Cape Disappointment State Park History

Cape Disappointment State Park spreads over the land north of the point where the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean meet. The park includes three headlands of basalt rock cliffs: Cape Disappointment overlooking the river, North Head above the strand of Long Beach, and McKenzie Head, midway between the other two headlands. The basalt bedrock of these wave-pounded cliffs are ancient lava flows that erupted on the ocean floor. Encountering the cold ocean water, the lava quickly hardened into bulbous masses geologists call pillow lava. Much later the flows were scraped off onto the North American continent by the forces of plate tectonics. These dense lavas are resistant to erosion, maintaining their lofty bulk against the continuous battering of the Pacific Ocean.

The Columbia River has the greatest flow of any North American river entering the Pacific Ocean, as its 1,243-mile length drains a watershed about the size of France.

Indigenous Lands and Colonists

Cape Disappointment State Park lies within the traditional territories of Indigenous people whose present-day descendants include members of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe and other Chinook language speaking peaking people. For thousands of years the lands and waters of this area, called Kah’ eese in the Chinook language, have provided habitat for a diverse community of life that forms the basis of their cultures. Salmon species of the Columbia River are a primary foundation of Indigenous lifeways in the region.

Some of the first interactions between the Indigenous people of today’s Washington State and newcomers from European nations occurred in the vicinity of Cape Disappointment. In the 1700’s many nations attempted to discover and claim a “Northwest Passage” connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The Spanish Crown claimed exclusive rights to colonize the west coast of North America based on the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas. In 1775, Spanish Navigator Bruno de Heceta was tasked with sailing along the coast of North America to strengthen that claim. Turned back by deadly resistance from Quinault warriors and widespread sickness amongst his crew, he noted the mouth of a major river with a current so strong he was unable to enter even with a full press of sails. Heceta charted the name “Cabo San Roque” for the tall headland above the river’s mouth.

On July 6, 1788, British fur trader Captain John Meares searched for the river charted by Heceta. He mistook the mouth of the river for a bay, which his ship could not enter due to shallow sand bars. He named the tall headland beside the bay “Cape Disappointment,” for his failure to locate the river.

Captain George Vancouver sailed north past the mouth of the Columbia in April 1792, noting a discoloration of the water but missing the river. On May 12, 1792, Captain Robert Gray from Boston located the river mouth and was able to pilot his ship Columbia Rediviva past the treacherous sand bars. He named the river for his ship. Informed by Gray of his success, Captain Vancouver directed Lieutenant William Broughton to enter the river in October of 1792. He charted the course of the river 100 miles upstream to near today’s city of Vancouver, WA. Some geographers speculated that the Columbia River might provide a water route connecting to the Missouri River, completing the “Northwest Passage.”

Lewis and Clark

US President Thomas Jefferson commissioned a Corps of Discovery in 1803. The Corps, under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark, was directed to “explore the Missouri River, & such principle stream of it, as, by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean … may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent for the purpose of commerce.” The Corps departed from Camp Dubois, MO, on May 14, 1804.

On November 19, 1805, Seargant John Ordway of the Corps wrote in his journal: “towards evening we arrived at the Cape disappointment in the Sea Shore. Went over a bald hill where we had a handsom view of the ocean. We went on a Short distance on the coast and Camped for the night.” Captain William Clark noted in his journal that the “men appear much Satisfied with their trip beholding with estonishment the high waves dashing against the rocks & this emence ocean.”

The bald hill where the Corps sighted the ocean is today’s McKenzie Head in Cape Disappointment State Park. The precise cartography and voluminous scientific and cultural information provided by Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery enhanced American claims to the land in today’s Pacific Northwest states.

The Oregon Treaty

US and British commercial interests competed for influence and control of the area. The Oregon Treaty between the United States and Great Britain in 1846 established the border between the two countries’ colonial administration at the 49th parallel, putting the lands making up today’s Cape Disappointment State Park under American jurisdiction. Passage of the Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 by the US Congress allowed American settlers to claim land in the territory after they had lived on the land for four years. A single male who had arrived before December 1850 could be granted 320 acres; if the homesteader was married, his wife could also receive 320 acres in her name.

Representatives of the Chinookan people that lived near the mouth of the Columbia River met with Anson Dart, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Oregon Territory, in August 1851. Dart had been instructed to secure an agreement with the people to relocate to a reservation east of the Cascade Mountains, hundreds of miles from their homeland. The tribes rejected the idea of leaving their homes and negotiated a treaty (called the Tansey Point Treaty) which included the right to remain in restricted local areas of the lower Columbia River valley, while ceding millions of acres of surrounding lands to the US Government. The Tansey Point Treaty was never ratified by the US Senate, but the lands were taken anyway, leaving the Indigenous signers and their families without any of the rights and benefits they had negotiated.

