Tillamook Sites

Acquired for state park use in 1935, the State Park plans for this beautiful stretch of coastline in Tillamook County initially focused on its use as an undeveloped, natural preserve. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees built the first major improvement, a 5.2-mile trail to the end of the cape in 1939-1940. They also created a minimal picnic area at Jackson Creek. To provide road access to the park, Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers were employed in the early 1940s. Progress on improvement of the primitive road was halted by lack of funds. Work on road access resumed in the early 1950s.

From 1935 through May 1941, the area now occupied by the Trask River County Campground served as the site of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Trask. The enrollees stationed at the camp worked primarily on truck trail construction and other activities related to "fire hazard reduction" on private forest land. As described in the Vancouver Barracks report (1937): "Camp Trask is built in a grove of fir and spruce trees on the bank of the river and affords a very attractive site. The buildings are arranged into a square, with parade grounds and flagpole in the center. Electric lights are provided...

Tillamook City Hall was originally constructed as Tillamook's post office. The building was completed in 1942 and houses a New Deal mural inside. The site for the new federal post office, located across from the Tillamook County Courthouse, was acquired in 1940. As such, it contributed to a civic center within the community. The State Historic Preservation Office's evaluation of the building and its significance describes it in the following way: "It represents the federal presence in the community and was the community's first federally constructed post office. The building is of standardized design, typical of the era. The design exhibits the...

Titled "Captain Gray Entering Tillamook Bay," this mural depicts Captain Gray, who is best known for discovery of the Columbia River in the year 1792. Four years prior to that, however, he became the first white man, on record, to set foot on Oregon’s shore. On the same voyage, he was the first to carry the American flag around the world. Residents of Tillamook County find special interest in the log of his visit. The log tells of the four days spent in what is now Tillamook Bay. He believed he had discovered the “Great River of the West,” something...

The Tillamook Burn was a series of forest fires occurring at approximately six-year intervals between 1933 and 1951. The fires destroyed 355,000 acres of old growth timber in what is now the Tillamook State Forest. At the time of the fires, the majority of timberland belonged to private timber companies. The CCC was instrumental both in fighting the fires in the early 1930s and in replanting much of the area destroyed by the burn.

Once the site of CCC Camp Trask, the Trask River County Campground provides day and camping facilities on the northern bank of the Trask River. Tillamook County currently manages this recreational land, located approximately fifteen miles east of the City of Tillamook. The campground was cleared for use as a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp in 1937. CCC enrollees residing at the site also improved the campground by laying out picnic facilities and recreation trails. Additional CCC enrollees' improvements included tree planting, and road and bridge development in the area.

"Oregon Route 6 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Oregon that runs between the city of Tillamook on the Oregon Coast, to the Willamette Valley, near Banks. It (or portions thereof) is also known as the Wilson River Highway No. 37 (see Oregon highways and routes), named after the river its westernmost segments run parallel to...During the Great Depression workers from the Works Progress Administration assisted in the construction of the road." (Wikipedia) "The Wolf Creek and Wilson River highways were designed to provide a more direct route from Portland to the Oregon Coast, as well as work relief...