Cape D, 2006
Cape Disappointment State Park, Ilwaco, Washington
Photography: Colleen Chartier
Cape Disappointment is where Lewis and Clark arrived at the Pacific Ocean. I decided to start the project at this point, since it was the end point of their westward journey. This site was the most complex of all those chosen for the project, with two very distinct areas of focus: the ocean side and the Columbia river estuary. It seemed at both sites the landscape had been completely obscured by parking lots and restroom facilities that had been haphazardly placed, and plans were in the works for almost doubling the parking lot at the estuary side. After careful attention and a transit study addressing our concerns over the scale of the planned extensions, the state park service was able to determine that they could reduce the parking lots and we could restore both the ocean grasslands and dunes and the wetland estuary site to a more native grassland landscape.
Boardwalk planks leading to Waikiki Beach are inscribed with a summary from Lewis and Clark’s journals. With mention of every tribe Lewis and Clark encountered along their journey, one becomes aware of how many tribal lands and peoples existed at this time. Symbolically paralleling this path is a quieter, more secluded one made of crushed oyster shells that follows the basalt formations along the shoreline as it was two centuries ago, before manmade jetties reshaped the landscape. Along this path is set a Chinook praise song spoken at Cape Disappointment by a member of the tribe exactly two hundred years to the day after Lewis and Clark arrived here. The refrain asks of nature to teach us and show us the way. These two diverging pathways help to juxtapose two very distinct ways in which the two cultures relate to nature.
The path leads to a circle composed of seven found driftwood columns, raised to form a glade where the coastal forest meets the dune grass. The number represents the seven directions recognized by Native American tradition: north, south, east, west, up, down, and in.
At the bay a significant portion of the parking area was removed and a sustainable landscape established to naturally filter the storm-water runoff, and a viewing platform was installed, drawing visitors directly to the water’s edge. A basalt table replaces a rusty fish-cutting sink. The stone sculpture is inscribed with the Chinook creation myth, which talks about an eagle emerging from the body of a salmon being cut, and of the eagle flying to a nearby mountain visible from this point. The eagle lays an egg and the first people, the Chinook, comes from the egg. The fishermen cutting their fish here will now understand whose homeland they are in.
Related Press:
Platt, Susan. Maya Lin’s Confluence Project. Sculpture Magazine (November 2006: 54-59)