Les Shirley Park, in the city of Cannon Beach, commemorates the arrival of Lewis and Clark’s expedition, the Corp of Discovery, to the Pacific Coast and marks their furthest southern travel along the coast.

While waiting for a trading vessel to pass by their location, Lewis and Clark established Fort Clatsop, foraged the surrounding area for supplies, and continued trading with the local tribes. Their members spread themselves along the coast, setting up camps to acquire meat, salt, and various goods to trade with the Indians.

Near Les Shirley Park, a large whale beached itself, providing the local tribes, as well as two members of the expedition, with blubber, oil and meat. Sacagawea, along with her husband Charbonneau, traveled south to examine the find, as she had never seen the ocean or a whale.

Capt. Clark also traveled south to discover if there remained any useful material from the carcass. He arrived to find only the skeletal remains of the whale, measuring 105 feet in length, the rest secured by the Kilamox Indian tribe nearby.

At great expense, Clark managed to barter 300 lbs. of blubber and a few gallons of oil from them to subsidize the Corps’ supplies.

The local city of Cannon Beach officially incorporated in 1957. American settlers arrived in the area by the early 1800s; however native tribes lived there long before then. It received its name from the recovered cannon of the USS Shark, a schooner deployed to entreat with the natives.

Researched, written, and narrated by University of West Florida Public History Student James Steele