Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
until 1948 when storms cut three gaps in the peninsula.
Only a few concrete foundations remain today.
Records kept since the early 1800s indicate
Siletz Spit in Lincoln County had been relatively stable.
With the early 1960s, a road the length of the spit,
houses, and artificial lagoons were added. Storms in the
winter of 1972 to 1973 destroyed one partially con-
structed house and threatened others on the spit. For
a time it was feared the entire spit might be cut in two,
but riprap was successfully placed on the ocean side to
protect the development. The tip of Alsea Spit was lost
as a result of winter storms and high wave action
Erosion of the Alsea Spit in Lincoln County
the current as at Cape Lookout and Cape Arago. The
spit from Cape Kiwanda across Nestucca Bay deflects
the Nestucca River southward, and at the mouths of
the Coos and Coquille rivers long sand spits have
grown down from the north pushing the rivers up
against the rocks on their south banks.
Even with their inherent instability, sand spits
attract commercial development. Unfortunately storms
and the lack of sand on winter beaches cause severe
erosion, attacking buildings close to the strand. Jutting
northward from Cape Meares for 4 miles in Tillamook
County, Bayocean Spit across Tillamook Bay is the
eroded remains of an elongate dune probably originally
connected to the mainland at the north while the
southern end was open for drainage. Bayocean, or
Tillamook Spit, has had an extensive history of erosion,
and in 1952 a mile-long break appeared. A dike was
built along the spit to seal the gap. In 1907 this spit
was the focus of real estate developers who advertised
the city of Bayocean as "The Queen of Oregon Re-
sorts." Nearly 2,000 lots were sold, houses built, and
streets paved. A natatorium and the beginnings of a
hotel with a downtown grocery, bowling alley, and rock
shop appeared on the spit before legal problems
halted construction by 1914. Winter storms in 1939
inflicted considerable damage on the road and natatori-
um, even though a few permanent residents held on
