June 30, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 7A
Possible shipwreck debris
uncovered in Cannon Beach
State will
examine wood
object
SIUBMITTED PHOTO
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach celebrates the 50th anniversary of the
state’s beach bill.
Cannon Beach Gazette
What at first glance looks
like one of the many logs that
line Cannon Beach may be an
uncovered keel of a boat from a
possible shipwreck.
The wood object, which
measures about 18 feet long
and several hundred pounds,
was found Wednesda, June 14,
on the beach close to the Taft
Street access by Jeffrey Smith
of Portland. Looking for a place
to rest after walking with his
wife, he noticed rusty square
nails, notches and square cut-
outs in the log and decided to
call the Cannon Beach History
Center and Museum.
“Maybe this isn’t a big deal,
but when you look at the square
nails and the cutouts, it looks
like this is from a very old
ship,” Smith said.
After Elaine Trucke, the
museum’s director, came out
to take a look, she called the
Columbia River Maritime Mu-
seum and Christopher Dewey
from the Maritime Archaeolog-
ical Society to help identify the
object.
“Looking at the parts makes
me think it could be from the
mid-1800s, but I’m not an ex-
pert,” Trucke said. “In general
shipwrecks are pretty common
on the coast, but if it were actu-
Celebrating a legacy
COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP
Christopher Dewey with the Maritime Archaeological Society examines a wood object re-
cently uncovered near Cannon Beach that may be historically significant.
ally that old it would be a rare
situation.”
The wood is some variety of
old growth timber, Dewey said,
which would make the object
historically significant.
But defining the age and
exact nature of the wood will
require an evaluation from the
state archaeologist’s office in
Salem, Dewey said. Without a
thorough examination, the ob-
ject could be anything from a
structural part of a ship to de-
bris still washing ashore from
the tsunami in Japan in 2011.
Dewey, an anthropology and
archaeology adjunct instructor
at Clatsop Community College
who specializes in investigat-
ing shipwrecks, said there are
many ways to determine age.
Some methods include looking
at different types of fastening,
machinery cuts and analyzing
wood samples to see if the spe-
cies is local or from somewhere
around the world. “The fact that
it’s washed up onto the beach,
it means it could be from any-
where on the coast,” Dewey
said. “Trying to find a record of
a ship that matches this piece of
wood from a wreck would be
difficult.”
Shipwrecks are not uncom-
mon along the Oregon Coast.
Three men using metal detec-
tors in the dunes uncovered a
large piece of wood in 2014 that
turned out to be a 1950s trawl-
er, and a 21-foot keel turned up
in the dunes at Seaside in 2015.
Ultimately, the state will
determine what to do with the
object and whether or not it is
valuable enough to move and
conserve. With the closest con-
servation lab in Texas, Dewey
said, transportation and conser-
vation costs would climb for an
object so large and heavy.
“This is significant,” he
said. “This could be many
things, but it’s still really cool
for anyone interested in under-
water archaeology.”
Arch Cape native tapped for Parks and Rec post
Deur from Page 1A
stepping up as the new coast
representative on the Oregon
Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment Commission seemed
like a natural fit.
Road to commission
Deur has replaced Cannon
Beach resident Robin Risley
on the commission after she
reached her eight-year term
limit. The commission estab-
lishes policies, sets fees, ac-
quires property and promotes
the state’s outdoor recreation
policy, among other tasks.
Commissioners serve four-
year terms and are appointed
by the governor, then con-
firmed by the state Senate.
There are two other new com-
missioners starting their terms
with Deur: Steve Grasty, rep-
resenting Burns, and Victoria
Berger, representing Salem.
When Risley came near
the end of her term in May,
members of the North Coast
community started encourag-
ing him to apply for her spot,
Deur said.
“It’s about my personal
connection to Oregon parks.
I feel like all Oregon citizens
have an obligation to take care
of parks so future generations
can see these same places I
enjoyed and my grandparents
enjoyed,” he said. “It was an
offer I could not refuse.”
Deur has been studying
North Coast history for years,
which included publishing
“Empires of the Turning
Tide.”
The book, published and
funded by the National Park
Service, details the creation of
the parks and tells the stories
of the relationship between
these places and indigenous
people.
He’s also a founding mem-
ber of the fundraising group
Friends of Haystack Rock
Awareness Program, the
Ecola Creek Forest Reserve
initiative, as well as other
environmental groups and
movements in Cannon Beach.
