Just prior to selling His Cannon Beach Lumber Company to Lumbermen's, Ken Clark staged this photo shoot. Ten steps to your immediate left was the entry door you see in the background. Ken re-structured the old Cannon Beach Lumber building much as you see it today. He operated it as Clark's Restaurant, now the Lumberyard Rotisserie and Grill. Front row, left to right: Tim Davis, Jesse French, Ron Velleitini, Mike Balzer, Laurie Beers, Ken Clark, Ab Childres, Sam Absher, Scott Rekate, Russ Taggard, Roger Swynenburg, Mike Capper. Back row, left to right: Ed Beers, Mike Elliot, Ken Hardy, Peter Lindsey.

The group gathered here poses in front of the cannon, actually a "carronade," from the wreck of the U.S.S. Shark. In 1846 the ship perished at the mouth of the Columbia. Bill Luce, a mounted postal carrier, discovered the cannon near the Austin House in 1898. Residents began referring to the location as Cannon Beach, a name applied to the first local post office at Arch Cape.

A wagon trip from Seaside to Cannon Beach required a stout constitution. The road, a quagmire in winter, followed old trail courses. A four-horse stage or buckboard forded the Necanicum River, stopped at what was called Halfway House to water the horses, then continued up Tillamook Head to the north bank of Elk Creek. At low tide the wagon continued south on the beach. On the narrow Elk Creek Toll Road pictured here, wagons meeting on the track generally dismantled teams to expedite passage.

Les Ordway termed this era "The bow and arrow days of logging." The finest Sitka Spruce trees in the world, 12-20 growth rings per inch, were harvested from forests adjacent to Cannon Beach.

The Clark and Wilson Lumber Company operated extensive logging railroads in our corner of Northwest Oregon. Formerly the Portland and Southwestern Railroad, the tracks and roadbeds traversed the rugged timber lands in our region until 1944. Crown Zellerbach bought the operation at that time and converted to trucks. The P&SW used a very old 1860's vintage 4-4-0 in its early years, apparently as late as 1918. Between 1910 and 1918 the P&SW ran a 2-6-6-2 Mallet steam engine of significant size in its logging.

The Cannon Beach Hotel, formerly Hotel Bill, sat on the site of the current Cannon Beach Conference Center. The structure was fashioned from logs washed ashore from a log raft. Mr. Woodrow Wilson, on the campaign trail, arrived as a surprise guest in 1914, causing a great stir of excitement.

The sands of Cannon Beach historically provided access to the shore front homesteads, hotels, and residences south to Arch Cape. Horse drawn and motorized transportation made passage possible prior to road construction. Certain dangers inhered in this mode of travel. Unwary motorists frequently lodged their automobiles in soft sands at low tide, only to find returning ocean surf engulfing their vehicles.

A primitive shelf carved at the base of Hug Point facilitated traffic movement around this headland. One traveled only during low tides on this track. Waves at high tide washed over the rock road and imperiled the foolhardy.

Grand stands of Sitka Spruce fell on Tillamook Head after the First World War. Crown Willamette Paper Company constructed a logging camp just south of the Cannon Beach Junction. Evidence of the old elevated railroad roadbed can still be glimpsed in the wetlands adjacent to Highway 101. Railroad lines snaked over Tillamook Head from the camp's round house. Harvested timber rode the rails out of the forest to be milled and transported.

The waves and sea conditions off the Oregon Coast and Columbia River are some of the roughest and most dangerous in the world. Shipwrecks in this area occurred so frequently that the region was dubbed "the graveyard of the Pacific." Maritime officials hoped a lighthouse would mitigate these tragedies. Construction began in 1879. The project commenced with a drowning. Huge seas engulfed the offshore rock, drowning the engineer and halting work. Finally completed in 1881, The Tillamook Rock Lighthouse represents a remarkable testament to the tenacity and fortitude of those involved in the project. "Terrible Tilly" underwent deactivation in September l957.

These arm-linked ladies, carefree and fetching, are members of the Glisan-Minott-Flanders-Lewis Families enjoying a day near Chapman Point. Visitors to Ecola State Park can thank them for making the park available to the State of Oregon. The state's first Superintendent of Parks, Samuel Boardman said "We have had many gifts of a recreational nature, but never one that so involved pure sacrifice of such a beautiful setting and lovely houses."

The log truck with the circle "K" belonged to Kling Logging, operating in our area in the l940's. The gentleman near the truck is John Goodyard.