History of Yachats

Homesteaders used the Indian farms and trails to develop the Yachats area. In 1892 the first post office was established in Yachats (called Oceanview until it was renamed Yachats in 1917). Until Yachats could be reached by a macadam road, rains made it impossible for the mail to be carried by car. The Roosevelt Memorial Highway (now Highway 101), carved out of the rock of Cape Perpetua in 1931, changed all this by opening up a route from the town of Florence. Despite the early difficulties of reaching Yachats, the tourist industry began in 1905 with the conversion of a chittum bark warehouse into the first hotel. Today tourism is the city's main industry.

Yachats was part of the war effort in both World Wars I and II. Spruce was needed for airplanes during World War I, and in 1918 the U.S. Army Signal Corps undertook logging at Camp 1, an area about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Yachats. A railroad needed for transporting logs to a mill was completed just three days before the war ended. A private company continued the logging operations, however.

Early in World War II the West Shelter built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) near the top of Cape Perpetua was used as an observation site and radar station for the detection of enemy submarines and aircraft. In Yachats, foxholes and gun emplacements were installed along the ocean drive. Military personnel were housed in a local skating rink and the Ladies Club was rented for recreation. After the war, the U.S. Coast Guard discovered Japanese mines that had floated onto the beaches. These were hauled out to sea and destroyed.

The Little Log Church is a historical museum displaying many artifacts relating to Yachats's past. The