"Haystack Rock Reflection on Cannon Beach, Oregon" by Catherine Sherman. Haystack Rock is reflected in the receding water at low tide on Cannon Beach, Oregon. Dawn mists hug the base of this basalt monolith, formed from lava flows about 17 million years ago. A seagull flies overhead while a man walks his dog in the distance. Flocks of birds, appearing like dots, swirl in the distant sky, while thousands more roost on the rock, which is home to several bird species. Haystack Rock is protected as a marine sanctuary, as part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Haystack Rock is one of the most recognizable and popular attractions on the Oregon coast. Its intertidal area is one of Oregon's seven Marine Gardens. The first recorded journey by an American to what is now Cannon Beach was made by William Clark, one of the leaders of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in early 1805. Clark and several of his companions, including Sacagawea, visited the beach on January 10, 1806. They encountered a group of Native Americans from the Tillamook tribe who were boiling blubber of a beached whale for storage. Clark and his party bartered for 300 pounds (140 kg) of blubber and some whale oil before returning to Fort Clatsop. A wooden whale sculpture commemorating the encounter between Clark's group and the Tillamooks is in a small park at the northern end of Hemlock Street In 1846, a cannon from the US Navy schooner Shark washed ashore just north of Arch Cape, a few miles south of the community. The city was later named for this cannon, which can be seen in the city's museum.