A historical overview of the Coos Bay North Jetty

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announces the availability of a new, comprehensive historical manuscript detailing the cultural, maritime, and engineering history of the Coos Bay North Jetty on the Oregon coast.

The document is now available to the public and researchers via the USACE Digital Library.

Authored by USACE for an academic and historical audience, the document provides an in-depth look at the century-long effort to tame one of the Pacific Northwest’s most dynamic coastal environments. It serves as a valuable resource for historical societies, maritime researchers, and engineering historians.

Key historical themes covered in the document include:

• Early Coastal History & Indigenous Peoples: The deep, ancestral ties of the Hanis Coos and Miluk Coos peoples to the bay, and their critical role in the survival of the shipwrecked crew of the U.S. Army schooner Captain Lincoln in 1852.
• The Genesis of a Port: The early challenges faced by settlers and the 1856 petition by the Oregon Territorial Legislature to establish Coos Bay as an official port of entry.
• Late 19th-Century Engineering Feats: Detailed accounts of the original 1890s jetty construction overseen by USACE civil engineer James Suydam Polhemus, including the use of brush mattresses, elevated narrow-gauge tramways, and Baldwin Locomotive Works engines.
• A Century of Coastal Battles: A chronological look at the continuous preservation, repairs, and innovations (such as the 1930 concrete monolith and the planting of Holland grass) required to maintain the jetty against the relentless Pacific swells from 1900 to present day.
• Cultural Significance: Context surrounding the jetty's 2019 determination of eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places and the recognition of Q’alya ta Kukwis shichdii me as a Traditional Cultural Property.

Document Access: The full manuscript is available for review and download at this link. For a narrative, AP-style feature story summarizing this history for general audiences, please visit this link on our public website.