Douglas County is a county located in Oregon. It is large in area, and at around 5100 square miles, it is about 90% the size of Connecticut. Along with Lane County, is is one of two counties in Oregon that stretches from the Cascade Mountains, through the I-5 Corridor, to the Oregon Coast. It has a population of around 110,000 people, mostly centered around the county seat, Roseburg, and its suburbs, but also including Reedsport on the Oregon Coast. Although the county is located just south of the Willamette Valley, it has a noticeably different climate, with hotter, drier weather.

Like much of Oregon, European settlement of the area was founded around resource extraction, in this case, timber, along with fishing and farming. Like much of rural Oregon, this economic basis has shifted in recent decades, with some occasional contention. However, resource industries are still important. I-5 is also important to the economy, as travellers north and south stop in the cities along the freeway.

Douglas County is one of a few counties in Oregon that are hard to characterize. With over 100,000 people, it is not a small county, but it is not a large one either. It is outside of the state's major metro areas, but since it is located on I-5, it is also not far from areas such as Eugene to the north and Medford to the south. Its population density of around 20 people a square mile is about one-tenth that of the counties of the Willamette Valley, but also is ten more than the sparsely populated counties of Eastern Oregon.

Unfortunately, I personally have little knowledge of Douglas County, since most of my experience of it has been travelling through from south to north. It is one of many areas of Oregon that I hope to explore more in the future.

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