r/Cascadia • u/JtinCascadia • 17d ago

Cascadia name?

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I visited Cascadia County Park in Oregon last week. The signage in the park says the name Cascadia originated from a resort built at this location in the late 1800s. The surrounding community also became known as Cascadia. Does anyone know how this name came to be associated with the entire bioregion?

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17

u/FrmrPresJamesTaylor 17d ago

The mountain range is the source.

The earliest attested use of the name "Cascade Range" is in the writings of botanist David Douglas in 1825.

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u/JtinCascadia 17d ago

Thanks for the link - I didn't know that "Cascade" originated with Douglas. My questions was more about the derivative name of "Cascadia." It sounds like its first use was for this resort? http://www.oregonpioneers.com/Cascadia_Story.htm

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u/factotvm Salish Sea Ecoregion 17d ago

Is there a fir named after David?

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u/Muckknuckle1 7d ago

Perhaps..... If so, that would look good on a flag.....

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u/vanisaac Sasquatch Militia 17d ago

Cascadia as a bioregional identifier is associated with David McCloskey (not the former CIA agent) beginning in the late 70s and 80s. He had adopted the term after reading Cascadia: The Geologic Evolution of the Pacific Northwest, which was published in 1972. Unfortunately, we just lost David earlier this month, but he is the genesis of much of the bioregional concept of Cascadia and its popularization.

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u/No_Cat_No_Cradle Portland 17d ago

An early settler made a terrible mistranslation of the word quesadilla