Has it been 150 years already?
    On this date in 1859, Oregon became the 33rd state of the union.
    The state may be 150 years old, but its borders go back 190 years, established by a treaty between Spain and the United States in 1819.

“She Flies With Her Own Wings” was adopted by the 1987 Legislature as the Oregon state motto.

Foremost among wings are those of Sturnella neglecta — the Western Meadowlark — chosen the Oregon state bird in 1927 by Oregon’s school children in a poll sponsored by the Oregon Audubon Society.

Without letting too many dry dates and treaties weigh down those wings, here are some more selected facts about Oregon, drawn from the online Oregon Blue Book (www.oregonbluebook.gov):

n The aeronautical motto originated with Judge Jessie Quinn Thornton and was pictured on the territorial seal in Latin: Alis Volat Propriis. The new motto replaces “The Union,” which was adopted in 1957.

n The 1957 Legislature bestowed upon Dr. John McLoughlin the honorary title of “Father of Oregon” in recognition of his great contributions to the early development of the Oregon Country. Originally Dr. McLoughlin came to the Northwest region in 1824 as a representative of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

n There is a “Mother of Oregon,” too. Tabitha Moffatt Brown was so designated by the Oregon Legislature in 1987. Brown “represents the distinctive pioneer heritage and the charitable and compassionate nature of Oregon’s people,” according to the decree. At 66 years of age, she financed her own wagon for the trip from Missouri to Oregon. The boarding school for orphans that she established later became known as Tualatin Academy and eventually was chartered as Pacific University.

n Hood River (533 square miles) ranks as the second smallest county in area, just behind Multnomah (465 square miles). The county with the largest area is Harney (10,228).

n The pear (Pyrus communis) was designated the Oregon state fruit in 2005. The chief crop of Hood River County, the pear ranks as the top-selling tree fruit crop in the state; and, as the Blue Book somewhat incompletely puts it, “it grows particularly well in the Rogue River Valley and along the Columbia River near Mount Hood.”

In any event, the pear is the ninth largest cash crop in the state, worth $87.8 million in 2007. Nursery and greenhouse products ranked first, at $1.03 billion.

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n The Blue Book is declarative about another point that is subject to interpretation: the origin of the name Oregon.

“The first written record of the name ‘Oregon’ comes to us from a 1765 proposal for a journey written by Major Robert Rogers, an English army officer. It reads, ‘The rout . . . is from the Great Lakes towards the Head of the Mississippi, and from thence to the River called by the Indians Ouragon …’

n The Blue Book states that “While no definitive pronunciation of ‘Oregon’ is given in Oregon Geographic Names, the most common pronunciation by longtime Oregonians is ‘OR-ee-gun.’”

Somehow, that pronunciation just looks wrong on paper.

After all, at this golden moment in the state’s history, Oregon remains a place you just have to see for yourself.