Jedediah Smith (1799-1831)
Jedediah Smith’s explorations in the American West began when he was 21 and lasted until his death at age 32. He crisscrossed the region in search of beaver pelts and new travel routes. His travel journals became a foundation for the first accurate maps of what is now the western United States.
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A Life of Exploration
After three years in the Rocky Mountains, Jedediah Smith led trapping expeditions to California in 1826 and 1827. Both times he was ordered to leave by Mexican authorities. On the second expedition, Smith purchased more than 300 horses. Unable to cross the Sierras with their large herd, Smith’s party drove them to the Pacific coast, then north into Oregon. The large party would have made a substantial enviornmental impact and likely angered the native people whose lands they passed through. Disagreements about trade and differing notions of property and trespass probably also led to conflict.

On July 13, 1828, Smith’s party camped near the mouth of Smith River. A skirmish erupted and three others escaped and made their way on foot north along the Oregon coast. Tillamook Native Americans delivered the trappers to the British Hudson’s Bay Company at Fort Vancouver; which sent out an expedition to investigate, accompanied by Smith. They recovered some of their horses and beaver pelts, and more important for us today, Smith’s travel journals.

Jedediah Smith returned to the Rocky Mountains from his California ventures with little profit but a wealth of knowledge about the West unrivaled by any other Euro-American. After a season trapping in Montana, Smith retired to St. Louis and began leading freight wagons across the Santa Fe Trail. In May 1831, he rode ahead to search for water and was killed by Comanche warriors.

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.
Tsunamis are dangerous and destructive. They have struck the Oregon coast at 200 to 600 year intervals.

For example, about AD 1700, a tsunami caused by an earthquake on the Cascadia Subduction Zone flooded marshes landward of Yaquina Bay and other Oregon bays. Geologists know tsunamis have affected large areas in the past because tsunami-deposited sand has been found here and in other coastal lowlands in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and northernmost California.
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Caption: The earth’s surface consists of a series of “plates”. These plates are constantly shifting and sliding over, under, or past each other. When a sudden movement occurs between two plates, we experience an earthquake.
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Caption: A tsunami can deposit a layer of sea sand in its path. Core samples have been collected along Yaquina Bay and the surrounding lowlands for evidence of past tsunamis. Dots show where buried tsunami sands were found.
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Caption: The Juan de Fuca Plate is moving away from the Juan de Fuca Ridge and is being forced under the overriding North American Plate; this geologic process is called subduction.

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.

Tsunamis are dangerous and destructive. They have struck the Oregon coast at 200 to 600 year intervals. For example, about AD 1700, a tsunami caused by an earthquake on the Cascadia Subduction Zone flooded marshes landward of Yaquina Bay and other Oregon bays. Geologists know tsunamis have affected large areas in the past because tsunami-deposited sand has been found here and in other coastal lowlands in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and northernmost California.

Caption: The earth’s surface consists of a series of “plates”. These plates are constantly shifting and sliding over, under, or past each other. When a sudden movement occurs between two plates, we experience an earthquake.

Caption: A tsunami can deposit a layer of sea sand in its path. Core samples have been collected along Yaquina Bay and the surrounding lowlands for evidence of past tsunamis. Dots show where buried tsunami sands were found

Caption: The Juan de Fuca Plate is moving away from the Juan de Fuca Ridge and is being forced under the overriding North American Plate; this geologic process is called subduction. 

WHAT TO DO
If there is an earthquake on the Cascadia Subduction Zone, Newport could be hit by a tsunami within minutes of the ground shaking. To escape a tsunami, you must respond immediately after feeling an earthquake – go to high ground and inland away from beaches, tidal channels, and other coastal lowlands. Remember, most tsunamis are not solitary giant waves; instead, many large waves may strike shore over the course of several hours. Do not return to the beach after the first tsunami wave. Wait for official word from authorities.