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    Tales of the Wild West: Pacific Coast
    Tales of the Wild West: Pacific Coast
    Tales of the Wild West: Pacific Coast
    Ebook63 pages36 minutes

    Tales of the Wild West: Pacific Coast

    By Rick Steber

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    About this ebook

    "Sir Francis Drake, the daring English pirate, was the first European to sail the stormy North Pacific. ln 1579, after having raided the Spanish settlements of South America, he sought to escape up the coast through an inland waterway that would return his ship, the Golden Hind, to the Atlantic Ocean.

    In his wake came other explorers. They soon concluded a Northwest Passage did not exist and turned their attention to exloiting the natural resources of the region. Trade was initiated with the natives, trinkets for sea otter fur. The fur was transported to China where riches beyond the wildest dreams awaited the adventuresome sailors. Within a decade the sea otter played out and mountain men pushed inland, trading and trapping beaver. The great companies, Hudson's Bay, North West and Pacific Fur fought for the rich spoils.

    The discovery of gold in California signaled the start of a era. Miners flooded to the Sierra Nevada mountains. Eventually they became disillusioned with the diggings and drifted north, discovering veins of gold in rock and placer pockets in creek bottoms and even on ocean beaches. Following the miners came a wave of pioneers who settled interior valleys, laid claim to the land and plowed the virgin soil. A few hardy souls pushed over the last mountain range, going as far west as land allowed. They were rugged individualists who ever after were isolated by the deep woods on one side and the wide Pacific on the other.
    "

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRick Steber
    Release dateDec 12, 2012
    ISBN9781301081707
    Tales of the Wild West: Pacific Coast

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      Book preview

      Tales of the Wild West - Rick Steber

      Introduction

      Daring English pirate Sir Francis Drake was the first European to sail the stormy North Pacific. In l579, after having raided the Spanish settlements of South America, he sought to escape up the coast through an inland waterway that would return his ship, the Golden Hind, to the Atlantic Ocean.

      In his wake came other explorers. They soon concluded a Northwest Passage did not exist and turned their attention to exploiting the natural resources of the region. Trade was initiated with the natives, trinkets for sea otter fur. The fur was transported to China where riches awaited the adventuresome sailors.

      Within a decade the sea otter played out and mountain men pushed inland, trading and trapping beaver. The great fur companies, Hudson’s Bay, North West Fur Company and Pacific Fur fought for the valuable spoils of the region.

      The discovery of gold in California signaled the start of a new era. Miners flooded to the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Eventually they became disillusioned with the diggings and drifted north, discovering veins of gold in rock and placer pockets in creek bottoms and even on ocean beaches.

      Following the miners came a wave of pioneers who settled the interior valleys, laid claim to the land and plowed the virgin soil. A few hardy souls pushed over the last mountain range, going as far west as land allowed and settling with the deep woods on one side and the blue Pacific on the other.

      Sir Francis Drake

      Sir Francis Drake, after having plundered the riches of settlements along the coast of South America, thought it best not to tempt fate and run the gauntlet across the Atlantic Ocean. Instead he sought to escape by rounding the Horn and sailing into the Pacific. He pointed his ship, the Golden Hind, north in hope of discovering a Northwest Passage that would lead him back to England.

      The Golden Hind was the first European ship to sail along the North Pacific coast, a land Drake called Nova Albion (New England). By summer the pirate ship was reported to be in the vicinity of 48 degrees north latitude (near Vancouver Island). Here a massive cold front moved in and froze the rigging. The crew, fresh from the Tropics, implored their captain to turn back.

      Drake reluctantly ordered his ship south. It is known the Golden Hind, under the weight of tons of plunder and leaking at the seams, put in at a harbor along the coast for repairs. A brass plaque found near San Francisco Bay in l936 is considered by many to prove this was the site of the layover while other historians believe the actual harbor was Whale’s Cove on the Oregon coast.

      After spending more than a month making repairs, the Golden Hind put to sea. Drake pointed his ship into the trade winds and, fourteen months after departing the coast of Nova Albion, the Golden Hind sailed into Plymouth Sound, England, her keel having completed a furrow that circled the globe.

      Discovering the Columbia

      At 4 a.m. on May 11, 1792, Captain Robert Gray and his ship, the Columbia Rediviva, stood off the entrance of a great river. The ship’s log noted the wind was blowing strong out of the west, breakers were visible running in a line from shore to shore, and there appeared no visible opening.

      Gray warily scanned the bar, located the safest point to cross and ordered sails set. According to the ship’s log, "At 8 a.m., being a little windward of the entrance to the harbor, bore away, and run in east-northeast, between breakers, having from five to seven fathoms of water. When we were over the bar we found this to be a large river of fresh water, up which we steered. Many canoes came alongside. At 1 p.m. came to with the small bower, in two fathoms, black and white sand. The entrance between the bars bore west-southwest, distant ten miles. The north side of the river a half-mile distant from the ship;

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