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More Facts about Lane County, Oregon

Lane County's 4,620 square miles are more than double the geographical extent of the State of Delaware. Its great natural beauty ranges from the spectacular Oregon coast to the glowing snow-capped peaks of the Three Sisters. In between is the lush Willamette Valley, which is flanked on both sides by towering forests of Douglas Fir trees. The bustling Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area provides an urban center for Lane County and is the largest between Portland and Sacramento.

The Oregon Trail - 2,000 miles long - led settlers toward the Willamette Valley where there was rich soil and a mild climate. The first wagon train to follow this trail, comprising about 70 people, set out in 1841. By 1845 "Oregon fever" had raised the number of emigrants to 3,000. As early as the 1870s, one of the most popular vacation spots in the County was the HOT SPRINGS to be found up the McKenzie River and up the Middle Fork of the Willamette. Visitors from other counties and states came to these resorts to enjoy the healthful baths with their alleged curative powers as well as the natural splendor of Lane County.

Buster Keaton came to Lane County in the 1920s to make The General, a spectacular silent film. John Belushi learned to sing the "blues" from local singer Curtis Salgado while filming Animal House in Eugene. Susan Saint James bought a Lane County hideaway after completing the movie How to Beat the High Cost of Living. Sportswriter Kenny Moore returned to his alma mater, the University of Oregon, to film Personal Best; and Rob Reiner filmed Stand By Me just outside of Eugene. Moviemaking is a small but growing part of Lane County's economy. Eugene bills itself as the running capital of the country, with some justice considering the outstanding track and field program at the University of Oregon. Many international running stars including Mary Decker Slaney, Alberto Salazar, and Joaquim Cruz have trained there with coach Dick Brown. The 6.3 kilometer Pre's Trail, circling through Alton Baker Park in Eugene, is named in memory of Steve Prefontaine, star of the 1972 Olympic trials. Prefontaine held American records at one time or another in almost every long-distance event. His coach at the University of Oregon and for the 1972 Olympic team, Bill Bowerman, was instrumental in creating Nike, Inc., as well as instigating the popularity of jogging throughout the United States.

The National Academy of Artistic Gymnastics was founded in Eugene in 1973 by Dick Mulvihill and his wife Linda Metheny, a gymnast on the U.S. Olympic team in 1964, 1968, and 1972. Numerous Olympians, including Julianne McNamara, Tracee Talavera, and Mexico's Tony Pineda, have trained at the academy. In Eugene and Springfield alone there are 50 developed parks managed by three agencies: Eugene Parks and Recreation Dept., Springfield's Willamalane Parks and Recreation District, and north Eugene's River Road Park District. In addition, there are County and State Parks (i.e., Greenwaters Park in Oakridge). Many nationally known companies began and are based in Lane County.

Nike, a sports marketing empire, got its start when Bill Bowerman, University of Oregon coach and presently Senior Vice-President of Nike, decided to make a pair of running shoes. Bowerman didn't have a shoe that he felt was suitable for competition until the late 1950s. Meanwhile, Phillip Knight, who had worn Bowerman's first prototype, had graduated from the University of Oregon and gone on to Stanford University to graduate in Business; his thesis was on the marketing of shoes. Knight and Bowerman re-connected and went into the shoe business and the rest is history. Dow Corning Corporation had its modest beginnings in Springfield as the National Metallurgical Corporation in January, 1954, and is now the world's largest producer of silicon-bearing materials, manufacturing more than 2,000 products. Stretch & Sew Inc., the business that mushroomed into a multi-million-dollar enterprise known nationwide, began in 1966 with a Eugene housewife (Ann Person) teaching teenage girls how to make cotton knit T-shirts. Spectra-Physics Laser Systems Division, pioneered the development of laser scanners for supermarket point-of-sale applications in the early 1970s. International King's Table, a chain of quality buffet restaurants found throughout the western United States, started in Eugene. Dutch Girl Ice Cream was started in 1938 when the six Gustafson brothers put up fifty dollars each to start an ice cream shop in Cottage Grove, Oregon - it is now a multi-million dollar enterprise which distributes ice-cream in Washington, Northern California, and Alaska.