Photo: Bain / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Anyone who walks the beach in Lincoln City or Newport owes something to Oswald West. As governor from 1911 to 1915, he pushed for a law that kept Oregon’s wet sand beaches in public hands.
Beaches as highways
In 1913 the Legislature declared the ocean shore between low and high tide a public highway. At the time, beaches were used for travel along parts of the coast, but the law’s lasting effect was to keep private owners from selling the shore.
Building on his work
Decades later, the 1967 Beach Bill extended public rights to the dry sand. Our explainer on the Beach Bill covers that law.
Remembered on the coast
Oswald West State Park on the north coast is named for him. On the central coast, his legacy is simpler: miles of beach that anyone can walk.
Silas Kerrigan covers business, the tourism economy and household finance in Lincoln County.
