Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, Fort Canby
2 images 1 contributors Shoot with care
Steve West
Shoot with care
Access to the lighthouse is currently prohibited, but there is a good view from the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center at Cape Disappointment State Park.
About this spot
A prominent cape on the north side of the river’s mouth helps mark the entrance to the river. Named “Kah’eese” by the local Indians, and then Cape San Rogue by Bruno de Heceta in 1775, the cape received its current name from Captain John Meares. After vainly trying to seek shelter from a turbulent sea on July 6, 1788, Meares wrote, “Disappointment continued to accompany us…we can safely exert that no river San Rogue exists.” Out of frustration, Meares christened the cape, “Cape Disappointment.” Robert Gray applied the name Cape Hancock to the cape in 1792, but later changed the name to Disappointment, when he learned Meares had so named it earlier.
Cape Disruption was armed with rifle-drilling cannons during the American Civil War and World War II to protect the mouth of the Columbia River from the enemy.
The fort was named after General Edward Canby, who was killed in the Indian War of the Modoc, and until 1875 the fort was extended to Fort Can. The fortress was further improved at the end of the Second World War and there is still a rifle battery in the park.
Cape Disruption was armed with rifle-drilling cannons during the American Civil War and World War II to protect the mouth of the Columbia River from the enemy.
The fort was named after General Edward Canby, who was killed in the Indian War of the Modoc, and until 1875 the fort was extended to Fort Can. The fortress was further improved at the end of the Second World War and there is still a rifle battery in the park.
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