Building the coast highway
Posted by: 
Volcanoguy
N 44° 40.538 W 124° 04.513
10T E 414779 N 4947480
A history sign about Yaquina Head.
Waymark Code: WMNEFA
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 02/27/2015
Views: 3
Sign is located at the summit of Salal Hill.
Marker Name: Building the coast highway
Marker Text: Early in the era of automobiles, avid drivers pressed for a highway the length of the Pacific Coast.
Rock from the headland
Yaquina head’s accessible basalt - solid yet crushable - proved ideal material for road building, and it was quarried between 1917 and 1983.
“Three tons of blasting powder and a half a ton of dynamite was used in making the shot.” Journal (Newport, OR), 1930
Workmen sometimes carved tunnels deep into the basalt and set off massive charges of explosives. The blasts rocked the countryside, occasionally breaking windows south at Agate Beach.
Over time, the distinctive profile of the headland - a pair of rounded hills visible from both land and sea - changed dramatically.
Saving the headland
By the late 1970s, a number of nearby residents led a campaign to save the headland, claiming that the altered profile caused wind and fog to set in more heavily at Agate Beach.
Be a “Partner in Protection!”
In 1980, the campaign to preserve Yaquina Head resulted in the end of quarrying and the land was sold to the BLM. Help protect this special place by obeying the BLM’s signs and regulations.
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