Telling stories like this is among the many reasons why I love public television.

So... if they had  built the south jetty at the same time as the north one, Bayocean may still be around. That's the sad part of this story.

There is a long tradition of politicians ruining economies and destroying dreams

The Jetty was also responsible for the loss of multiple oyster beds in Tillamook Bay and took out tidal pools south all the way to Newport

Judging by the fact it began to rebuild after the south jetty was constructed its hard to believe the corps north jetty wasn’t responsible for destroying Bayocean

So basically when the Army Corps of Engineers determined that the North Jetty wasn't responsible for the erosion, they were either lying or extremely bad at their job. Now that the South Jetty has been built and the spit has been literally rebuilding itself (thus proving the North Jetty was the problem this entire time) I wonder if there might be a case to make regarding legal liability by the heirs of those who lost massive amounts of money.

Naturally, they finally built the South Jetty after the Mitchells died. Hmm, coincidence? Maybe, but I find it hard to believe that experts wouldn't have realized their mistake and how to fix it until the 1970s. It's not like they didn't know how this stuff worked. Experts have understood this stuff for well over 100 years (which doesn't mean we haven't learned a lot since then, but they knew plenty to understand jetties and erosion).

My mom used to talk about the Natatorium at Bay Ocean.  She was born in 1922 so 18 years old in 1940.  
I will have to ask her if she still has any photos from then.

There have been so many places like this. It is extremely difficult to create lasting settlements on places like beaches, spits, and bays. Or at least shallow ones. The ocean will win.

A very tragic but very interesting history, and a lesson for all time.

Hubris. My dad's favorite word and he let each of his 4 daughters know what the meaning is and what it can mean to one's choices.  N.B.: No one can tame the Pacific.

This happens periodically on Fire Island, the barrier beach between Long Island and the Atlantic in NY.  As a young child, we’d sometimes take the old bridge across after a hurricane and look at the rich people’s houses on stilts, 12 feet in the air or roofs and eaves disappearing into the ocean.  My mother remembered before the New England Hurricane of 1938 going crabbing in a little cove.  That was totally destroyed and bay side beach cabins washed away when the ocean broke through forming the Shinnecock Canal. After about a decade, it slowly began filling in again, but had become an established boat route, so they built jetties and have regularly dredged to keep it open.  If a storm hits when dredging is cut back, it’s positively treacherous to navigate.  Every year, some foolish or naive people ignore the warning and no swimming signs and drown.  Even when the seas are calm, a person can climb on the jetty and observe the shifting rip currents and whirlpools.

At the 20:07 mark. The man in the rolled down hip waders with his back to the camera is lawrence Root My grandfather , he lived on bayocean road just west of the memaloose point boat launch. My father went to bayocean school starting in 1934. I remember as a kid in the late 60's listening to the stories they would tell of bayocean.

Well I enjoyed this video. Used to fish the south jetty. 30 years ago now or more. Never saw any buildings and actually never really knew the real back story until now. Was told it used to be a city by friends but never knew the details. Sad story for sure.

I am thinking this story has things you can take away and it has a lesson to be learned.

Thank you OPB. This is a great documentary on the clashes between human perseverance and the power of nature. I am an Environmental and Water Resources Engineering graduate student at the University of Texas. I graduated from Portland State with a BSCE in 2019. The reporting by OPB and OFG reminds me of who and what makes the PNW special. Thank you for bringing a bit of history, engineering, and environment to a homesick student. Also, shout out to Steve Amen, Todd Sonflieth, Ed Jahn, and Jule Gilfillan!

As sad a story as any told and as well told as any.

Absolutely fascinating story!   The peninsula is now a state park, which is a good thing, and there's a lesson:  Leave well enough Alone !

This article reminds me of a similar historic event in San Francisco, CA: the destruction of Sutro Baths, an enormous glassed-in swimming emporium that was on the coast adjacent to Land's End park and was just north of Cliff House. The original Cliff House was also destroyed (twice) by lightning and storm. Its modern version is much smaller than the original, and is only a restaurant; whereas the original looked something like Xanadu from the movie Citizen Kane and was also a hotel, ballroom, etc.

This is awefully remniscent of Washaway Beach up in Washington.

I am a born and raised Oregonian, who moved to the coast 32 years ago. How I knew absolutely NOTHING about this town is beyond me!! LOL!!

I guess that I grew up with too many stories from my parents, about how both of their families survived the Vanport flood, the Tillamook burn, and how our family survived the Columbus Day storm in 1962, to  which I was alive for, but much too young to remember it. Oregon has much GREAT history of both good and bad. The older that I get the more that I appreciate ALL of  the wonderful history of our great state.