Elk have populated Oregon’s north coast for thousands of years, and a legend holds that the name Neahkahnie comes from the Spanish exclamation ¡Carne! uttered by explorers when they saw elk on its slopes. Elk provided a reliable food source for local Native Americans, explorers, and early settlers, and during their winter at Fort Clatsop in 1805-1806, the Lewis and Clark Expedition relied heavily on them. William Clark wrote in his journal on March 5, 1806, that if the elk had left, the party had determined to ascend the Columbia River slowly and endeavor to procure subsistence. Wanton slaughter and commercial hunting brought Oregon’s elk population to the brink of extinction by the late 1890s, leaving only a few small herds in remote parts of the Coast Range. Oregon’s Legislature protected elk in 1899, and hunting was not allowed again for thirty years. During the 1960s and 1970s, elk transplanted by the state from the North Coast repopulated the Cascade and Coast ranges. Today, thousands thrive along this coast, providing recreation opportunities for hunters and wildlife viewers, and Jewell Meadows Wildlife Area, 10 miles north of Highway 26, is an excellent place to view them.