sandy stairs - cannon beach, oregon

In 1846, a cannon from the US Navy schooner Shark washed ashore just north of Arch Cape, a few miles to the south of Elk Creek, the current Cannon Beach.

The schooner was wrecked while attempting to cross the Columbia Bar, also known as the "Graveyard of the Pacific" because of the danger of the bar.

The townspeople of Elk Creek thought Cannon Beach to be a more interesting name and so renamed their town.

The cannon is in the town's museum and a replica of it can be seen alongside U.S. Route 101.