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Continued from Page 8 200 images of the three cities, surrounding farmland and forests. It is the first “Images of America” book to feature a city in Tilla- mook County. Each historic image pairs with a detailed photo caption to outline the story of an area most local residents call north county. Though the cities are often grouped as one — in part because they are linked by shared public utility districts and school systems — the cities all have unique per- sonalities, Beach said. “I try to make that clear in the book and in my classes,” he said. Nehalem, for example, was the first north county town to be founded in 1899. It also was the first chartered city between Tillamook and Seaside, Beach said. Its “identity” grew out of the “com- mercial needs” of a fledgling town, Beach said. Nehalem had all the necessary ame- nities: a post office, church, general store and school. Eventually a railroad connected the city to Portland. The railroad brought in supplies and tourists, and shipped out local produce. Wheeler was chartered in the early 20th century. Sitting about three miles south of Nehalem, the city sprung from the logging industry. “There had been a little sawmill there but when the bigger sawmill was built, Wheeler almost just … grows overnight,” said Beach, who included a number of his- toric photos in the book that reflect Wheel- er’s ties to logs and lumber. Manzanita received its charter last, in 1949. Beach surmised that the reason its establishment lags behind the others is because early surveyors noted that the sand dunes around the city were “of little eco- nomic value.” There was little lumber for logging and no fertile fields for farming. The city’s value eventually skyrocketed as tourism became more common and visi- tors flocked to Manzanita’s sandy shores for a look at the Pacific Ocean. Today, Manza- nita is a “tourist town … in the very broad- est sense of the word,” Beach said. Many of its homes are vacation rentals and its econ- omy runs on annual beach-goers. Beach’s photo collection focuses largely A historical image of Neah-Kah-Nie during spring. on aerial photos and images of historic buildings, many of which made their way road and highway system, state parks and fellowship from the Smithsonian Institution into the book. shipwrecks. and research grants from the Ford Founda- “I’m interested in how towns develop “Everyone is so interested in shipwrecks. tion and National Academy of the Arts. and the kinds of buildings that folks built He began collecting historic photos 50 or 100 years ago. That’s one of the most You can’t leave that out,” Beach joked. shortly after he retired to Neah-Kah-Nie in Beach has a doctorate from the Univer- useful arts of aerial photos because they sity of Wisconsin. He taught at the State 1992. let you look at a particular location … The University of New York, Cornell Univer- “I owned a piece of property out on aerial photos let you tell a story over the sity and the University of Rochester, where Highway 53 … and I wanted to know more years,” Beach said. about that particular piece of property, He also included photos of Native Amer- he also served as an associate dean. During ican tribes, early European settlers, the rail- his academic career, he held a postdoctoral because it was one of the original home- stead,” Beach said. Some of the first images in his collection came from the U.S. Army Corps of Engi- neers archive. He carries a portable scanner with him whenever he visits public agen- cies or local families willing to share their old photos. “This is fun, it’s relatively easy and it calls on my historical background,” Beach said. THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2021 // 9