A NATIVE AMERICAN TRAIL
Native peoples crossed the Blue Mountains long before the first explores and fur trappers. In 1834, John Kirk Townsend found the Cayuse and Nez Perce, very friendly towards us, each of the chiefs taking us by the hand with great cordiality,... anxious to point out to us the most expeditious route to the lower country.""... the indians came to us in abundance ... and traded us some of their horses for cattle and shirts & Brought us plenty of Salmon fish and Sold for shirts and powder and lead...." -- Abalsom B. Harden, August 30, 1847
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WAGON WHEELS TO AUTOMOBILES
During the mid-1800s, thousands of American emigrants labored along this ridge. Since then, stage coach, train and automobile roads have paralleled the Oregon Trail over these mountains.Only traces of the original road remain, yet the ideals of those who crossed the continent in wagons have not been lost. As we pursue our dreams for a better life, we join the emigrants on the Oregon Trail."Through all our trials I cannot say that I have ever regretted that we have undertaken this journey." -- Asahel Munger, August 31. 1839

A BEAUTIFUL ROUGH ROAD
"Commenced the ascent of the Blue Mountains It is a lovely morning, and all hands seem to be delighted with the prospect, of being so near timber again, after weary months of travel, on the dry dusty sage plants, with nothing to receive the eye; just now the men are halloing, to hear their echo ring through the woods." -- Amelia Stewart Knight, August 18, 1853Although pleased by the change in scenery, emigrants found little time to enjoy these forested slopes.Here we began climbing the Blue Mountains, and if they don't beat the devil." -- David Maynard, September 2, 1850

ON THIS RIDGE…
"... we traveled on for the Blue Mountains cutting our way through the fallen timber... We found it very laborious ... with our dull axes that we had not ground since we left Missouri having no grinding stone to grind them & our hands being very tender - cutting those dry sticks which sprung the skin loose from our hands." -- Ninevah Ford, emigrant of 1843 (recollection)
"... Here we found and passed some of our advanced company repairing a broken wagon ... we camped on the ridge and drove down into a deep hollow to water and grass. We had to carry water half a mile up a very steep hill to camp. We are now in the Blue mountains and find it very rough country. Much more so than the Rocky mountains, and our worn-out teams seem to appreciate the difference equal to ourselves." -- P.V. Crawford, August 22-22, 1851

PARADE OF SURVIVORS
On August 15, 1853 Henry Allyn wrote the following about his second day in the Blue Mountains: "Elizabeth and father still quite unwell ... We noon on the mountain and take our mules down into a doleful cavern and found a little grass and water, the pines growing as though they intend to tower above the mountains."A parade of emigrants wore the Oregon Trail into the landscape. Determined survivors of the long trek became worn much like the trail."Found hard hills to day and very stoney. Saw 5 graves and 5 dead cattle. The weather cold and dusty." -- Martha S. Reed, September 21, 1852

"History in the Sand" Cannon Beach was named after a carronade (a short, smoothbore, cast iron naval cannon) found buried in the sand nearby. The cannon broke free of hte USS Shark’s deck during a shipwreck at the mouth of the Columbia River on September 10, 1846. Recovering the First Cannon Shortly after the wreck, a USS Shark crewmember learned from Tillamook Indians that part of the ship’s deck washed ashore south of what is now Cannon Beach. Three cannons had been affixed to that part of the deck.

Midshipman Simes and others moved one cannon farther ashore, near the mouth of Austin Creek. Mail carrier John Luce spotted it there in June 1896 and, with help, succeeeded in bringing it ashore. For many years, the cannon was displayed in front of the post office. Two More Cannons Found: In 2008, teenager Miranda Petrone discovered another of the Shark’s cannons while walking along the beach at Arch Cape. Another beach visitor soon found the third cannon nearby. In  2014, after five years of conservation treatment at Texas A&M, two cannons went on display at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria. The first cannon found in 1898 was stabilized and returned to the Cannon Beach History Center in 2017.

The Great Name Swap: In 1912, a coastal community gave up the name Cannon Beach to change its name to a nearby geologic feature, Arch Cape. Nearby, the town of Ecola faced a problem: its mail frequently ended up in Eola, a town in Polk County 75 miles away. So, in 1922, the town of Ecola salvaged the Cannon Beach name for its own use, much to the delight of the local postmasters.

Caption: USS Shark arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River in July 1846 so the crew could gather information and show the flag in support of the rapidly growing number of American settlers in the region. In September, the Shark’s captain, Lt. Neil Howsion, USN, attempted to cross the bar at the river’s mouth, but the vessel struck botom, broke up, and sank. All crew members survived."

The narrow gorge of Canyon Creek has long served as a travel corridor. Native Americans likely trekked this canyon for thousands of years. Alexander McLeod of the Hudson's Bay Company provided the first written account of the route in 1829, while traveling from Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River to California's Central Valley.

The U.S. Exploring Expedition, under Lt. George Emmons, followed the trail in 1841 making scientific observations. In 1846 this defile became part of the Applegate Trail, an effort by early emigrants to find an alternative to the treacherous Columbia River portion of the Oregon Trail. Prospectors and packers labored up the canyon en route to California's gold fields, beginning in 1848. Stagecoaches followed the rocky route in the 1870s, and today, Interstate 5 carries millions of vehicles over the steep pass.