Cannon Beach, Oregon
Clatsop County
41-10850
Cannon Beach is a small town in Clatsop County in the U.S. state of Oregon. The town is a bustling tourist destination in the Pacific Northwest. It has about 1,500 inhabitants with 710 households ( as of 2000) on an area of 3.9 km ².
With its proximity to Portland Cannon Beach is a popular weekend destination for residents of the largest city in the state.
On January 6, 1806, Captain William Clark made with twelve men at the Lewis and Clark Expedition from their winter quarters Fort Clatsop on the way to locate a stranded whale. They reached the whale carcass near Tillamook Head. Clark named a river Ecola Creek to " Ekoli ", the Chinook word for whale. On September 10, 1846 U.S. schooner USS Shark sank while attempting to cross the bar of the Columbia River. A part of the wreck was flushed south of Tilla Morehead ashore. After a winter storm one of the guns of the schooner was discovered in 1894 on the beach. The gun fell into private ownership, the locality was called Cannon Beach. A replica of the cannon is now on display at Highway 101, the original is located in Cannon Beach History Center and Museum. The settlement founded by American settlers in the late 19th century, was named after the first at Arch Cape discharging into the Pacific Ecola creek. Since Ecola was often confused with the place Eola in Oregon, the town was renamed in 1922 in Cannon Beach.
Cannon Beach is famous for its landmark Haystack Rock near Tolovana Park in the southwest of the town as well as for its artist colony. Many tourists come here for whale watching. North of the town there is the Ecola State Park, about 14 km south of the Oswald West State Park.
The triggered by the Good Friday quake on March 27, 1964 tsunami destroyed a bridge of Highway 101 at Cannon Beach. In order to stimulate tourism in the city again, the first sandcastle competition in the continental U.S. was held in August 1965 on the beach. Since then, the sand sculpture competition, the Sandcastle Day, held annually in the summer. It is organized by the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce).