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Before the existance of Ocean City and Ocean Shores, the entire stretch of beach from Copalis Rock to Damon Point (Ocean Shores) was known as Copalis Beach.

First settled in the 1880's, Copalis (now Copalis Beach) became famed as the "home of the razor clam".  In the late 1940's, commercial diggers harvested more than a million pounds from Copalis Beach.  Tourists dug thousands of pounds more.  Several canneries made Copalis their home including the Sea Beach Clam Cannery Packing Works.  The first cannery was established in 1906 by Halferty - it and all the others are long gone.

Charlie McIntyre, a sea otter hunter, was one of the first settlers.  He built a shack on top of Copalis Rock where it was easy to spot and shoot sea otters from this vantage point.  Once shot, the sea otters floated in on the next high tide.

Summer resorts became important due to the economic boost they created.  One of the most widely known was Menath's Campgrounds formerly located where Sunrise Resorts now resides.   The first campground was established in 1913 by the Housier family.  It was situated on the same property where the Green Lantern Tavern now sits.  It housed clam diggers who worked in the canneries. 

One of Copalis Beach's long-standing icons was the Tourist Garage operated by Sam Cameron beginning in 1935.   The majority of his business was hauling cars off the beach with his tow truck.  Another important business was the Copalis Mercantile (aka Johnson's Mercantile).   At one time it had gas pumps out front and sold everything from food to hardware and tourist souvenirs.  Some of which are on display in the museum.  Some of the other businesses formerly operating in Copalis Beach were Thompson's Resort, Marj's Tavern, Westby's Blue Ocean Tourist Apartments, Paulson's Grocery and Cabin Camp and Dillon's Cottages.

Copalis Beach has been the scene of many shipwrecks.  The Charles E. Falk ran aground near Copalis Rock in 1909.  Plans were to salvage the entire ship and turn it into a hotel.   On Thanksgiving Day 1927, the Japanese freighter, S.S. Tenpaisan Maru ran aground just north of Copalis Beach.  There was no loss of life and most of the crew was rescued by a cable anchored to the beach.

In 1987, a partial shipwreck was discovered at the Copalis River.  It was thought that this was the remains of the steamer General Warren that went aground near the Columbia River in 1852.  It was also thought that this was part of the Charles E. Falk.  Before any real determination could be made, the shipwreck disappeared.  It has resurfaced in a different location along the river a few times since then, the most recent in 2002-2003.

On August 21, 1890, the first post office in Copalis was opened in the trading post belonging to Ben & Josephine Grigsby.   Josephine was the postmaster off and on until they moved to Hoquiam in 1905.  In 1923, a small store was opened at the present site of the Green Lantern Tavern.  The post office was moved to this store.  About 1940, the post office moved into Johnson's Mercantile.  In 1989 to the present time, the Copalis Beach post office sits just just east of Johnson's Mercantile on the former site of the Copalis School.

 

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