10 Odd Things That Were Blown Up on Oregon Coast (or just exploded)

Published 03/31/25 at 7:35 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Waldport, Oregon) – Counting major road construction 100 years ago or the top of Tillamook Rock, a surprising amount of stuff has been blown up on the Oregon coast. And (mostly) on purpose. That includes two whales, various famous rock attractions, a bridge, a couple of shipwrecks, one ghost ship, and apparently even a satellite. (Photo of New Carissa / BLM)

Dig into a kooky list (with the first being things like dynamiting the top of Tillamook Rock to make way for the lighthouse).

Sacred Rock at Bandon

Courtesy Bandon History Museum

Until Euro settlers arrived, tribes in the Bandon area had a friend in what they called Grandmother Rock, a formation that stood far above the beach (where a retirement home is now). As they took over, the rock was redubbed Tupper Rock after a former captain named Tupper and his hotel next to it. Grandmother was a sacred place to the first locals, however.

The rock became quite a tourist attraction all its own, with settlers building a massive stairway to its top, including a bandstand where a whole wind ensemble would perform.

Then in 1883, locals decided the landmark wasn't needed as much as rocks for the new jetty, and dynamite was taken to it numerous times until it became a quarry tens of feet deep. Bandon's Tupper Rock history.

Exploding Ship That Steered Itself

Courtesy North Lincoln County Historical Museum

On Wednesday, May 18, 1910, the steam schooner J. Marhoffer was about four miles off this coastline when the engine room caught fire. One major explosion after another happened, with all crewmen managing to get into lifeboats, but for a time the steamer did at least one circle by itself just offshore as it was blowing up. Darkness was already falling and quite a few could see the fiery vessel racing at full speed all by itself, finally hitting the shoreline in another big fireball.

The resulting conflagration could be seen miles in either direction.

The boiler of the Marhoffer is still there: you know the place as Boiler Bay near Depoe Bay. Boiler Bay and the J. Marhoffer Shipwreck: Oregon Coast History

Exploding Whale of Warrenton

By September 1 of 1937, Warrenton residents had had quite enough of a nasty smelling whale carcass that had grown – well... beyond all believable bounds - in odoriferousness. Locals had been arguing with the state over who would be responsible for the stinky beast, since it had landed on mudflats and not the beach itself.

The dirty deed apparently fell in their own laps. So, they took their destiny into their own hands and yes....they blew up the whale. This was thirty years before the well-known Exploding whale. Warrenton Had an 'Exploding Whale' 30 Years Before

A huge crowd had gathered, and by all accounts in the newspapers it went about as well as you can guess: cars and people were soaked in whale blood 'n guts.

Yes, Florence had a prequel. Yet even with this horrific outcome, Oregon officials considered it a success. Periodically, other whale carcasses were discussed in terms of dynamite but luckily none went that route – until the big one, that is.

Iredale Nearly Blown Up in WWII

In the early '40s, the wreck of the Peter Iredale nearly bit it. In an extremely rare event, a Japanese sub fired upon Fort Stevens in the middle of one June night, narrowly missing the fort and the Iredale. There were craters the size of a human lying around, including at least one close to the wreck.

After that, patrols regularly paced the Oregon coast beaches and there was even barbed wire strung along this stretch, including through the wreck itself. See full story Where a Japanese Sub Fired on Oregon: Battery Russell and Fort Stevens

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach

Courtesy Cannon Beach History Museum - note the ledge at bottom

Not very well-known in the history of Cannon Beach is that Haystack Rock had to be blown up a bit to be safer. By the late '60s, there had been numerous mishaps of people climbing the rock and getting injured or worse. Tourists behaving badly was about half of it – the other was that it and other sea stacks on the coast had been declared wildlife refuges.

One Tuesday morning they took dynamite to a lower ledge that allowed people to start their climb, thus changing the face of the rock forever. When They Blasted Haystack Rock

Exploding Whale

November 1970: you know the story. They blew up a whale carcass, and boy, did it backfire. Nov. 12 is Happy Exploding Whale Day, New Facts

Blasting Heceta Head

Courtesy Heceta Head Lighthouse Interpretive Center - part of the rock blasted away

On March 3, 1986, one of the rocks below Heceta Head received the dynamite treatment from Oregon officials. There's a little bit of mystery here – in that this was supposed to be done in 1983 but for some reason it was suddenly postponed.

The landmark near Florence was in the same situation as Haystack Rock nearly 20 years earlier: people kept getting hurt. Seven either drowned or were injured during the '70s. So again, blasting had to be done to keep people from hopping onto the rocks.

Waldport's Bridge

The Alsea Bay Bridge you see now is the second one over Waldport's bay. The first was built in '36 by famed architect Conde McCullough, but in the '70s it became clear it would have to be replaced. In 1991, the new one was finished right next to the old bridge, and Oregon officials blew it up and dismantled it.

Blowing Up the New Carissa

Early 1999 was a wacky time to live in Oregon. New technologies allowed all of us to watch a strange shipwreck drama play out in Coos Bay and then also in Waldport. It's like a news story with a sequel.

Two halves of the ship - BLM

The 639-foot New Carissa ran aground on the south coast and it was soon discovered it was leaking oil all over the place. A week later, February 10, the Navy tried to set the oil on fire to burn it off – all on live TV. Yet to the amazement of perhaps millions, it only separates the ship in half. Another attempt to burn it doesn't work, and the bow that was getting towed out to sea broke loose and wandered for days until it ended up in Waldport. Wild Tale of New Carissa Wreck Began on Oregon Coast (Photos)

SpaceX Satellite in Waldport

Many still remember the striking and frightening sight of a SpaceX rocket launch gone wrong, and it leaves a streak of destruction across the skies of the Northwest. That happened in late March of '21, and then a bit later a chunk of it was found in a Washington field.

In April, another mysterious piece was found on a beach near Waldport, and it had authorities and residents a bit spooked. SpaceX never fessed up to it being theirs, but they did advise Lincoln County Sheriffs it would be okay to move and not endanger anyone. SpaceX Rocket Debris Found on Oregon Coast

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