Breathtaking views of Cape Arago greet you at the end of the road out of Coos Bay, Oregon.

The first European visitors were the Spanish, around 1542 (Native Americans, of course, have known of this scenic headland for eons). Sir Francis Drake stopped by 1579 – in fact he sheltered his ship in the south cove during a storm. Nearly two hundred years later Captain James Cook visited the Oregon coast on his way to the Sandwich Islands (and his death), assigning names to landmarks such as Cape Foulweather and Cape Perpetua that have endured to this day. On March 12, 1778 he spotted a cape near Coos Bay he dubbed Cape Gregory. That name, did not however stick, and we know it now as Cape Arago.

Update: @ChrisHarley on Twitter pointed to this nifty video visualizing US expansion through post offices by Derek Watkins, which makes it unclear whether Astoria, Oregon City, or Salem served as home to the first post office west of the Rockies. Oregon City shows up first in the lookup tool hosted by the US Post Office: March 29, 1847. The same tool shows Salem’s post office established on November 8, 1849. But Salem Online History suggests Salem’s was established in 1846, though no day and month is specified. Meanwhile Earliest Oregon Postoffices as Recorded at Washington (by Lewis A. McArthur in the Oregon Historical Quarterly Vol. 41, No. 1 – March 1940), which used as its source Book 19 of “a series of volumes in the office of the Division of Postmasters’ Appointments at the Post Office Department in Washington, D. C.”, shows the establishment dates as follows:

1. Astoria: March 9, 1847, with John M. Shively first postmaster
2. Oregon City: March 29, 1847, with David Hill postmaster
3. Salem: November 8, 1849, with John B. McClane postmaster

 

The first U.S. Post Office west of the Rocky Mountains opened in Astoria, Oregon on March 9, 1847.

But more interesting than the post office building (pictured), is the man who served as the first postmaster.

Oregon pioneer John Shively had settled in Astoria in 1844 but was kicked out by the Hudson’s Bay Company after a property boundary dispute. In 1847 he was living in Washington D.C. when he was appointed postmaster of the new Astoria post office by the U.S. Postmaster General.

Somewhat of a flighty fellow, he served in that capacity only until 1849, when the draw of newly discovered gold in California became too strong. In 1850 he returned to Astoria, assuming he could reclaim his job (he lost all his gold rush earnings in a shipwreck), but another fellow had taken the job in his absence. Shively did okay though, he got jobs as county surveyor and road commissioner, and after chasing a southern Oregon gold rush he returned once again to Astoria a relatively wealthy man.

Read more about John Shively’s shenanigan-filled life at the Oregon Encyclopedia.

Lost in the fog and mistaking fires on the beach for the lights of a steamer in the mouth of the Columbia, the captain of the German square-rigger Mimi sailed her smack into the Nehalem Spit (about 40 miles south of the Columbia) on the evening of February 13, 1913.

Amazingly, no one was injured, and members of the crew were able to walk ashore in the low tide to meet with the insurance adjuster.

The tragedy occurred when efforts were made to refloat the Mimi on April 6. In heavy seas 18 perished as the barque capsized during the salvage mission.

Sources: Oregon Disasters: True Stories of Tragedy and Survival, the Morning Oregonian, 02-17-1913, and the New York Times, 03-07-1913. Photo from the Tillamook County Library digital exhibits.