Alternate Development of Oregon

Delta Force

Banned
Oregon was heavily dependent on agriculture and lumber prior to the 1930s when it rapidly became a heavily industrialized state due to the development of the hydropower resources of the Pacific Northwest. At one point it was one of the largest producers of aluminum and other raw metals in the world. Energy intensive heavy industry began declining when hydropower was tapped out in the 1980s and lumber soon followed due to the spotted owl in the 1990s. Now Oregon is most famous for being the headquarters of Nike, but it's still a major producer of manufactured goods due to the presence of Intel.

Other than Nike and Intel, Oregon doesn't have much prominence. California and Washington have both played a major role in commercial and military aviation (Nevada too as a major test center and aviation hub), but Oregon played only a minor role during World War II and then briefly afterwards as an air defense and trans-Pacific flight hub. Other than building the first 1,000 MW+ "super reactor," Trojan, Oregon didn't play much of a role in the development of nuclear technology either, in contrast to almost every other Western state. However, Oregon is one of the largest states in the country and sparsely populated in areas, especially in the East. The central part of the state was even used for massive military maneuvers before American forces were first sent overseas in World War II.

With a PoD of 1900, could Oregon have gone on to achieve greater prominence, at least within the United States?
 
Oregon was heavily dependent on agriculture and lumber prior to the 1930s when it rapidly became a heavily industrialized state due to the development of the hydropower resources of the Pacific Northwest. At one point it was one of the largest producers of aluminum and other raw metals in the world. Energy intensive heavy industry began declining when hydropower was tapped out in the 1980s and lumber soon followed due to the spotted owl in the 1990s. Now Oregon is most famous for being the headquarters of Nike, but it's still a major producer of manufactured goods due to the presence of Intel.

Other than Nike and Intel, Oregon doesn't have much prominence. California and Washington have both played a major role in commercial and military aviation (Nevada too as a major test center and aviation hub), but Oregon played only a minor role during World War II and then briefly afterwards as an air defense and trans-Pacific flight hub. Other than building the first 1,000 MW+ "super reactor," Trojan, Oregon didn't play much of a role in the development of nuclear technology either, in contrast to almost every other Western state. However, Oregon is one of the largest states in the country and sparsely populated in areas, especially in the East. The central part of the state was even used for massive military maneuvers before American forces were first sent overseas in World War II.

With a PoD of 1900, could Oregon have gone on to achieve greater prominence, at least within the United States?
Hmmm.... Have the HP calculator division in Corvallis take more and more of the computer market? OTL, that division did produce desktops, it's probably not impossible for their desktop systems to be based there instead of ?? wherever it was. If IBM PCs never really take off with DOS and then WIndows, HP-UX systems might, in theory, take over a bigger chunk of the market.

Getting that to happen would be tough. HP originally sold to businesses, and relied on high quality and high prices to gain/keep market share. That's harder to do with PCs (in a general sense).
 

Delta Force

Banned
Hmmm.... Have the HP calculator division in Corvallis take more and more of the computer market? OTL, that division did produce desktops, it's probably not impossible for their desktop systems to be based there instead of ?? wherever it was. If IBM PCs never really take off with DOS and then WIndows, HP-UX systems might, in theory, take over a bigger chunk of the market.

Getting that to happen would be tough. HP originally sold to businesses, and relied on high quality and high prices to gain/keep market share. That's harder to do with PCs (in a general sense).

It looks like Tektronix was larger than Intel until the 1980s. It was the first company to develop the oscilloscope, and it also produced other test equipment. Oscilloscopes are used in the medical industry, among other fields, and Tektronix heart monitors were common in the 1970s. Maybe it could have expanded more into the medical market?
 
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