When and How Cannon Beach Was Named - Oregon Coast History with a Twist

Published 11/30/2018 at 5:29 AM PDT
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Cannon Beach, Oregon) – Believe it or not, Cannon Beach was not the first Oregon coast town with that name. How the town we know today got that moniker is an intriguing, even slightly amusing tale.

There are some plot twists, and much of the famed town’s genesis is closely intertwined with a set of cannon from a wrecked ship.

It all starts almost 200 years ago, in the 1840s, at a time when almost no settlers were in this area, although the town of Astoria was already a burgeoning city and busy port of commerce. A ways down the Oregon coast, however, in this area and the spot that would on day be Seaside, it was inhabited by only a few hardy souls. What few were here, however, were intrigued by a shipwreck that happened around Astoria, when a naval schooner called the USS Shark collided with a rock in those treacherous waters known as the Graveyard of the Pacific.

Chunks of the ship washed up in what is now Arch Cape, the tiny unincorporated village just south of Cannon Beach. One of the survivors was dispatched to retrieve as much as he could, but only one of the cannon and a few other tidbits were snagged from the incoming tide. He was forced to leave the rest behind.

Fast forward to 1863, and a mail carrier named John Hobson reported reported spotting one cannon in Arch Cape Creek (also known as Shark Creek). Because of the cannon, when settlers here got their post office in 1891, they named the place Cannon Beach. Keep in mind, this was what would later become Arch Cape.

By this time, at least one local resident had become obsessed with finding the other cannon or two, but to no avail. That was not to happen for at least another 100 years.

In the meantime, a chunk of land just north of there was being settled and was called Elk Creek. This was the proto Cannon Beach town. In 1906, a pair of brothers began planning a new village just south of that and eventually named it Tolovana.

According to the Cannon Beach History Museum, it was in 1910 that Elk Creek officially named itself Ecola. That was named after the stream running through town, and Ecola was a name derived from a similar Clatsop tribe word.

In 1911, the two adventurer brothers, the Warrens, built a large resort in the Tolovana area, which was where the Tolovana Inn now stands. (Below: the original cannon on display at the Cannon Beach History Museum).

One year later, Arch Cape decides it doesn’t like the name Cannon Beach and turns itself into Arch Cape. This name came from the set of three arches lurking just on the other side of the headland at the village’s southern end. You can still see one arch, but the other two – which formed an intricate and strange structure – fell apart in the ‘40s.

Here comes the amusing part. The fledgling town of Ecola ran into a bit of a problem, however. There was a village in the Willamette Valley (now part of West Salem) called Eola. Ecola locals found that their mail was accidentally getting sent to Eola sometimes. So because of that little quirk of the post office, in 1922 residents there decided to change the name to Cannon Beach. Part of the reason was, well, they said, Arch Cape didn’t want the name anymore. It was available. So why not?

The saga of the cannon that got the two towns the name continued. Fleeting sightings of the other two cannon seemed to disappear after the turn of the century, but the retrieved cannon, along with other parts, was slowly making the rounds. It was in front of a post office for a few decades, then part of a monument on the east side of Highway 101, along with a capstan, a chain and even a cannon ball or two – all from the original wreck.

By the ‘80s, the cannon had been vandalized a few times and other surrounding artifacts stolen. It was moved to a museum in Astoria, then to the Cannon Beach History Museum around 2005 or so.

In 2007, those original two cannon showed up again. Or least that’s the overwhelming evidence – though they can’t be 100 percent identified as coming from the USS Shark. That was an enormous deal: the 150-year-long mystery had been solved. They were sent off to Texas for restoration, as well as the cannon in the Cannon Beach museum. The two are now at the Columbia River Maritime Museum, and the original is back in Cannon Beach. Lodging in Cannon Beach - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours

The latest cannon found in 2007, just after being unearthed

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