Local Indigenous nations also refused to accept the conditions proposed by Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens at a second treaty council, the Chehalis River Treaty Council, in February 1855. Subsequently, title to additional lands were relinquished to the US federal government and the Shoalwater Bay Reservation was established by executive order of President Andrew Johnson on September 22, 1866. The Chinook Indian Nation received federal recognition in 2001, but that recognition was rescinded 18 months later.

Government surveys of the land in today’s Cape Disappointment State Park were completed in 1859, and land began to pass into private ownership as Donation Land Claims.

Elijah and Sarepta White’s Pacific City

In May 1842, Elijah White had led the first large wagon train on the Oregon Trail, arriving in August with over 100 people and 18 wagons. He repeated the journey in 1843 with around 1,000 people and 100 wagons. He had also convinced the US federal government to appoint him as the first US official in the territory, Sub-Agent of Indian Affairs. On March 22, 1849, Elijah and Sarepta White filed for a Donation Land Claim on Baker Bay in today’s Cape Disappointment State Park and platted a settlement with several hundred building lots called Pacific City.

White was reputed to be a very effective promoter and succeeded in attracting several dozen people to invest in the community. J.D. Holman purchased a prefabricated, fully equipped and furnished 60-room hotel from New York and paid $8,000 in freight charges to ship it around South America to Pacific City. Advertisements noted that the completed hotel “is situated upon an eminence commanding a most beautiful and picturesque view.” A post office was established by 1850. In February of 1851, Pacific County was established by the Oregon Territorial Legislature and Pacific City was named the county seat.

Cape Disappointment Military Reservation

US military leaders urged measures to provide for the defense of the large territory acquired by the Oregon Treaty with Great Britain and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the US-Mexico War in 1848. The mouth of the Columbia River had been recognized as an important defensive point by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes during the United States Exploring Expedition in 1841, and subsequent surveys agreed. On February 26, 1852, property owners in Pacific City were notified of the establishment of the Cape Disappointment Military Reservation on land that they occupied and that they would need to vacate their property. Some received compensation for their removal. Sarepta White ultimately received a Donation Land Claim patent for 209 acres just to the north of the military reservation in 1882, after her husband’s death.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, Life Saving Station and Weather Station

The risks of navigating the entrance to the Columbia River were well known. In 1812, members of the Astor fur trading company had placed a white flag on the summit of Cape Disappointment and burned trees to signal a supply ship. By 1842, Cape Disappointment had been marked by trimming the tops of the tall trees on the crest. The notch could be used as a bearing mark by vessels steering for the entrance to the river. The US Congress appropriated money for a lighthouse at Cape Disappointment on September 28, 1850. Unfortunately, the Oriole, bringing the construction materials to build the lighthouse, ran aground attempting to enter the Columbia River in September 1853, and the materials were lost. The tower was constructed the next year, but the light was not delivered for two more years. The lighthouse began operation on October 15, 1856. Another duty was added at Cape Disappointment in 1877 when a Life Saving Station was established. The crew of this station participated in many heroic rescues over the years, rowing heavy boats through the ocean surf and swells to assist mariners in distress. In 1878, a weather station was established at Cape Disappointment, reporting and recording wind velocities and surf conditions. The weather station also reported the arrival and departure of ships. This vital information was relayed to shipping centers around the world after a telegraph connection was added in 1888.

Fort Canby

Despite establishment of the Cape Disappointment Military Reservation, the US Congress did not appropriate funds for construction of fortifications until February 26, 1862, as a defense against Confederate as well as foreign adversaries. On July 4, 1863, Captain G.H. Elliot began construction operations at Cape Disappointment. Earthworks with three batteries of guns were officially activated on April 5, 1864, with the arrival of Company A, 9th Infantry, under the command of Captain William H. Jordan. Officer’s quarters, barracks, a hospital and other buildings were added. On February 13, 1875, the fort was renamed Fort Canby in honor of Brevet Major General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby, who had been killed in action in 1873 in the Modoc War. As early as 1872, the earthworks at Fort Canby were reported to be “rapidly falling into decay,” with obsolete armaments.

The Endicott Board—Columbia River Coast Defense

In the years after the end of the US Civil War, significant technological advances in heavy arms and naval capabilities made existing US coastal defenses obsolete. In 1885 US President Grover Cleveland appointed a military and civilian board to develop recommendations. The board was guided by US Secretary of War William Endicott. The 1886 report of the Endicott Board, as it became known, detailed the state of neglect of US defenses and advocated for a construction program to build or improve fortifications at 29 sites, including Fort Canby. The new plan for Fort Canby included the installation of large rifles on disappearing carriages and mortar batteries in concrete emplacements. The work was completed late in 1906. Battery Harvey Allen, located near today’s Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, was named in honor of Lieutenant Colonel Harvey Abner Allen, whose long and honorable service in the US Army was marked by “gallant and meritorious conduct” in the US-Mexico War and US Civil War.

