FORT UMPQUA – LONELY POST SWALLOWED BY THE SANDS

1857 sketch of Fort Umpqua from the river.

Of the three Army posts erected around the periphery of the Oregon Coast Indian Reservation, Fort Umpqua is the most forgotten. The State has made Fort Yamhill into a Park. Benton County has done the same with Fort Hoskins. Fort Umpqua lies hidden on the wrong side of the mouth of the Umpqua River, hidden by sand, vegetation and time.

Continue reading

STORMIN’ ON THE CENTRAL OREGON COAST

cape perpetua
Wave churns into the Good Fortune Cove near Cook’s Chasm with the headland of Cape Perpetua rising beyond.

The Oregon Coast is a scenic wonderland long discovered by tourists.  Many tourists take in the long coastline in one long excursion up or down US 101.  While continually spectacular, that is like Americans “seeing” Europe in one or two weeks.  The history and geography of the coast is better taken in parts.  Clatsop County in the north is very different from Lincoln in the middle and Coos and Curry Counties in the south. This trip we travelled to the Central Oregon Coast – Lincoln County, basing ourselves in the county seat of Newport. 

Continue reading