Floras Lake - Oregon - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

From the guidebook:
At 153.4 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Right here to FLORAS LAKE, 3 m., a small body of fresh water cut off from the sea by low sand dunes, called Qua-to-ma by the Indians. On the shore of the lake is the site of Pacific City, first called Lakeport, promoted in 1908 on the supposition that a canal could be built between the sea and the lake, temporarily the largest town in Curry County. Land was cleared, wharves were built, sidewals laid, a public park platted, dwellings, business blocks, and a three-story hotel erected. Carpenters worked day and night, while long lines of teams hauled lumber from Bandon and Port Orford. A newspaper, the Floras Lake Banner, was established and forthwith began to publicize the place. People flocked in from all quarters of the country, all bent on making their fortunes. Six thousand lots were sold, the first for $12.50 apiece but later ones at $300 each.
When the first excitement had abated a few citizens began to ask questions. Where were the industries to spring from? What about raw materials? What was to be shipped out of the port? All the products that the contiguous country could supply wouldn’t make one shipload of freight. The final blow fell when, though the War Department had given permission to dig the canal, it was discovered that the town was 40 feet above sea-level and that if the canal were dug the lake would empty itself into the Pacific unless elaborate locks were built. People who could, left at once. Merchants closed their stores and professional men their offices. Guests grew scarcer at the hotel and on Thursday, November 6, 1909, the clerk closed the register with the obituary, “Not a dam sole.” Only a few brush-grown walks and the crumbling foundation of the hotel remain.
---Oregon: End of the Trail

Boise-Cope County Park at the outlet of Floras Lake is located on the site of Lakeport as interpretive signs at the site indicate. Lakeport info from sign: “1910 - The doomed town of Lakeport began. In 1910 this was the site of Lakeport. The plan to dig a canal through the dunes, making Floras Lake a major seaport, brought over 400 residents here, making it the largest town in Curry County. It was then realized that the canal would lower the lake level and Lakeport died. Today, nothing remains with the exception of pictures.”