Youngs Bay, or

Youngs River Youngs can refer to: People: *Ben Youngs (b. 1989), English rugby union player *Elaine Youngs (b. 1970), American beach volleyball player *Jenny Owen Youngs (b. 1981), American singer-songwriter *Jim Youngs (b. 1956), American actor who appeared in ...

Bay, is located in the northwestern corner of 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 sove ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. The Youngs River meets the Columbia River at this point, which is situated between Astoria and Warrenton. The bay is named for the Youngs River, which was discovered in 1792 by

William Robert Broughton William Robert Broughton (22 March 176214 March 1821) was a British naval officer in the late 18th century. As a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, he commanded HMS ''Chatham'' as part of the Vancouver Expedition, a voyage of exploration through th ...

of the

Vancouver Expedition The Vancouver Expedition (1791–1795) was a four-and-a-half-year voyage of exploration and diplomacy, commanded by Captain George Vancouver of the Royal Navy. The British expedition circumnavigated the globe and made contact with five continen ...

. The river was named for Admiral Sir George Young of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

. There are two road bridges that cross the bay, with the busiest being the new Youngs Bay Bridge, a

vertical-lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and sw ...

completed in 1964, that spans approximately and is a two-lane part of U.S. Route 101 running north to south. There is also the Old Youngs Bay Bridge about two miles to the east, completed in 1921. From 1895 to 1986, a railroad trestle also crossed the bay. Built in 1896 for the Astoria and Columbia River Railway Company, it was later transferred to the

Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway The Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway (SP&S) was a railroad in the northwest United States. Incorporated in 1905, it was a joint venture by the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway to build a railroad along the north bank of ...

, and finally to Burlington Northern Railroad. It included a swing-type draw span. The New Youngs Bay Bridge passed over the top of the SP&S bridge near the north river bank. The railroad bridge was used for the last time in 1982 and was dismantled in 1986. The bay is fished extensively for sturgeon and

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

, when in season. Most of the gillnetting community

moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

and fishes in Youngs Bay. The bay can be seen rising and falling significantly with the

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

s created where the bay meets the Columbia River, which meets the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

approximately to the west.

References

Bays of Oregon Bodies of water of Clatsop County, Oregon River bays {{ClatsopCountyOR-geo-stub