The wreck of the Galena in our back yard.

Here is some interesting History for Surf Pines. The Krohn’s house at the west end of Horizon and the two homes on either side have something in their back yard! Turns out that the Bark Galena, a ship that ran aground on November 11, 1906, is actually laying in the back yard of all three neighbors. This is based on some old tax maps I found. The reason it seems so far up the dunes is do to the fact that in 1906 the beach actually came up close to where the homes are now. The beach has credited over 1000 feet in the last 70 years. This is mostly a result of the south jetty, which is being restored as we speak. (recent article from The Columbia Press By Cindy Yingst, Thursday, February 27, 2020″South Jetty reconstruction begins”(https://thecolumbiapress.com/…)

Sand Dunes to Surf Pines

by Alice Gustafson

Editor’s note: | contacted member, Alice Gustafson in 2010, to inquire if the Breeze could publish excerpts from her
book, Sand Dunes to Surf Pines. The book was published in 2005 and made available to Surf Pines residents and
proceeds from sales were donated to the Clatsop County Historical Society. For greater details related to this excerpt, please refer to the original material, a few are still available at the Security Office. We hope you enjoy this journey through history and thank you to author, Alice Gustafson, for her research and kind permission.
Early History of Clatsop Plains The Clatsop Plains, described as being the land north of Tillamook Head and extending to the Columbia River, were narrow, long stretches of shifting sand dunes, combined with the marshy water backup of several lakes, inciuding Smith, Neacoxie, and Sunset Lakes. One mile from the shoreline is the arrow corridor where Surf Pines, one of the first land claims on the Oregon Coast, was settled. The Plains were first settled in about 1840 by Christian missionaries traveling from the Willamette and Columbia Rivers to create trails and settlements. Quoting from Charles Stevens is an 1854 description of Clatsop Plains: “The country is perhaps the most curious that you ever saw. Just take your map and find Point Adams, at the mouth of this river and run own the coast twenty or thirty miles and you will pass along the western lines of all their claims, here is a high sand ridge and handsome beach where you can drive a horse and buggy, or a dozen of them together the whole length. About half a mile back of the ridge is another and about one fourth that distance from this is a third ridge which runs the hole length of the Plains, just as straight as the lines on this paper. These ridges are narrow on the top, hardly wide enough for two wagons to pass, and from ten to 30 feet high. Inside this third ridge are the most of their (Pioneer) farms.”

Galena ran aground at what is now Horizon Trail (#4) beach access November 13,1906.

The shoreline does not look anything like it did in those days because of what is called a prograding coast; that
is, it is always building and advancing with large amounts of sand. There was no Clatsop Spit as we recognize
it now. The Clatsop Spit of today was partly developed because of the construction in the 1920’s of the South
Jetty on the Columbia River. Over the years, the Spit has continued its presence at the base of the South Jetty
and remained a serious hazard to navigation, especially for amateur boaters.

Getting to the Clatsop Plains was by way of the Columbia River from the north and a trail from the south coast.
A lot of the land was marshy and difficult to travel and often swamped in the winter. The ridges that had
accumulated were old fore dunes that made up the trail or road.

Shallow wells were available and the forest provided plenty of trees for wood. In part, because of light
vegetation or low shrubs, Donation Land Claims (DLC) were quickly acquired and settled. Animal grazing
became the primary source of income for the early pioneers. What wheat was grown had to be taken by canoe
to Oregon City, 140 miles away, where it was ground for flour. About 20 land donation claims were staked by
1843, when the Oregon provisional government was established. The settlers soon found there were not
enough nutrients in the soil, and some moved southward to the Tillamook area or along the Lewis and Clark
River to the east.

One of the earliest settlers to remain was William Hobson. He sent to Scotland for seeds from the Scotch
broom plant with the intent to beauty his property here. The yellow blossoms reminded him of his native
country. When his son Richard came back from their homeland with more seeds he brought enough to cover
much of the country. In 1888 the seeds from those plants were harvested and sent to Fort Stevens for planting
to hold the sand. In the 1930’s its blooms extended from Astoria to Seaside where some of it was cut to make
way for the widened highway.

In the region of what is now Surf Pines, the early settlers primarily had cattle and horses grazing on the
changing dunes, which, year after year became increasingly difficult to maintain. The natural vegetation of tall
grasses would be eliminated from a severe storm or by trampling of animals foraging for food, which caused
the active dunes to be further eroded. Mrs. John Waterhouse, widow of the first postmaster of Gearhart,
remembered the area between Gearhart and Camp Clatsop (now Rilea) was sometimes called Indian or
Devil’s Race Track. Whether or not Indians raced their ponies in the hollow between the ocean and the present
highway may be a myth. Old timers did speak about fox hunts around that location as remembered events.
When the ship Peter Iredale was wrecked trying to enter the Columbia River in 1906, much publicity was given
to that catastrophe. (Remnants of the ship can still be seen in Ft. Stevens Park.) Eighteen days later, another
British sailing ship, the Galena, a 292 foot bark from England, sailed up the coast from Chile. The ship ran into
heavy fog and rain and drifted toward shore. It ran agroundin front of whatis now the beach trail from Ocean
Drive and Horizon Lane in Surf Pines. Some remains are still imbedded deep into the sand near the spruce
tree on the north side of the trail and other parts are now at the Columbia River Maritime Museum. In recent
years the ship’s bell was also donated to the Museum. Fortunately, no one was lost in this mishap. Over the
years, the mythology of the Peter Iredale has overshadowed the similar drama of the smaller ship Galena.

Comments

• Kate Besse I remember Paul See telling me about that in 2008. 
• Chuck Edgar Thanks for reminding us. There was somehing about this in the Breese about 10 years ago and I thought that the record was lost.
• Gary Peront Very interesting. Tks. 
• Bonnie Rogie Do you mean the Krohn’s 
• Kelly Stearns I wonder how deep it is???
• Valerie Viar Krohn Paul See was an authority on this and had maps and articles on the shipwreck. Maybe there is some gold buried back there? We have a photo that shows the ocean just steps away from the buildable line.
• Scott Cooter that’s fascinating! looks like we need to dig up Rzewnicki’s back yard!