Yaquina ( ), at one time a thriving port called Yaquina City, is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Lincoln County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. It is near the mouth of the

Yaquina River The Yaquina River ( ) is a stream, long, on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of Oregon. It drains an area of the Central Oregon Coast Range west of the Willamette Valley near Newport. It rises in the mountains west of Corvallis along the c ...

, on the east side of

Yaquina Bay Yaquina Bay ( ) is a coastal estuarine community found in Newport, Oregon, United States. Yaquina Bay is a semi-enclosed body of water, approximately 8 km² (3.2 mi²) in area, with free connection to the Pacific Ocean, but also diluted ...

, and is a drive from Newport. The Oregon Press Association, which became the

Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association The Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association is a trade association for all paid-circulation daily, weekly, and multi-weekly newspapers in the U.S. state of Oregon. It represents and promotes newspapers, and encourages excellence in reporting and ...

, was founded in Yaquina City in 1887.

Name

The city, the bay, and the river are all named for the

Yaquina people The Yaquina people were a tribe of Native Americans. There were 19 Yaquina in 1910. Their language was one of the Yakonan languages. The Yaquina lived around the Yaquina River and Yaquina Bay Yaquina Bay ( ) is a coastal estuarine community foun ...

, a small Native American tribe of Yakonan speakers who lived near the bay.

History

In the late 19th century, Yaquina City was the western terminus of the Oregon Pacific Railroad, linking the harbor there to Corvallis and Albany.

Thomas Egenton Hogg Thomas Egenton Hogg (1828–1898) was a master in the Confederate States Navy who participated in raids on Union ships during the American Civil War. He was captured and sentenced to death, but was eventually released from prison, after which he b ...

, the rail line's chief promoter, and his Eastern financial backers believed that a steamship–railroad combination using Yaquina Bay could compete successfully with the usual

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

route to Portland. The first train moved over the line in 1885, making connections at Yaquina City with a steamer to San Francisco. However, the Yaquina–Albany line and a partly completed extension from Albany toward the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

, became too expensive to continue. After the Oregon Pacific failed financially, it fell into

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in ca ...

and went through 17 years of financial and legal complications before becoming a branch line of the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

in 1907. In 1911, the city had a

railroad station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

, a roundhouse and associated railroad shops, a bank, a three-story hotel, other commercial establishments, and many homes. As many as eight trains were needed on weekends to carry beach-goers from the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...

to Yaquina City and the steamer ''Yaquina'', which carried them across the bay to Newport. However, Newport and nearby Toledo, more accessible by highway, grew larger over time while Yaquina City shrank. By the beginning World War II, Toledo was the western terminus of the rail line, and the tracks from there to Yaquina City were removed. Roughly 20 years later, the former seaport's population dropped to zero. Historian Edwin Culp writes: "Today one can drive along the bay from Newport to Toledo, pass through Yaquina City, and never know that such a town existed." On August 21, 2017, Yaquina became the first place in the United States to witness totality of the

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

References

{{Authority control Unincorporated communities in Lincoln County, Oregon Unincorporated communities in Oregon Oregon placenames of Native American origin