Changing Oregon
Parks and Recreation De-
partment Associate Director
Chris Havel said that, while
all of the commissioners share
a deep love of Oregon and the
desire to improve the parks
system within, Deur is notable
for his background as a histo-
rian and anthropologist.
“In Doug’s case, his strong
credentials as a historian fits
in well with the department
mission, with his experience
with national registry, local
museums, and with his role
in the state through recreation
and history,” Havel said. “I
think people who are natu-
rally drawn to that will find
the commission a welcoming
place.
State parks have many
challenges before them.
While on the commission,
Deur hopes to address how
to bolster infrastructure better
to accommodate the influx of
traffic at heavily used parks,
such as Oswald West and Eco-
la State Park, as well as look
for ways to improve beach
access points with small land
acquisitions.
But most notably, he wants
to use his background to tell
the stories of all Oregonians
and their relationship to the
parks system.
“We need to tell these sto-
ries so we don’t forget that
these parks still mean some-
thing to Native Americans.
Different communities have
different stories associated
with the parks that relate to
their histories,” he said.
One of the most encom-
passing challenges is to fig-
ure out how to keep parks
relevant for a culturally and
demographically changing
Oregon, Havel said.
Most of the growth and
development of state parks
happened between the 1950s
and 1970s, Havel said. Since
then, the demographic and
cultural landscape of Oregon
has changed, leading to usage
changes such as an increase in
day trips rather than overnight
camping.
“In the last five years,
we’ve had increasing visita-
tion every year. We’ve found
it’s many of the same people
visiting more often, maybe
not as diversified as it could
be,” Havel said. “We won’t
know if we are serving every
Oregon city until we ask bet-
ter questions.”
Deur hopes his back-
ground in cultural studies can
help bridge this gap to encour-
age more park access for more
people, he said.
“Oregon is changing. We
want parks to be relevant to
everybody,” Deur said.
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Cannon Beach will cele-
brate the 50th anniversary of
the Oregon Beach Bill yet
again with another day of fes-
tivities planned for July 6.
On May 13, the Cannon
Beach Chamber of Com-
merce held an event celebrat-
ing the anniversary of when
former Gov. Tom McCall
flew his helicopter to Cannon
Beach as a statement of his
commitment to the bill that
would keep all 363 miles of
Oregon shoreline public.
The Oregon Shores Con-
servation Coalition and Hay-
stack Rock Awareness Pro-
gram, however, decided to
celebrate the anniversary of
the day the bill was actual-
ly with a special beachwalk,
speeches from local environ-
mental activists and a dinner
party.
Oregon Shores Execu-
tive Director Phillip Johnson
said the goal of the event is
to not only celebrate the past
50 years of conservation and
preservation efforts, but to
inspire action to sustain these
actions for the next 50 years.
“We don’t always think
the beach as an ecosystem
— and it’s a fascinating one,”
Johnson said. “We hope to ed-
ucate people about the natural
history of this area as well as
the history of the bill.”
Johnson said Oregon
Shores Conservation Coa-
lition’s inspiration to hold
this event comes out of the
fact the group formed in part
because of the passage of the
Oregon Beach Bill.
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The group evolved from
the ad hoc group, Citizens to
Save Oregon Beaches, which
campaigned for the passage
of Oregon’s famed Beach
Bill. The coalition works
to protect coastal ecosys-
tems from development and
to deliver those lands back
into public hands if possible,
Johnson said.
“We are now in our 46th
year of existence,” Johnson
said. “Now that this public
legacy has been established,
now you a need watchdog
group to watch over those
beaches.”
The nature walk will show
exactly the type of land the
coalition fights to protect,
starting south of Ecola Creek,
south to Haystack Rock and
back to the community cen-
ter, Johnson said. It will be
lead by coastal ecologist
Stewart Schultz, who will
discuss shoreline natural his-
tory, Bonnie Henderson from
the North Coast Land Con-
servancy and local geologist
Tom Horning.
The route intentionally
passes the Surfsand Resort,
where the campaign for the
Beach Bill in 1967 began
when the former owner staked
out part of the beach for the
exclusive use of his guests.
“[The Haystack Rock
Awareness Program] want-
ed to get involved with this
event because Cannon Beach
was and is the center of the
action,” Executive Director
of HRAP Melissa Keyser
said. “There are still so many
community activists who still
have a voice here.”
The celebration will begin
at 1:30 p.m. in the Cannon
Beach Community Hall with
refreshments and a remarks
from Johnson, Cannon Beach
resident and conservationist
Ed Johnson, environmental
activist, author and filmmak-
er Stephen Grace, and others,
before starting the beach walk
at 2:15 p.m.
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