Talk:Eastern Oregon

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[edit] References

I got the wrong reference style, but corrected it to be consistent with the style in Lake County (Oregon). MaxwellPerkins 20:45, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Picture

The "high desert" photograph is of Smith Rock and Gray Butte, which is in Central Oregon. Still, I think the photo should stay, because I think that in terms of climate at geography, Central Oregon is arguably a subregion of Eastern Oregon. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Karl Dickman (talk • contribs) 03:32, 20 October 2007 (UTC)


What's what is a matter of perspective. when I go to cheyenne Wyoming, I tell my friends I'm happy to be 'back east'. OH well. You have the same problem within the state. People who live west of Cascades tend to lump everything east of the cascades as "eastern Oregon" However, you can go to Bend, Redmond or Madras and never see a reference to the area as 'Eastern Oregon'

the signs, radio, talking to people--- consistently refer to the Deschutes River drainage as "Central Oregon"

the name of the newspaper in Prineville is the "Central Oregonian", and it has been there since 1882. You can look at their website at "http://www.centraloregonian.com/". It seems to me that people are entitled to name themselves, and if we agree that folks from the Deschutes River Basin are more likely to self describe themselves as being in 'Central Oregon' as opposed to "Eastern Oregon" then we should accept that.Rvannatta 03:55, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Proper Eastern Oregon photos should be of the Pendleton Roundup, or of Hart Mountain or similar things.

Eastern Oregon and Central Oregon are not mutually exclusive, residents can be both. Geographic terms like these overlap and have different meanings to different people. Growing up in Hillsboro I was from the westside (of Portland), I was from the Tualatin Valley, I was from the Willamette Valley, I was from Western Oregon, I was from Northwestern Oregon, and even more from the Western United States and the Pacific Northwest both. Some of these overlap, some are completly within another larger category. It's not like its a bad thing to be from the eastside.
And to self indentification, that only goes so far, as whichever way needs to be sourced, though I'm sure there are reliable sources for either side. Plus it needs to be more of the mainstream view (with the alternate mentioned as it currently is in the lead per WP:NPOV), as we are not here to introduce original research or push points of views, just regergitate what society as a whole thinks. If all of society says the world is round, it doesn't really matter if another small group says the Earth if flat. Aboutmovies 17:26, 23 October 2007 (UTC)
Regarding the recent change to the lead, this is not neutral POV. There are many different interpratations of what the geographic boundaries of Eastern Oregon are, here are a few maps USFS, see page 2, this has no eastern oregon, close to the current definition though adds parts of a county or two, similar to the last put purely county lines, very restrictive, in the middle, and about in the middle. So what I'm getting at, is we cannot determine what Eastern Oregon is/is not, that at this point would be taking sides/original researh. We need to try and present (without being too confusing) the general geographic boundaries and varitations. Aboutmovies 01:06, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] railroads

I rewrote the sentence on railroads which wrongly credited the Union Pacific with the first railroad in Eastern Oregon. the History is pretty complex. I am wondering though, if maybe the section should be renamed "Transportation in Eastern Oregon" It seems that 'Transportation' is sort of a pro-active alternative to 'Isolation' and would open the door to a discussion of all aspects of the transporation infrastructure in Eastern Oregon which is critical to understanding the region.Rvannatta 07:03, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Absolutely. I just intended the section names as a quick stab at the problem, subject to revision. "Transportation" would definitely be an improvement. Of course, the "in" part is a bit strange, since the current section has more with transportation "to and from." But, that's probably not worth worrying about. -Pete 08:08, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

My thought is to expand the transportation section to include the "in". I confined my rewrite to the to/from to conform to the heading, but still found it limiting. On the other hand isolation is still an issue with the very ability of some entire counties to continue to function still very much in doubt.Rvannatta 14:29, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Capitalization

