The Other Oregon: People, Environment, and History East of the Cascades

by Thomas R. Cox

The Other People, Environment, and History East of the Cascades is a multidisciplinary work that ranges widely through a diverse and often under-appreciated land, drawing on the fields of environmental history, cultural and physical geography, and natural resource management to tell a comprehensive and compelling story.

With a staggering variety of landscapes, from high desert to alpine peaks, Oregon east of the Cascades encompasses seventeen counties and two time zones. Although this vast region defies generalization, its history is distinct from the rest of Oregon. The interrelationship between its people and the land has always been central, but that relationship has evolved and changed over time. Regional economies that were once largely exploitive and dedicated to commodity exports have slowly moved toward the husbanding of resources and to broader and deeper appreciations.

Historian Thomas Cox reveals the complexity of interactions between the people of Eastern Oregon, the land, natural resources, and one another, demonstrating how the region’s history speaks to larger American issues. The 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, covered in detail within these pages, further reveals the relevance of Eastern Oregon to the larger world.

Written in clear and engaging prose and informed by extensive research, The Other Oregon will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in the environment, social change, and the relationships among the diverse people who make up Oregon society east of the Cascades. It will appeal to area residents and visitors, students of the American West, environmental historians, biologists, land managers, and anyone with an abiding interest in the region.

Genres: Nonfiction

432 pages, Paperback

Published November 30, 2019

Reviews

[Gilion Dumas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historian and author Thomas R. Cox has written widely about environmental, social, and economic history. In his new book, The Other Oregon: People, Environment, and History East of the Cascades (OSU Press), he returns to his roots in Eastern Oregon to explore a diverse and under-appreciated region of the Pacific Northwest.

Eastern Oregon covers 17 counties, with geography that includes high dessert, rolling farmland, and alpine peaks. The people of the region have never been a homogeneous whole. While the relationships between the people and the land have always been paramount, the relationships vary and have changed over time. Attitudes towards environmental issues and much else differ widely.

Cox explores the environmental history, geography, and natural resources or Eastern Oregon to write a history of this specific region. But the story he tells is broadly relevant to anyone interested in how values and attitudes are shaped by the land of their home place rather than built environments.

[Steven Ondrashek · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I'm going to spend some time in the Oregon desert," I told my sister from Minnesota. Silence. Then she looked at me like I grew a second head. "Oregon has a desert?" "More than half the state is a desert." Not what one thinks of Oregon, if you don't live near there. Most people think about the Oregon coast (amazing), or Mount Hood or mountains draped in greenery. This book is about that other Oregon, east of the Cascade Mountains, it's history and culture. Unfortunately, it read a bit like a textbook, with little stories from the history to illustrate a point. What I was surprised by was that some Eastern Oregon towns remained fairly isolated until the 1930s and 40s so each town has a distinct culture, identity and main industry. This is a good book if you want to delve deeper into the history of this place but do not expect a quick, easy read.

[Ry Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chock full of information on the settlement and development of the environment, society, and culture in eastern Oregon. As someone who lived in western Oregon and could detect the sharp divide between the state, I can say this is a must-read for anyone curious about understanding the state better. I cannot imagine the research needed to go into this work. I read slowly, chapter by chapter, due to how much information there was to absorb. However, the prose was written in a way that kept the density manageable. It felt as if though Cox was talking to me in person and that was refreshing.

[Greynomad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great look at the development of East Oregon

[Left_coast_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the mid 19th century when white settlers began arriving in large numbers in what would become the state of Oregon, most of them passed through the eastern part of the state en route to the Willamette Valley on the other side of the Cascade Range. Their first impression of the "other" Oregon was not good. Travel was difficult, with deep canyons to be crossed. Water and rainfall were scarce. Some Native Americans were (justifiably) not too keen on whites moving in and conducted raids to steal horses.

This part of the state is in the rain shadow of the Cascade Range and is therefore much drier than the stereotypical PNW climate. It's also more rural and conservative than the Western part. The economy has historically been based on natural resource extraction and it is through this lens that Cox attempts to construct a unified history of the region.

First it was beaver pelts in the early 1800s. Gold was discovered in the 1850s. Large scale cattle ranching began in the 1860s. Sheepherding and woolen commodities boomed not long after that. Wheat and timber developed into key economic sectors once the railroad network was built out in the late 1800s. Oregon has consistently been one of the top US states for wood products through the 20th century.

Cox covers all of this in extraordinary detail. He makes the argument that Eastern Oregon has a unique cultural identity due to the inhabitants' historical relationship to the land. He acknowledges the immense changes that this part of the country experienced and the conflicts that developed between different types of land use.

I have two criticisms. First is that sometimes the details shared by the author are not clearly tied together and feel superfluous. Second, there are times when the author struggles to hide his contempt for environmental organizations that fight against certain land uses like cattle ranching. He really has an axe to grind with the Oregon Natural Desert Association.

It still taught me a lot about this overlooked part of the state.

[Wayne Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sure, being a native Central Oregonian gave me an edge while reading this little tome, but there were some wonderful surprises hidden in its pages. Thomas R. Cox highlights beautifully all the townships and ranges that the Oregon cityfolk—including those in the "metropolis" of Bend—have forgotten or simply never known.

The boomtowns of Bend and Redmond; the rough and tumble beginnings of Klamath Falls; the beginnings of the cow town of Burns and the company town of Hines; the wheat fields of northern Oregon; the timberlands of the Blue Mountains. This book has it all.

This book is for anyone who loves their home state of Oregon as much as I do, and to enlighten the rest of the world to the quietude and sagebrush that was central to my formative years.