| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Following the 1987 United States Supreme Court ruling in California v. Cabazon band of Mission Indians , which opened the door for Native American-owned casinos, the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Suislaw Indians sought to build one to improve their economic resources, and in 1998 purchased a 98-acre lot one mile to the east of Florence as the site of their casino. At first the U.S. Department of the Interior ruled that this land was not tribal property, which would prohibit the construction of the casino, but a subsequent court ruling overturned that decision. Then for a number of years, the state of Oregon fought the construction of casino. A local group, People Against a Casino Town (PACT), announced that they would file a lawsuit on September 15, 2003 to block the construction of the casino. PACT draws its support from the retirees who have settled in Florence over the last two decades.
Despite this opposition, the casino opened on June 19, 2004. Due to lack of local support, the casino has had to build its own sewer and water system, and provide its own police protection. While most Oregon cities that have worked with Native American groups in the planning and construction of their casinos (e.g. Lincoln City and North Bend) have shared in the revenues, no such agreement currently exists between the Confederated Tribes and Florence.
Many of the ideas in Frank Herbert's Dune series came to him during a trip to Florence to write a magazine article about a US Department of Agriculture project there.
Florence is also known as the site of the exploding whaleDynamite being used to explode a rotting beached whale There have been two real-life documented, notable incidents of exploding whales . The better known explosion occurred in Florence, Oregon in 1970 when a dead Gray Whale was blown up by the Oregon High, an incident when the Oregon State Highway Division tried to remove a beached whale by dynamite - with unintended results.
Florence is located at 43°59'3" North, 124°6'11" West (43.984298, -124.102962) 1The following is a list of sources used in the creation of Wikipedia articles on various geographic topics and locations, such as cities, counties, states, and countries. These sources are cited within the thousands of articles which link to this page..
According to the United States Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau (officially Bureau of the Census is a part of the United States Department of Commerce. Its mission is defined in the Constitution of the United States, which directs that the population be enumerated at least once every te, the city has a total area of 14.3 km˛ (5.5 mi˛This article is about the unit of measure. In England, the Square Mile is a traditional name for the City of London. A square mile (symbol sq. or mi is an imperial unit which is the area of a square whose side is one mile (or 5,280 feet). A square mile is). 12.7 km˛ (4.9 mi˛) of it is land and 1.5 km˛ (0.6 mi˛) of it is water. The total area is 10.71% water.