Neahkahnie Mountain, Mountain summit in Oregon Coast Range, United States.
Neahkahnie Mountain is a headland on the Oregon Coast north of Manzanita, its peak reaching 487 metres within Oswald West State Park above U.S. Route 101. The highway crosses a pass at about 190 metres on the mountain's flank, the third-highest point on the route in Oregon. Slopes cleared by fire in earlier times are now heavily forested.
A legend recorded from the mid-1800s, told by the first Hudson's Bay Company employees in the area, holds that Spanish sailors hid a chest on the mountain in the late 16th century. In the common version, they dug a hole, lowered the treasure, killed an African slave and threw his body on top so Native Americans would not disturb the grave. Hundreds have searched since; in the 1930s two treasure hunters died when their excavation caved in.
The name Neahkahnie comes from the Tillamook language; historian Lewis A. McArthur notes its meaning is disputed, though it is often rendered "the place of the god," transcribed as Acarna. Tillamook people historically set fires on the slopes so deer and elk would find tender spring vegetation, a practice later adopted by pioneers for cattle and sheep. It was discontinued by 1990, and the slopes are now heavily forested.
The summit trail leaves from the Neahkahnie Mountain trailhead off U.S. Route 101 in Oswald West State Park, north of Manzanita. The climb is steady through forest, and the upper section is often muddy and exposed to coastal wind and fog. The highway crosses a pass at about 620 feet (190 m), the third-highest point on Route 101 in Oregon.
Beeswax has been dug from the beach sands below the southwest slopes since at least 1814, when chunks were taken to a fur trader at Astoria. One slab, described as resembling polished stone, carries a deeply carved cross with a circle at its centre. Research into the so-called Beeswax wreck points to the Manila galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos, lost on its 1693 voyage.
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