Oregonrchives Month

OCTOBER 2013A Celebrate the Shore

Documenting 100 Years of Open Beaches in Oregon

1913

Governor Oswald West drafts a bill declaring all of the tidelands from the “Washington line to the Cali-fornia line” a public highway. The bill protected the tidelands from private development and provid-ed a transportation route up and down the rugged coast.

Early 1900s

Oregonians used the beaches for transportation, recreation, indus-try, and tourism. The beaches were especially used as a highway prior to the completion of the Coast Highway in 1932.

1967

The Beach Bill, championed by Governor Tom McCall and State Treasurer Bob Straub is signed into law. Modeled on the concept of common law, the bill recognizes public recreational rights or ease-ments to the dry sandy beaches all the way to the vegetation line.

VISIT YOUR LOCAL ARCHIVES TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OREGON’S BEACHES AND THE HISTORY OF YOUR COMMUNITY.

Supported by a grant from the NHPRC (http://www.archives.gov/nhprc/) and sponsored by the Oregon State Historical Records Advisory Board (http://arcweb.sos.state.or.us/pages/shrab/).

Hotel Gearhart. Image courtesy of PDXHistory.com.

Seaside, Oregon. Image courtesy of PDXHistory.com.

Bob Straub exhorts supporters at a Yes on Measure 6 rally on the beach at Cannon Beach in 1968. Image courtesy of The Oregonian.

Cannon Beach, Oregon.

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