2C
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2015
HISTORIC
PHOTOS OF THE WEEK
Photo courtesy of Cannon Beach History Center and Museum
Former Gov. Oswald West’s summer retreat in Cannon Beach.
WILD, WILD WEST
By ELAINE TRUCKE
Special to The Daily Astorian
D
id you Nnow that 2swald West
had a suPPer retreat in &annon
Beach?
First, who is 2swald West? West was
Eorn in 2ntario, &anada, in 0ay of 1.
$t the age of he PoYed to SaleP, where
he attended school and eYentually end-
ed up in EanNing in 19. $fter seYeral
years as a EanNer in SaleP and $storia,
a position as the state land agent in 19,
and a stint with the 2regon 5ailroad
&oPPission, he gained the 'ePocratic
noPination for goYernor in 191. +e de-
feated his opponent, -ay BowerPan, and
ended up taNing of¿ce in 1911 until 191.
'uring West’s terP, woPen’s suf-
frage was approYed, a new parole systeP
for prisoners was instituted, capital pun-
ishPent was aEolished, and prohiEition
caPe into effect.
West’s Post iPportant and recogni]-
aEle legacy was the 191 Eeach highway
law, which declared the entire 3aci¿c
coastline to the high tide ParN to Ee a
puElic highway.
The source of West’s inspiration for
protecting the tidelands and his loYe for
2regon’s Eeaches can Ee traced to his
retreat in &annon Beach. With the whole
coast to choose froP, the goYernor se-
lected what was then a rePote wooded
section south of &annon Beach in 1911.
The last leg on the Mourney froP 3ort-
land to his proposed house was on horse-
EacN. ,t Pay haYe Eeen that the rough
ride contriEuted to the goYernor’s later
decision in PaNing the Eeaches a high-
way.
,n 191, West and his wife 0aEel pur-
chased an acre of land Must south of &an-
non Beach. The property sat on a Easalt
precipice with a EreathtaNing ocean Yiew
that included +aystacN 5ocN.
,n 191, West had ¿nali]ed plans for a
log house, Earn and spring house, which
was a sPall Euilding used for refrigera-
tion. West’s weeNend retreat was coP-
pleted in -uly of 191. The caEin sat
feet aEoYe sea leYel and was a rectangular,
one-story $dirondacN-style log caEin that
was situated with a wide coYered front
porch, e[posed SitNa spruce log construc-
tion, and split cedar shingle roof with two
patios, one in concrete and another in Àag-
stone. $ spring house, carriage house, and
Earn were also on the site.
The caEin, howeYer, would not haYe
Eeen coPplete without a PassiYe 9-foot
¿replace constructed of rounded Eeach
stones that tooN oYer the center of the
western wall.
The retreat was used for Pany faPily
Yacations Eefore West sold the hoPe in
1926.
While the log caEin still stands, it isn’t
?
9-1-WHAT?
the original. ,n 0ay of 1991, the hoPe
was Eurned nearly to ash Ey an arsonist.
Fifty-¿Ye years of faPily history had
gone up in sPoNe. $fter reali]ing the e[-
tent of the daPage, it deePed infeasiEle
to reutili]e the original Paterials with the
e[ception of the Pain ¿replace chiPney
stone, a few of the lower logs, and the
wrought-iron door. Because of the special
Peaning the hoPe had to the faPily and
citi]ens of &annon Beach, they deePed it
necessary to create an exact replica of the
caEin. To recreate the original retreat, the
faPily went with the 3ortland architec-
tural ¿rP of Fletcher Farr $yotte.
The reconstruction Eegan with exten-
siYe ¿eld docuPentation and salYaging
saPples, and the caEin was authentically
recreated. 9irtually all of the Paterials
used in the original caEin were repeated
in the recreation including the logs and
porch coluPns, which were Pade out
of SitNa spruce logs oEtained near Til-
laPooN. The reconstruction of the caEin
was technically coPpleted in 199, Eut
the ¿ne-tuning continued.
The spectacular results of the recre-
ation earned the caEin second pri]e in
the exterior rehaEilitation category of the
1ational Trust for +istoric 3reserYation’s
1996 *reat $Perican +oPe $wards.
Elaine Trucke is the executive director
of the Cannon Beach History Center and
Museum.
Photo courtesy of Cannon Beach History Center and Museum
Oswald West as a young man.
School daze
J
ust so we’re clear: When your child refuses to go to school, call 911.
,t’s ¿ne. ,t’s not liNe there are any real ePergencies going on, liNe a
Pan walNing around aiPlessly swinging a sword, or folNs craEEing Ey a
sewer Slant, or a woPan who wants your wine, or cows ...
Follow reporter Kyle Spurr on his 9-1-What? Twitter watch, where a few
of the soPetiPes head-scratching calls to area dispatch taNe center stage. The
full feed is at www.twitter.coP9B1BW+$T.
THE BEST OF THE WORST CALLS TO ASTORIA 911 DISPATCH
3 W AY S TO GE T
Y O U R CO PY
TOD AY !
OR DER ON LIN E
w w w .DiscoverO urCoast.com /order
S TOP BY ON E OF OU R 3 LOCATION S
A storia • 949 Exchange St.
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Long Beach • 205 Bolstad A ve. E. #2
o r CALL HOLLY LAR K IN S
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Em ail: hlarkins@ dailyastorian.com