Lane County, Oregon

Population in Lane County

For the perhaps the last 10,000 years Indians lived in what is now Lane County. Quantitative data are lacking, but we do know that there were several tribes speaking diverse languages-Siuslaws on the coast, Kalapuyas in the Willamette valley, and Mollalas in the Cascade Mountains.

All were hunter-gatherers whose major impact on the landscape due to annual burning was the creation of prairies in the valley. Whatever population existed when the explorers arrived was reduced by 75 to 90 percent by epidemics of European diseases in the 1830s.

The first-recorded settlers in Lane County were Elijah Bristow, Eugene F. Skinner, Felix Scott, and William Dodson. They came across the plains in 1845 and settled in 1846 or 1847. By 1848, the estimated population had grown to 150 settlers-again, no data for Indians exist. Early settlers built cabins along the edge of the forest or at the base of hills in the valley in between the trees and the mud. They stopped the Indians from burning the prairie every summer.

Lane County was established on January 28, 1851, from Benton and Linn County land. The original boundaries went from the Pacific Ocean to the west, California to the south, and the Cascade Mountains to the east. Some 40 people lived in Eugene City in 1852 when the Lane County commissioners first met. The present county boundaries were established by 1856.

The 1860 census listed 4,779 inhabitants for Lane County. Census data are sketchy for Lane County and its incorporated cities before 1900. Eugene City was incorporated in 1862 and its population was given as 861 in 1870 and 1,117 in 1880. The census gives Springfield populations of 160 in 1880 and 371 in 1890; incorporation occurred in 1885. Other cities incorporated before 1900 are Junction City, Cottage Grove and Coburg, however no census figures are given for them.

The graphs on this page show the growth of incorporated places in Lane County since 1900. The county population rose from about 20,000 in 1990 to 284,080 in 1990. The graphed figures reflect the people counted within the city boundaries, under-representing the major urban areas by a large factor. Many residents in Lane County choose to locate in unincorporated areas near cities. Data for incorporated places are graphed only because data for urbanized areas are not available.

        Text after: James E. Meacham et. al. (Atlas of Lane County, Oregon, 1990: 20)

Copyright © Department of Geography, University of Oregon 1999