A Deeper Look: Tillamook County

Captain Grey, Tillamook fight

Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith. I Timothy 1:18-19 NIV

Tales of Spanish galleons and ancient shipwrecks are high on my list of distractions when it comes to historical research. The point of researching the history of an area, in this case Tillamook County, is to locate events that happened in the past that we can pray over or even repent – like the killings at Murderer’s Harbor - when that seems appropriate. The Oregon coastline is such a place of mystery, intrigue, romance, and adventure that distractions are inevitable. But, then, maybe there are things in those old stories to pray over after all? 

Tillamook County, Oregon

 Tillamook County’s long coastline is part of the "Graveyard of the Pacific" mentioned in an earlier post, a strip of coastline from Tillamook Bay to Vancouver Island known for its dangerous weather and treacherous shoreline. It is difficult to think about Tillamook County without thinking about the Pacific and boats of all kinds, from the dory fleet at Pacific City to the exploring and trading vessels that sailed in the “olden days.”

The Bible mentions ships and the sea a lot. And a boat, or barque, was an ancient Christian symbol of the church, tossed on the stormy waves of the world.

While we earlier shared the story of the Norwegian schooner, Shuan, that wrecked near Sandlake in Tillamook County in 1890, there are more ancient stories.

The Bees Wax Wreck, a very old wreck carrying large quantities of bees wax and candles, has been known since early settlement days, and more recently the Maritime Archeological Society has shed light on the mystery of its origins.

For a couple of centuries, the Spanish had a trade route from Manila, Philippines to Mexico and South America, supplying the Spanish Catholic missions with bees wax for candles and returning with loads of silver. In July of 1693 the Spanish galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos left Manila for Acapulco, Mexico loaded with bees wax, candles, and Asian luxury goods, and was never seen again. The Native Americans around Nehalem Spit, about twenty miles north of Tillamook Bay, maintained that a large ship had wrecked there many years before the first Americans arrived and bees wax, candles and Chinese pottery shards had been scattered along the coast.

galleon

The story continues that some of the crew survived and settled among the Tillamook Indians. In the mid-1800’s, when the first white settlers came to Tillamook County, Chief Kilchis, a chief of the Tillamook tribe, was said to have been descended from a sailor from a long-ago shipwreck. He had the features of someone of African descent, and his ancestor was said to have been the ship’s blacksmith, who earned the friendship of the natives by showing them how to make knives of the metal from the wreck. They also apparently made arrowheads of the pottery shards.

This is likely the earliest known shipwreck in the Pacific Northwest.

Another early maritime event for Tillamook County was the arrival of Captain Robert Grey in 1788, discovering Tillamook Bay even before his discovery of the mouth of the Columbia River in 1792. Captain Grey was the first American to set foot in Oregon. His crew named the bay “Murderer Harbor” due to a tragic altercation they had with the Native Americans. The interaction with the Indians, apparently a misunderstanding over a knife, resulted in the death of one crewmember and several Tillamook Indians.

The pioneers began settling the county in the 1850’s. Tillamook County has been a rural, and rather isolated, place of tough and independent fishermen, loggers, and dairymen - but it is also a very cosmopolitan place, with visitors and sailors washing up from all over the world. There are stories of the remains of Chinese junks being found as well as shipwrecks from other countries.

In praying for Tillamook County keep in mind those early days, the trauma, loss, and grief of shipwreck
survivors, the injustices to the Native Americans. While “Murderer Harbor” was later changed “Tillamook Bay,” it marks what is probably the first killing of Native Americans by Europeans in Oregon.

Meanwhile, on land, the Methodists and the Catholics both were establishing congregations by 1860   although they had to meet in homes and borrowed buildings for several years before church buildings could be constructed.

The County government is made up of a three-person Commission. Currently the Commissioners are Mary Faith Bell, David Yamamoto, and Erin Skaar. In 2020 the Commissioners were faced with a cyber breach of the county computer system and records by international cyber criminals. While they retrieved as much of their sensitive records as possible, in the end they were obliged to pay the $300,000 ransom.

How do we pray for Tillamook County?

Create a clean heart within me, O God; and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:9

Pray for the Commissioners as they continue to ensure the safety of the county systems and records.

Pray for the safety of modern sailors and fishermen who make a living off the Tillamook coast.

Pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in all the towns of Tillamook County.