The old Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, established in 1871, is the earliest aid to navigation standing within the range of the first recorded landfall made from a ship to the shores of the Pacific Northwest. Captain James Cook made this landfall on March 7, 1778. At noon he named Cape Foulweather. On account of the heavy weather, he was compelled to stand out at sea at night and only approach the land in the afternoon so that he was unable to find any harbor along the Oregon Coast.
Captain Robert Gray, U.S. Naval Officer, in command of the sloop Lady Washington, together with the crew of about a dozen officers and men, left Boston October 1, 1787. After a journey filled with many hardships, Captain Gray arrived in Tillamook Bay during august 1788. He stayed within the bay about one week and explored the adjacent area. He was the first known American in recorded history to set foot on Oregon shoreline, and the first to carry the United States flag around the world.
Trees on 240,000 acres were killed in 1933 in one of the Nation's worst forest fires which started four miles northeast of this point. Later fires extended the burn to 355,000 acres-to more than 13 billion board feet of timber. This area is now being reforested with Douglas Fir, spruce, cedar and hemlock. With effective protection a new forest will in a few decades be ready to harvest on "The Tillamook Burn."
Lt. Neil M. Howison, U.S.N., arrived in the Columbia River 1 July, 1846 on board the 300-ton United States Naval Survey Schooner "Shark" for the purpose of making an investigation of part of the Oregon Country. His report was instrumental in creating public interest in the Oregon Territory and formulating a decision on the location of the boundary between English and American lands.
On January 8, 1806 William Clark and perhaps fourteen of the famous expedition reached a Tillamook village of five cabins on a creek which Captain Clark named Ecola or Whale Creek. Three days earlier, two men sent out from Fort Clatsop to locate a salt making site had brought back whale blubber given them by Beach Indians. Appreciating the welcome addition to the explorers' diet, Clark set out to find the whale or buy its blubber.
Fort Clatsop, Built by Lewis and Clark in December, 1805 for use as winter headquarters, was situated eight-tenths of a mile south of his point. The site was chosen because of the game in the surrounding country and because it was convenient to the coast where salt could be made for the journey of the exploration party back to the Missour. Elk were found in abundance and salt was made at what is now Seaside. The local Indians were friendly but it was disappointing that no trading vessels entered the river during the stay.
Fort Stevens was named for General Isaac Ingalls Stevens, first Governor of Washington Territory, who died a hero of the Civil War of 1862. The fort was built in 1846 and decommissioned in 1947. Some 3000 acres of sandy wasteland known as Clatsop Sand Plains were stabilized here in the 1930’s by the planting of beach grass, shrubs and trees. This park area was donated to the public by Clatsop County in 1955. The Columbia River to the north was discovered by the American fur trader, Captain Robert Gray in 1792 and was named after his ship.
This highway is reverently dedicated to Oregon's sons. Members of the 41st division, both living and dead, who wore the Sunset emblem and offered their all in complete devotion to the cause of world peace.
Devastating waves called “tsunamis” can strike the Oregon coast at any time. These waves are caused by great undersea earthquakes that occur along the Cascadia Subduction Zone, one of the largest active faults in North America.
Tranquility is a word many visitors use as soon as the y enter the 160 acres of Horning’s Hideout. That’s how Jane and her son, Bob Horning like it. The two, along with Jane’s late husband, Dick, developed the tranquil setting over the past 52 years.
