Douglas County County
Douglas County was named for U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, Abraham Lincoln’s opponent in the presidential election of 1860 and an ardent congressional advocate for Oregon. Douglas County was created in 1852 from the portion of Umpqua County which lay east of the Coast Range summit. In 1862, Douglas County absorbed what remained of Umpqua County.
Mapped Location
Douglas County: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.
Information
General information on Douglas County
- Feature Type: County
- County Seat: City of Roseburg
- Established: Wednesday, January 7, 1852
Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Douglas County
A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Douglas County | Official |
A Selected Bibliography of Douglas County, County
A compilation of essential readings detailing the history, geography, and culture of the region.
Umpqua the lost county of Oregon by Jerry Winterbotham
Authored by local historian Jerry Winterbotham, Umpqua: The Lost County of Oregon chronicles the short-lived history of a vast territorial district established in 1851 that eventually vanished from the map through political reorganization and county consolidation. The book details the struggles of early homesteaders, miners, and river merchants who attempted to build permanent communities along the rugged Umpqua River basin before the shifting political tides of the Oregon Territory absorbed their jurisdiction. Through legislative records and pioneer accounts, the text resurrects the forgotten administrative history of a frontier region swallowed by bureaucratic evolution. A keen insight drawn from the work is how county boundaries in the American West were ephemeral political constructs that often bore little relation to actual human geography; by tracing how a once-proud political entity was erased by administrative decree, the book reveals how early state-building frequently treated historic communities as mere ink on a map to be redrawn at the whim of distant territorial lawmakers.
iv, 156 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm
Non-circulating [ 1 ]
Land of the Umpqua a history of Douglas County, Oregon by Stephen Dow Beckham
Land of the Umpqua: A History of Douglas County, Oregon by esteemed Pacific Northwest historian Stephen Dow Beckham is a comprehensive 1986 regional history that chronicles the rich heritage of the Umpqua River basin. The book meticulously explores the area's geological origins, its early Indigenous populations, and the transformative eras of pioneer settlement, detailing the subsequent rise of the local timber, mining, and agricultural industries that shaped the county's economic development. Ultimately, it serves as a definitive and highly readable scholarly resource for understanding the environmental and human forces that forged the vibrant cultural landscape of southwestern Oregon.
285 pages : illustrations ; 29 cm
Non-circulating [ 1 ]
Umpqua Valley, Oregon, and its pioneers by Harold Avery Minter
Harold Avery Minter’s Umpqua Valley, Oregon, and its Pioneers chronicles the nineteenth-century settlement of this distinct and rugged river basin nestled in southwestern Oregon. The narrative maps the challenging overland routes into a geographically isolated region bounded by the towering Cascade Range to the east and the densely forested Coast Range to the west. Minter details how early homesteaders adapted to this enclosed topography, establishing foundational communities like Roseburg and Oakland along the vital arterial waters of the North and South Umpqua rivers. By documenting the transformation of these wild inland waterways and valleys into a thriving agricultural enclave, the book vividly captures the frontier geography of southern Oregon.
290 pages illustrations, map (on lining papers), portraits 23 cm
Non-circulating [ 1 ]
History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties by Albert G. Walling
Albert G. Walling’s History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties provides a sweeping encyclopedic record of the expansive pioneer settlement and resource extraction across the rugged Rogue and Umpqua river valleys. Moving beyond a standard chronological timeline, the text details how the region's earliest frontier infrastructure—including the grueling Siskiyou Mountain wagon roads, coastal shipping ports, and remote gold mining camps—was mapped directly onto the ancient, complex overland trails and riverine corridors long established and managed by the Takelma, Umpqua, Coos, and Tututni peoples. Walling chronicles the immense physical labor required by nineteenth-century miners, loggers, and homesteaders to exploit the dense coastal timberlands and fertile inland basins, highlighting how these isolated settlers relied on deep community bonds and interdependent alliances to survive profound geographic isolation and the volatile boom-and-bust cycles of the gold rush. Ultimately, this foundational regional history captures the rapid superimposition of Euro-American industry onto established indigenous geography, demonstrating how cooperative pioneer endurance successfully engineered the civic and economic foundations of modern southern Oregon.
545, [1] pages, [126] leaves of plates : illustrations, folded maps, portraits ; 30 cm
ONLINE Circulation [ 1 ]
Douglas County
- Anchor (historical)
- Anlauf
- Ash
- Azalea
- Booth (historical)
- Brockway
- Buck Fork (historical)
- Calkins
- Callahan
- Calvert (historical)
- Camas Valley
- City of Canyonville
- Civil Bend (historical)
- Clearwater
- Cleveland
- Coles Valley
- Comstock
- Cow Creek
- Curtin
- Dads Creek
- Days Creek
- Diamond Lake
- Dillard
- Dixonville
- City of Drain
- Drew
- East Gardiner
- Edenbower
- Elgarose
- Elkhead
- City of Elkton
- Fair Oaks
- Fernvale
- Fortune Branch
- Galesville
- Gardiner
- Gazley
- City of Glendale
- Glide
- Green
- Green Acres
- Gunter
- Hawthorne
- Hoaglin (historical)
- Idleyld Park
- Kellogg
- Lavadoure (historical)
- Leona
- Lookingglass
- Melrose
- Millwood
- Milo
- City of Myrtle Creek
- North Fork
- North Umpqua Village
- Nugget (historical)
- Oak Creek (historical)
- City of Oakland
- Oaks
- Olalla
- Old Town
- Peck
- Peel
- Perdue (historical)
- Porter Creek
- Quines Creek
- City of Reedsport
- Reston
- Rice Hill
- City of Riddle
- Riversdale
- Rockland (historical)
- City of Roseburg
- Round Prairie
- Scottsburg
- Steamboat
- Stephens
- Sunnydale
- Surprise Valley
- City of Sutherlin
- Tenmile
- Tiller
- Toketee Falls
- Tri City
- Tri-City
- Tyee
- Umpqua
- Umpqua City (historical)
- Union Gap
- Weaver
- Wilbur
- Willard (historical)
- Winchester
- Winchester Bay
- City of Winston
- City of Yoncalla
Political Boundaries
Last updated: 2013-01-08