1936 3c Oregon Territory Centennial, Purple

U.S. #783
1936 3¢ Oregon Territory Centennial
Issue Date: July 14, 1936
First City: Astoria, OR
Quantity Issued: 74,407,450

oregon territory established

U.S. Scott #783 is a 3-cent purple commemorative stamp issued on July 14, 1936, in Astoria, Oregon, marking the centennial of the establishment of the Oregon Territory. Printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, with a quantity of 74,407,450 issued, the stamp was also placed on sale simultaneously in four other historically significant cities within the former territory. The horizontal design features a central map of the old Oregon Territory — encompassing the present states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and portions of Montana and Wyoming — with the Oregon Trail traced across it. Flanking the map on the left is a scene of a mounted Native American on a rocky promontory with wigwams behind him, and on the right a covered wagon train making its way westward. The inscription "1836 Oregon Territory 1936" runs across the top of the design in white lettering against a dark panel.

The Oregon Territory had deep roots in American exploration and westward ambition. American ships reached the Oregon coast as early as 1788, and in 1792 Captain Robert Gray became the first American to explore and name the Columbia River, after his ship. The Lewis and Clark Expedition reached the mouth of the Columbia overland in 1805, strengthening U.S. claims to the region. Fur trading, missionary activity, and the famous Oregon Trail — which brought tens of thousands of settlers westward beginning in the early 1840s — transformed the region from a remote frontier into a populated territory. The Oregon Territory was formally established on August 14, 1848, though the stamp's centennial commemorates 1836, the year missionary Marcus Whitman established one of the first American settlements in the region and helped open the trail that would carry pioneer families into the Pacific Northwest.

Scott #783 is a handsome example of the engraved horizontal commemoratives of the mid-1930s, a format that gave the Bureau of Engraving and Printing room to tell a visual story across a wider canvas than the typical portrait stamp. The design captures three distinct elements of Oregon Territory history in a single frame — Native American heritage, the pioneer wagon trains, and the geographic boundaries of the vast region that would eventually become five U.S. states.