Is there a reason that "Eastern Oregon," "Western Oregon," etc. are capitalized? I don't think they should be. -Pete 08:12, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Did you ever see my reponse in this discussion? FWIW, the legislative style manual (thus the Oregon Revised Statutes) say don't capitalize regions, while it appears The Oregonian does capitalize regions. My personal opinion is that they should be capitalized, but if consensus runs the other way I don't care that much. Katr67 18:08, 23 October 2007 (UTC)
I had missed that response, thanks! Since it seems there is no clear "correct" answer, I think the opinion of our resident gnome/copyeditor should win out! -Pete 01:52, 25 October 2007 (UTC)
Aww, gee. I kinda waffled about Oregon Coast actually. But at the risk of being regionalist chauvanist, I'd say these regions are important to us here in the region, and are understood by us as distinct regions, and thus should be capitalized. In contrast, I recently nixed "Mid-Valley" as being worthy of its own article. Capitalizing a microregion like that, if it's not a wine AVA or something, is a bit pretentious, I think. YMMV. Katr67 02:45, 25 October 2007 (UTC)
I would be inclined to agree with BOTH the legislative style manual, and the Oregonian. With the context of our laws, the capitalized places are more appropriate for places and things that legally exist. Within the context of the Oregonian, they are communities of interest and geography that are well understood, if ill defined on the edges. It seems to me that the fact that

there is an article about the place "Eastern Oregon" is more or less self authenticating as to it being a significant community. My inclination is to be fairly agressive about capitalizing names of specific places whether it be a road junction as in "Staley's Junction" or a larger place such as half the state.Rvannatta 15:03, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What's eastern Oregon

Just because they didn't pay their dues the visitor's bureau (my assumption) I don't think there is a basis for omitting the inclusion of Gilliam county, wheeler county and Lake county from 'Eastern Oregon'.

the more we work on the page the Less and less sense it makes. La Grande isn't listed as a major city but is in the table as one of the largest. Lakeview is in the table, but Lake county isn't mentioned anywhere.Rvannatta 02:32, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes, mentions of those places need to be made. It would be great if we could get a map similar to the one at Western United States to show the differing meanings. Aboutmovies 06:35, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

This part: Those in Western Oregon often use the term to refer to a much larger area, including the entire area east of the Cascade Range; this meaning would also include Crook, Deschutes, Gilliam, Grant, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Wasco, Wheeler counties is vague and unsourced. Who is 'those'? My wife grew up in Salem and her family would not refer to Bend as eastern Oregon. — Zaui (talk) 15:03, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

For one, I do, but that doesn't matter. I think it should not be "Wester Oregonians" but simply:
  • Other definitions of the region are sometimes more restrictive,[citation needed] others include the base eight counties listed above plus several adjacent counties,[citation needed] while some definitions include the entire area east of the Cascade Range; this meaning would also include Crook, Deschutes, Gilliam, Grant, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake, Wasco, Wheeler counties.[citation needed]
The cites can be from the maps I've listed above. Does that work better? Aboutmovies 15:42, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
I think so - just need the vagueness removed - the all-inclusive 'them' or 'they'. Nice find on the maps also. — Zaui (talk) 16:03, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
I quite agreed that 'central Oregon' is not 'eastern Oregon'. On the otherhand I am dumbfounded that anyone would seriously consider thte possiblity that Moro (sherman county), Condon (Gilliam County) Fossil (Wheeler) and Lakeview (Lake) are not eastern Oregon. I"ve changed my mind a couple of times about Wasco County. The population center--The Dalles is clearly a gorge community, and at one point we were talking about whether the population centers were in some region or another, and well The Dalles is on I-84 in the Gorge. Ifyou look at the history of Wasco county, it was the county seat for all of eastern Oreogon until the other counties were carved off, and I'm not sure it quit being eastern Oregon just because the other counties were carved off.

The other thing that drives me to this conclusion is that it is clearly part of the Columbia Plateau, and eastern Oregon feature, and I just have trouble thinking of such Plateau communities as Tygh Valley and Dufur and Maupin as not being part of Eastern Oregon. Ditto for Shaniko and Antelope. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rvannatta (talk • contribs) 03:54, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

My latest thinking is that "Central Oregon" is that that--- the center of Oregon ---Jefferson, Crook, and Deschutes counties

Wasco county is Eastern Oregon, however The Dalles is a Gorge community. Klamath County is part of the Southern Oregon region.Rvannatta 04:02, 29 October 2007 (UTC)