North Head Lighthouse—1898

On February 15, 1893, the US Congress provided funding to construct a lighthouse on North Head, recognizing that southbound mariners were often not able to see the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse as they approached the mouth of the Columbia River. The first order Fresnel lens at Cape Disappointment was moved to North Head in 1898, and a fourth order Fresnel lens was installed at Cape Disappointment.

The Cape Disappointment weather station was also moved to North Head, in 1902. With the advent of wireless radio transmission in 1907, the weather station was able to provide time signals, messages and weather bulletins to ships at sea, sometimes thousands of miles away.

Columbia River Jetties and Accretion

The mouth of the Columbia River's jetty system was constructed between 1885 and 1939. The system consists of three rubble-mound jetties: North Jetty, South Jetty and Jetty A. Constructed on massive tidal shoals and totaling 9.7 miles in length, the jetties minimize navigation channel maintenance and make passage safer for vessels transiting between the Pacific Ocean and the Columbia River. They also modified the transport of sediment deposited by the Columbia River along the coastlines of Washington and Oregon. Within today’s Cape Disappointment State Park, hundreds of acres of land were added by accretion between North Head and the North Jetty, causing McKenzie Head to become a landlocked hill.

WW I and WW II

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the garrison at Fort Canby was expanded. It was also noted that the gun batteries were obsolete due to coastal accretion wrought by the jetties. As the river entrance extended farther west, the range of the guns could no longer reach an enemy warship entering the river. The decommissioned guns were sent overseas to serve as rail-mounted portable guns on the battlegrounds of the war in Europe. Perhaps the biggest role the fort played during World War I was as a training ground for artillery regiments that were eventually sent into combat in Europe.

A new mortar battery, Battery Guenther, was added to maintain a deterrent at Fort Canby. After the Armistice ending World War I, the fort was reduced to a state of inactivity, attended only by one sergeant and two other enlisted men.

From 1933-1936, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a Great Depression-era program to provide work and training for unemployed single men, established a camp on the grounds of Fort Canby. The CCC workers built the bayside road from Ilwaco to the fort, as well as a road to the summit of McKenzie Head.

On February 21, 1941, Fort Canby was reactivated as the United States prepared for World War II. Because the existing gun batteries were obsolete, Battery 247 was constructed on McKenzie Head, and activated on March 9. 1945. Top-secret radar installations were constructed near Cape Disappointment and North Head.

By October 1947 all personnel and armaments had been withdrawn from Fort Canby and the barracks and other salvageable structures were sold or removed from the area.

Becoming a State Park

The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission (WSPRC) received a deed to a parcel of land near North Head from Pacific County for park purposes in 1938. The land was a portion of the original Donation Land Claim received by Sarepta White in 1882, but remained undeveloped, with an old-growth Sitka spruce forest that was designated part of the park’s protected Natural Forest Area in 2004.

When Fort Canby was decommissioned in 1947, the land in the military reservation was transferred to the US Coast Guard, US Army Corps of Engineers, General Services Administration and US Bureau of Land Management (later transferred to the National Park Service). The WSPRC obtained title to a parcel including McKenzie Head and Lake O’Neil from the General Services Administration for use as an historical monument on September 23, 1957.

On May 5, 1958, Pacific County transferred a narrow parcel of land providing access to the ocean beach at Beards Hollow north of North Head to the WSPRC.

In 1964, property including the North Head Lighthouse and Lighthouse Keepers’ residences (also part of the original Sarepta White Donation Land Claim) were licensed to the WSPRC for park purposes. Title to the land was transferred to the WSPRC on November 12, 1976, under terms of the Federal Lands to Parks Act. Full ownership of the North Head lighthouse was transferred to the WSPRC in 2012. Over the next decade, a series of restoration projects on the buildings returned them to their historic appearance.

On February 28, 1966, the WSPRC entered into a lease agreement with the US Army Corps of Engineers for management of 725 acres including the accreted lands between the North Jetty and McKenzie Head, and the basalt cliffs above Waikiki Beach.

Cape Disappointment State Park features one of the largest campgrounds in any Washington State Park on lands that are leased from the National Park Service, tying together the other parcels of acquired or leased lands.

On October 10, 1976, the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center was dedicated, providing exhibits and programs that detail the experiences and consequences of the Corps of Discovery’s remarkable journey to explore America’s hinterland. The Interpretive Center’s exhibits were updated in 2004 as part of regional efforts to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the expedition.

Earlier, in 1999, a group of historians, community and tribal leaders had begun to discuss how to appropriately commemorate the anniversary. They agreed to acknowledge the resilience of the Indigenous peoples that the expedition had met on their journey. The non-profit Confluence Project engaged artist Maya Lin to design artwork installations at six sites along the Columbia River to interweave the stories of the Corps of Discovery and Indigenous people. On May 7, 2006, the artwork at Cape Disappointment State Park was dedicated, incorporating excerpts from the journals of the expedition, a Chinook song of praise, and artwork highlighting basalt rock, cedar and salmon.