Metal Mystery Pops Up on Oregon Coast at Lincoln City's D River

Published 01/31/25 at 6:26 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Lincoln City, Oregon) – Not too long ago, a bit of a metal mystery popped at an extremely popular Lincoln City. Weird, iron pointy things jutting up from the sand, maybe a foot high, with parts of the metal bent over, warped or even with holes in them: they're a head-scratcher. (Photo Jaimie Bourbon)

All gathered together in one cluster on the north side of the D River, they almost resemble the famed ghost forest stumps of Neskowin and Newport's Moolack Beach. Except these are clearly manmade. So maybe part of a shipwreck? After all, Coos Bay's Sujameco pops out of the sand only periodically when sand levels get extremely low. And they look a bit like the famed south Oregon coast remnant.

Whatever they were, they don't appear very often. Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff have been around these beaches and documented objects going back almost 30 years, and we've never seen them.

Jaimie Bourbon took many shots of them earlier this month, providing a good glimpse into what is possibly a rare sight.

Photo Jaimie Bourbon

One thing is clear: they anchored something here. The explanation from Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) is that they may have been part of a bridge that was in this spot once or what is known as a bulkhead – a barrier to keep logs out.

1967

Indeed, a bulkhead seems the most likely explanation, certainly according to historical photographs provided by OPRD, documentation from North Lincoln County Historical Museum (NLCHM) and from old newspaper clippings. In the 1967 shot here from OPRD archives, you can see the bulkhead and its pilings at about the spot Bourbon found these curiosities.

1978

There are several shots of this from OPRD taken in the '60s. In the next shot dated 1978, the ocean took out the bulkhead by this time and it's gone.

That actually follows a pattern in Oregon coast history: there is another old bulkhead remnant at Rockaway Beach that only pops up every few years when sand levels get exceptionally low. That one was made of wood, however.

Bulkheads like this were common along some ocean shore communities around the world in the early 20th century. They're not really used much anymore.

Photo NLCHM

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The metal oddities at Lincoln City lead you down another path in its history as well. There could've been a previous set of bulkheads to keep out logs just a bit inland – but it's a bit more likely they're the same set. If you look at this old photograph of the D River area you can see there used to a bridge that lined up almost to about where the seawall is today. This was back when the area was a separate little town called Delake (they all merged into Lincoln City in '64). Lincoln City Formed from Six Small Towns: Intricate History

Photo NLCHM

According to Anne Hall, director of the history museum awhile back, in her document “Delake Lincoln City's Playground” she shows off this photo and and talks about how Delake's bridge was taken out on October 18, 1941. Driftwood log jams had long been a problem up the D River, it turns out.

“In October 1941, the Central Oregon Coast was hammered by waves that rolled over sea walls and completely washed out the 185 foot D River Bridge, and causing thousands of dollars of damage along the Oregon coastline,” she wrote.

Photo Jaimie Bourbon

It's well documented in The Oregonian archives, she notes, how all the sand from that event changed the path of the D River so much it essentially disappeared. It slowly reappeared over time.

Within a week of that bridge washing out a new one was constructed a bit farther back, and that was eventually replaced by the permanent one. Highway 101 was diverted into a curve to accommodate that bridge, which is why you see it veer inland now just before and after the D River access.

In the end, the bulkhead never completely held Mother Nature back. She still tossed logs and other stuff beyond them and eventually washed these pilings away as well. In this undated photo from OPRD, somewhere between '67 and '78, you can see just part of them remaining.

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