The Clatsop Plains are an area of

wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

and

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

s between the

Northern Oregon Coast Range The Northern Oregon Coast Range is the northern section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, located in the northwest portion of the state of Oregon, United States. This section of the mountain range, part o ...

and

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

in northwestern

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. They stretch from near the mouth of the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

south to the vicinity of

Tillamook Head Tillamook Head is a high promontory on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States. It is located in west-central Clatsop County, approximately 5 mi (8 km) southwest of Seaside. The promontory forms a steep rocky bluff ...

near Seaside. The plains are drained by several coastal rivers include the

Skipanon River The Skipanon River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 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 borde ...

and the

Necanicum River The Necanicum River is a river on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States, approximately long. It drains a timber-producing area of the Northern Oregon Coast Range northwest of Portland. It forms the first estuary south of th ...

, which flow parallel to the coast and empty into the Columbia at

Youngs Bay Youngs Bay, or Youngs River Bay, is located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Oregon. The Youngs River meets the Columbia River at this point, which is situated between Astoria and Warrenton. The bay is named for the Youngs River ...

near Astoria and into the Pacific Ocean near Seaside respectively. At the time, the

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...

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 In physical geography and hydrology, a channel is a landform on which a relatively narrow body of water is situated, such as a river, river delta or strait. While ''channel'' typically refers to a natural formation, the cognate term ''canal'' de ...

. The plains are named for the

Clatsop The Clatsop ( Lower Chinook: ) 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 Co ...

tribe of Native Americans who lived in the area at the time of the arrival of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

ans and

European Americans European Americans are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since th ...

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 The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

age. The northern portion is a result of the creation of the south

jetty A jetty is a man-made structure that protrudes from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater (structure), breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French la ...

on the Columbia River built in 1885. Within the plain are several lakes including Cullaby, Sunset (Neacoxie),

Smith Smith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals * Smith (given name) * Smith (surname), a family name originating in England ** List of people ...

, and Coffenbury. The latter three are filled by

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

and not local streams or rivers.Orr, Elizabeth and William Orr, and Ewart Baldwin. ''Geology of Oregon''. Kendall/Hunt Publishing, 1992, 4th edition. The first white settlement of Clatsop Plains was by two

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

, the first missionaries to arrive in Clatsop County. Solomon H. Smith who with Rev. Joseph H. Frost established a

Methodist mission The Methodist Mission was the Methodist Episcopal Church's 19th-century conversion efforts in the Pacific Northwest. Local Indigenous cultures were introduced to western culture and Christianity. Superintendent Jason Lee (missionary), Jason Lee was ...

there in 1841 and built homes for their families on Clatsop Plains. The first

Presbyterian church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...

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 A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm) ...

in 1853. It was the first Protestant church built west of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

. 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. The coastal grassy areas of Clatsop Plains was home to the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

Oregon silverspot butterfly. Re-establishment efforts are continuing. (''Speyeria zerene hippolyta''). A stretch of , the

Oregon Coast Highway Oregon ( , ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much ...

, runs through most of the length of Clatsop Plains.

Gallery

File:Speyeria zerene hippolyta.jpg, Oregon silverspot butterfly File:Coffenbury Lake (Clatsop County, Oregon scenic images) (clatDA0097a).jpg, Coffenbury Lake (named for an early settler, George W. Coffenberry/Coffinberry)

References

External links

Camp Rilea
{{Authority control Wetlands of Oregon Oregon Coast Dunes of the United States Landforms of Clatsop County, Oregon