Cannon Beach, Oregon
July 19, 2021
Cannon Beach is a city in Clatsop County, Oregon. The permanent population was 1,690 at the 2010 census. [There are more than that walking on the beach at 1130 am.]. Cannon Beach is a popular coastal tourist destination in Oregon, famous for Haystack Rock, a 235 ft sea stack that juts out along the Pacific Coast. In 2013, National Geographic listed Cannon Beach as "one of the world’s 100 most beautiful places." History
What is now Cannon Beach, as well as the coastal area surrounding it, is part of the traditional territory of the Tillamook tribe. William Clark, one of the leaders of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, journeyed to Cannon Beach in early 1805. The expedition was wintering at Fort Clatsop, roughly 20 miles to the north near the mouth of the Columbia River. In December 1805, two members of the expedition returned to camp with blubber from a whale that had beached several miles south, near the mouth of Ecola Creek.
Clark later explored the region himself.
From a spot near the western cliffs of the headland he saw "...the grandest and most pleasing prospects which my eyes ever surveyed, in front of a boundless Ocean..." That viewpoint, later dubbed "Clark's Point of View," can be accessed by a hiking trail from Indian Beach in Ecola State Park. [There are so many people here the road to the park is closed. I assume because it goes through a neighborhood.]
Clark and several of his companions, including Sacagawea, completed a three-day journey on January 10, 1806, to the site of the beached whale. They encountered a group of Native Americans from the Tillamook tribe who were boiling blubber for storage. Clark and his party met with them and successfully bartered for 300 pounds of blubber and some whale oil before returning to Fort Clatsop.
There is a wooden whale sculpture commemorating the encounter between Clark's group and the Tillamooks in a small park at the northern end of Hemlock Street.
Clark applied the name "Ekoli" to what is now Ecola Creek. Ehkoli is a Chinook word for "whale". Early settlers later renamed the creek "Elk Creek", and a community with the same name formed nearby.
Looking northwest up the beach In 1846, a cannon from the US Navy schooner Shark washed ashore just north of Arch Cape, a few miles south of the community. The schooner hit land while attempting to cross the Columbia Bar, also known as the "Graveyard of the Pacific." The cannon, rediscovered in 1898, eventually inspired a name change for the growing community. In 1922, Elk Creek was redubbed Cannon Beach (after the name of the beach that extends south of Ecola Creek for 8 miles, ending at Arch Cape) at the insistence of the Post Office Department because the name was frequently confused with Eola. Elk Creek itself was renamed Ecola Creek to honor William Clark's original name.
The cannon is now housed in the city's museum and a replica of it can be seen alongside U.S. Route 101. Two more cannons, also believed to have been from the Shark, were discovered on Arch Cape over the weekend of February 16, 2008.
U.S. Highway 101 formerly ran through Cannon Beach. In 1964, a tsunami generated by the Good Friday earthquake came ashore along the coast of the Pacific Northwest. The subsequent flooding inundated parts of Cannon Beach and washed away the highway bridge located on the north side of city. The city, now isolated from the highway, decided to attract visitors by holding a sand castle contest, an event that still continues annually every June.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.54 square miles (3.99 km2), all land. The Tolovana Park neighborhood is south of the downtown core, adjacent to Tolovana Beach State Recreation Site.
Climate
This region experiences mild, dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F (22.0 °C). According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Cannon Beach has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.
Demographics
2010 census
As of the census[2] of 2010, there were 1,690 people, 759 households, and 415 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,097.4 inhabitants per square mile (423.7/km2). There were 1,812 housing units at an average density of 1,176.6 per square mile (454.3/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 88.4% White, 0.1% African American, 0.4% Native American, 0.4% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 9.1% from other races, and 1.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.7% of the population.
There were 759 households, of which 19.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.1% were married couples living together, 7.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 45.3% were non-families. 38.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.07 and the average family size was 2.70. The median age in the city was 46.4 years. 16.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 12.3% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 20% were from 25 to 44; 31.6% were from 45 to 64; and 19.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 46.0% male and 54.0% female. Economy
Cannon Beach is a tourist resort destination. Because of its proximity to Portland, Oregon, it is particularly known as a weekend getaway spot for residents and tourists of the city.
Chain stores such as Safeway and McDonald'shave been discouraged from building in Cannon Beach in order to preserve the local economy and small-town feel.
Artisan shops and local restaurants line the streets of the town. Media and film
The Cannon Beach Gazette, a local newspaper that covers area politics, news, sports and community events, is published bi-weekly on every other Thursday of the month. The paper is owned and operated by Country Media Inc. Cannon Beach and Ecola State Park have appeared in several films including The Goonies (1985), Free Willy (1993), Twilight(2008), Hysterical (1983), and Point Break(1991).