by karlsch

Back when World's Fairs were a big, prestigious thing, two of them were held in Washington. .

The first in 1962 in Seattle. Famous for, among other things, the futuristic Space Needle and the Monorail.

The second in 1974 in Spokane, a city similar in size to Eugene. Predicted to be a failure because of Spokane's small size, it turned out to be successful.

Meanwhile in Oregon.

With the publication in 1966 of Bill Bowerman's book “Jogging,” Eugene became famous as the birthplace of a new fitness craze which remains popular to this day. Before this book, people wanting to get in shape did “roadwork” by running around their neighborhood while wearing their old gym shorts and “tennies.” After the book, this activity, now called jogging, became much more complicated and expensive requiring special clothes, shoes and all sorts of equipment.

About this time Oregon, especially Eugene, became known as one of the hippie capitals of the United States. This was because of Springfield High School and University of Oregon graduate, Ken Kesey, one of Oregon's greatest authors. His book “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” was made into movie acclaimed to this day.

Kesey became involved in psychedelic drugs, formed the “Merry Pranksters" and took a cross-country trip in the bus “Further.” This was chronicled in Tom Wolfe's best selling 1968 book, “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test." Kesey moved back to Oregon to the family farm in Pleasant Hill and many hippies (and his friends, the "Grateful Dead") followed.

Around 1966 former Medford Senior High School student, Dick Fosbury, invented an (unlikely) new way to high jump – the Fosbury Flop. Coaches were skeptical of the new technique, but when Fosbury won the 1968 Olympic gold medal, the world of high jumping was changed forever.

And, of course, Washington has never had anybody who compares to Tonya Harding.

Portland had a Worlds Fair also. The 1906 Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_...ial_Exposition

Washington also has a rich sports history. The recent book "The Boys in the Boat" is just phenomenal and talks about the UW varsity crew team that beat the Germans and the rest of the world at Hitler's 1936 Olumpics. Although it's obvious that Oregon has a longer and richer track and field history than WA.

Speaking of Kesey. His novel "Sometimes a Great Notion" which became a film with an all star cast of Paul Newman, Henry Fonda, Lee Remick and others is perhaps the best Hollywood portrayal of Oregon ever. At least in my opinion. The logging scenes are pretty true to life and it pretty well captures the era when the timber industry was king in coastal Oregon. It captures the Oregon I got a taste of growing up.

[dtuba]

In my opinion WA is better for arts and culture (and pro sports) due to the higher/ more diverse population.

But Oregon has the better natural scenery than WA (outside of the Puget Sound/Olympics/Cascades). Eastern OR is prettier than Eastern WA.

Otherwise the 2 states are quite similar.

[NW4me]

As others have pointed out, the wet-side / dry-side divide is more significant than the WA/OR state line.
But I'd still be curious to hear more opinions from Northwesterners on whether there's much cultural difference between being an Oregonian or a Washingtonian... perhaps there isn't really a big contrast?