Long before the wreck of the Captain Lincoln in 1852 brought settlers to the North Spit, Native Americans and foreign explorers, including Sir Francis Drake, navigated the inland waterways and Pacific shoreline
of what would become Coos County. The deep draft channel, timberfilled landscape, prime location--between San Francisco and Puget Sound--and the discovery of gold made the region ripe for commercial
success, and scores of pioneers migrated to the Coos Bay area. Shipyards and sawmills sprang up. Logging became a major industry. Gold and coal were mined. And settlements and...