Oregon is no stranger to National Parks. Since 1902, the state has been home to Crater Lake National Park, and over the last century four other spots have won lesser designations from the National Park Service.

But in the mid-20th century, Oregon's scenic beauty was prized by the park service, which proposed several sprawling national parks around the state. An April 28, 1940 Oregonian article summed it up simply, if not dramatically:

"So far as the national park controversy is concerned, Oregon, like ancient Gaul, is divided into three parts."

Three stunning spots in scenic Oregon were front-runners to land the national park status, a designation that was so divisive at the time that the Oregonian ran a three-week series in 1940 on the the northwest "park problem."

So it comes as little surprise, perhaps, that the three proposed parks in Oregon never came to be. That left the state then as it is today - with one major national park at Crater Lake but scenic beauty abundant under other designations.

Here's a look at what could have been, for better or for worse, three major national parks in Oregon.

Hells Canyon in northeastern Oregon.

Hells Canyon

The deepest river gorge in North America, located on the northeast border of Oregon and Idaho, was like a natural choice for a national park - of course, that sentiment wasn't universal. Already managed by the U.S. Forest Service, locals weren't thrilled about the notion of switching the land over to a park.

"The proposal to make Hells canyon a national park runs head on, like a locomotive collision, into the economics of Wallowa County," the Oregonian reported in 1940. "Each year the forest service puts into the Wallowa county treasury an average of $10,636 as its share from grazing and timber fees ... A national park pays neither taxes nor these fees."

The proposed park at Hells Canyon was a perfect mirror for the dilemma that has always surrounded - and continues to surround - the establishment of public lands: Is setting aside the land for scenic enjoyment worth locking up its commercial value?

That question lingered for decades, but was finally answered at Hells Canyon in November, 1975, when the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation establishing the Hells Canyon National Scenic Area - a designation that came with new conservation status and continued management by the Forest Service.

Mount Hood, seen from Lost Lake.

Mount Hood

In 1940, Mount Hood was considered likely for national park status, but that possibility relied on a major governmental shift: At the time, President Franklin D. Roosevelt hinted that the U.S. Forest Service might move to the Department of the Interior, where the National Park Service resided - a proposal that has come up again since.

"Mount Hood, now a national forest, would unquestionably be established as a national park," the Oregonian reported at the time. "[Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes] has said that certain scenic areas in the Pacific Northwest lend themselves to national park status and that Mount Hood is one of these."

As the article points out, a Mount Hood National Park wouldn't be so far fetched. At the time, several great parks contained Pacific Northwest peaks, including Mount Rainier and the new Olympic National Park.

But the notion didn't last - the Forest and Park Services didn't merge, and by 1941, the new director of the National Park Service, Newton B. Drury, said there were no plans to make Mount Hood a national park, leaving it as it remains today: a sprawling national forest.

The southern Oregon coast, at Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor.

Oregon Coast

When Olympic National Park claimed a chunk of the Washington coastline, it stirred the imagination of the park's neighbors to the south: What about a national park on the Oregon coast?

"A park on the Oregon coast would be unique among all the national parks of the region," the Oregonian reported, encompassing 30,000 acres of land in southwest Curry County, stretching 21 miles along the coast from Gold Beach south to Brookings.

But while national park designations brought up controversy across the country, chances looked good for the Oregon Coast, the Oregonian reported in a July 14, 1940 feature. Oregon Sen. Charles L. McNary had already introduced a bill with the proposal, approved by both Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes and officials with the National Park Service. Even locals were on board.

The lone sticking point seemed to be the apparently uncontentious issue of buying out a few plots of private land along the coastline, an effort that would cost an estimated $500,000.

"For a half million dollars, [Oregon State Parks superintendent Samuel H. Boardman] believes the national government can acquire a playground of matchless grandeur," the Oregonian reported.

So what happened? It's not clear. The matter didn't resurface in the Oregonian until 1960, when a poll found majority support for a national park among residents on the coast, and 1986, when Curry County commissioners resurrected the idea as a way to help the local economy, recently ravaged by mill closures and cycles of harsh weather.

In the end, the Oregon Coast National Park plan just fizzled out. So much is involved in designating a national park - from local support to approval from Congress - that all it takes is one stuck gear to stop a plan in its tracks. Much of the proposed Oregon Coast park did become a reality, but under a different designation completely: the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor.

--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB