Clatsop Plains

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Clatsop Plains
Astoria Regional Airport.jpg
Aerial view of the northern Clatsop Plains
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Clatsop Plains
Coordinates: 46°04′04″N123°55′51″W / 46.067884°N 123.930696°W / 46.067884; -123.930696
Location Clatsop County, Oregon
Age Quaternary

The Clatsop Plains are an area of wetlands and sand dunes between the Northern Oregon Coast Range and Pacific Ocean in northwestern Oregon in the United States. They stretch from near the mouth of the Columbia River south to the vicinity of Tillamook Head near Seaside. The plains are drained by several coastal rivers include the Skipanon River and the Necanicum River, which flow parallel to the coast and empty into the Columbia at Youngs Bay near Astoria and into the Pacific Ocean near Seaside respectively. At the time, the Lewis and Clark Expedition recorded a different river draining the plains which entered the Pacific near the current day Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Center. Research, 200 years later in 2005, seems to have confirmed this by locating an old river channel. [1] [2]

Contents

The plains are named for the Clatsop tribe of Native Americans who lived in the area at the time of the arrival of Europeans and European Americans by ship at the end of the 18th century and by land at the beginning of the 19th century.

These plains were developed from sand filling in the shoreline during the late Quaternary age. The northern portion is a result of the creation of the south jetty on the Columbia River built in 1885. Within the plain are several lakes including Cullaby, Sunset (Neacoxie), Smith, and Coffenbury. The latter three are filled by groundwater and not local streams or rivers. [3]

The first white settlement of Clatsop Plains was by two Methodist missionaries, the first missionaries to arrive in Clatsop County. Solomon H. Smith who with Rev. Joseph H. Frost established a Methodist mission there in 1841 and built homes for their families on Clatsop Plains. [4]

The first Presbyterian church was founded in 1846. Robert Morrison donated 10 acres for the church grounds, and then two more for a cemetery. The first church was built in 1850, but was destroyed by a windstorm in 1853. It was the first Protestant church built west of the Rocky Mountains. A new church was built and served until 1927, when the current building replaced it. The church is located east of Camp Rilea. The Pioneer cemetery established in 1846, making it the oldest in the county, is the burial place for many early settlers.

A community called "Clatsop Plains" was established and incorporated in 1870, primarily for the purpose of restricting cattle grazing along the sea ridge. This grazing was destroying the ridge grass and plants that prevented sand from blowing onto the nearby farms. As incorporated originally, "Clatsop Plains" extended from the Skipanon River to Seaside. An actual town eventually came into being about a mile north of Seaside, and was later absorbed into Gearhart. However, its early proximity to Seaside is probably why Seaside itself was sometimes referred to Clatsop Plains. [5]

The coastal grassy areas of Clatsop Plains was home to the endangered Oregon silverspot butterfly. Re-establishment efforts are continuing. (Speyeria zerene hippolyta). [6]

A stretch of US 101.svg US 101, the Oregon Coast Highway, runs through most of the length of Clatsop Plains.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clatsop County, Oregon</span> County in Oregon, United States

Clatsop County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 41,072. The county seat is Astoria. The county is named for the Clatsop tribe of Native Americans, who lived along the coast of the Pacific Ocean prior to European settlement. Clatsop County comprises the Astoria, OR Micropolitan Statistical Area, or Sunset Empire, and is located in Northwest Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scouting in Oregon</span>

Scouting in the U.S. state of Oregon includes the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and Girl Scouts (GSUSA) youth organizations, as well as newer organizations like the Baden-Powell Service Association and Vegan Scouts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warrenton, Oregon</span> City in Oregon, United States

Warrenton is a small, coastal city in Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Named for D.K. Warren, an early settler, the town is primarily a fishing and logging community. The population was 6,277 according to the 2020 US Census. Warrenton is a less urbanized area close to the Clatsop County seat, Astoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oregon Coast</span> Coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon

The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately 362 miles (583 km) from the California state border in the south to the Columbia River in the north. The region is not a specific geological, environmental, or political entity, and includes the Columbia River Estuary.

The Skipanon River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 7 miles (11 km) long, on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States. It is the last tributary of the Columbia on the Oregon side, draining an area of coastal bottom land bordered by sand dunes and entering the river from the south at its mouth west of Astoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis and Clark River</span> River in Oregon, United States

The Lewis and Clark River is a tributary of Youngs River, approximately 20 miles (32 km) long, in northwest Oregon in the United States. It drains 62 square miles (160 km2) of the Northern Oregon Coast Range in the extreme northwest corner of the state, entering Youngs River just above its mouth on the Columbia River at Youngs Bay. Near the river's mouth is the site of former Fort Clatsop of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The river is named for Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Clatsop</span> United States historic place

Fort Clatsop was the encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia River during the winter of 1805–1806. Located along the Lewis and Clark River at the north end of the Clatsop Plains approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Astoria, the fort was the last encampment of the Corps of Discovery, before embarking on their return trip east to St. Louis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clatsop</span> Indigenous people in Oregon state

The Clatsop are a Chinookan-speaking Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In the early 19th century they inhabited an area of the northwestern coast of present-day Oregon from the mouth of the Columbia River south to Tillamook Head, Oregon. Today, Clatsop descendants are members of the federally recognized Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, as well as the unrecognized Chinook Indian Nation and Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Necanicum River</span> River in Oregon, United States

The Necanicum River is a river on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States, approximately 21 miles (34 km) long. It drains a timber-producing area of the Northern Oregon Coast Range northwest of Portland. It forms the first estuary south of the mouth of the Columbia River along the Oregon Coast, reaching the Pacific Ocean at Seaside in Clatsop County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Day River (northwestern Oregon)</span> River in Oregon, United States

The John Day River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 6 miles (10 km) long, in northwestern Oregon in the United States. The river rises in the Northern Oregon Coast Range in Clatsop County at 46.138889°N 123.704722°W.

<i>Speyeria zerene</i> Species of butterfly

Speyeria zerene, the zerene fritillary, is a butterfly found in the western portions of the United States and Canada. The species was first described by William John Swainson in 1827.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clatsop Spit</span> Coastal landform in Oregon, US

Clatsop Spit is an unusually large sand spit on the Pacific coast along U.S. Route 101 between Astoria and the north end of Tillamook Head in Clatsop County, northwest Oregon, at the mouth of the Columbia River. The Clatsop Spit was formed by sediment brought to the coast by the Columbia River after the last ice age ended and the ocean level rose approximately 8,500 years ago. Here it was worked over and shaped by the wind and the waves until a vast and sandy plain was formed. In regular conversation, referring to Clatsop Spit usually refers to the northern end of the spit: the area that is bound by the Pacific to the west and the Columbia River to the northeast. In the past, the spit was known as Clatsop Sands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Callippe silverspot butterfly</span> Subspecies of butterfly

The callippe silverspot butterfly is a federal endangered subspecies in the brush-footed butterfly family Nymphalidae. This is a subspecies. It is a member of the Heliconiinae, the subfamily known as longwings. The adult has a wingspan of just over two inches. The wings are eyecatching with a brown, tan, and black scalloped pattern on their surfaces and orange-brown with characteristic silver spots on the undersides. The wings and abdomen are hairy. The larvae are spiny, dark-colored caterpillars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myrtle's silverspot</span> Subspecies of butterfly

Myrtle's silverspot is a medium-sized butterfly in the brush foot family (Nymphalidae), an endangered subspecies of the zerene fritillary. It is endemic to California, where it is known from only about four locations just north of the San Francisco Bay Area, including two at Point Reyes National Seashore. Its wingspan is approximately 2.2 inches (56 mm). The upper surfaces of the wings are golden brown with numerous black spots and lines. The undersides are brown, orange and tan with black lines and silver and black spots. Larvae are dark colored with many sharp branching spines on their backs. Myrtle's silverspot is larger and paler than the closely related Behrens' silverspot, which is now limited to the vicinity of Point Arena in Mendocino County. Myrtle's silverspot is also closely related to the Oregon silverspot.

<i>Monardella undulata</i> Species of flowering plant

Monardella undulata is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the mint family known by the common name curlyleaf monardella. It is an annual herb and is endemic to the coast of California.

Clifton is an unincorporated community in Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. It is located north of U.S. Route 30, about nine miles northwest of Westport on the south bank of the Columbia River. It is on Clifton Channel across from Tenasillahe Island.

<i>Speyeria zerene hippolyta</i> Subspecies of butterfly

Speyeria zerene hippolyta, the Oregon silverspot, is a threatened butterfly that is found in the U.S. states of California and Oregon. It is a subspecies of Speyeria zerene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cullaby Lake</span> Lake in Clatsop County, Oregon

Cullaby Lake is a lake near Warrenton, Oregon, United States. It is the central feature of Cullaby Lake County Park, and one of the major lakes of Clatsop Plains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwest Oregon</span> Geographic and cultural region of the U.S. state of Oregon

Northwest Oregon is a geographic and cultural region of the U.S. state of Oregon, composed of Clatsop, Columbia, and Tillamook counties. The region encompasses the northernmost parts of the state along the lower Columbia River.

References

  1. "Searching for the Lost Village: An 1805 Lewis and Clark Site along the Oregon Coast". University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. 2005. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
  2. "A GROUND PENETRATING RADAR INVESTIGATION OF AN 1805 LEWIS AND CLARK SITE, OREGON" (PDF). University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. 2005. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 30, 2016. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
  3. Orr, Elizabeth and William Orr, and Ewart Baldwin. Geology of Oregon. Kendall/Hunt Publishing, 1992, 4th edition.
  4. "Chronology of Clatsop County History - The First 400 Years From the 1500s to 1900". Clatsop County Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2016-04-22.
  5. "Clatsop County Reference Information - The History of Seaside, Oregon". clatsop.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-03. Retrieved 2016-04-22.
  6. "Species Profile: Oregon Silverspot butterfly (Speyeria zerene hippolyta)". U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service . Retrieved April 28, 2014.