more fully developed and more densely populated valley and coast section.
Although the dominating mass and altitude of the Cascade Range are responsible for major differences in climate, topography, and much else within the state, geographers subdivide Oregon into eight natural regions, or physiographic provinces, differing in soil, climate, plant life, and other characteristics. From west to east, these are the Coast, Southern Oregon, Willamette, Cascade, Deschutes-Columbia, Blue-Wallowa, Southeastern Lake, and Snake River regions.
The Coast Region, extending from the backbone of the Coast Range to the Pacific Ocean, is a long strip of less than 25 miles in average width. The Coast Range is low and rolling, with a mean elevation of less than 2,000 feet and occasional peaks up to 4,000 feet. Its western foothills leave but a narrow margin of coast plain, varying from a few miles wide to a complete break where precipitous promontories jut out into the ocean. Many streams rise in this range and flow westward into bays and estuaries or directly into the Pacific. Two southern rivers, the Umpqua and the Rogue, penetrate the Coast Range from the western slope of the Cascades. Seven of the streams are navigable for river craft from ten to thirty miles, and were once picturesquely active with steamboat commerce. A little stern-wheeler used to go up the deep but narrowing Coos until passengers on the deck could almost reach out and touch the damp and mossy walls on either side. A pioneer doctor at Florence, on the Siuslaw, owned a motor boat but no horse and buggy. Seven jetties have been built along the coast, but there are few good harbors. The old Spanish mariners passed them by, and Drake claimed that he anchored in a "bad bay." Rainfall averages about seventy-two inches annually, the climate is made mild by the closeness of the Pacific, and luxuriant vegetation, green the year around, affords a natural grassland for dairy farming along the lower valleys. Dairying, fishing, and lumbering are the principal industries. There are few railroads, but the region has a good network of highways, including the scenic Oregon Coast Highway, which roughly parallels the coast line for its entire distance. Astoria, Tillamook, Marshfield, and North Bend are the towns of major importance in this region.
The Southern Oregon Region, extending from the Calapooya Mountains southward to the state line between the Cascades and the Coast Range, is of rough topography, with heavily timbered mountainsides, dissected plateaus, and interior valleys of fine fruit, nut, and vegetable land. Portions of the Rogue River Valley are famous for pears and
