Coos Bay

“ FERRY CREEK, Coos County. Ferry Creek is south of the town of Coos Bay and east of Delmar. In August, 1943, Mrs. Mary M. Randleman of Coquille wrote the compiler that the stream was named for the Ferry family, pioneer settlers, and not for a ferryboat.
FERRY CREEK, Coos County. This stream flows into Coquille River near Bandon. According to information from Mrs. Emma Drane, a pioneer resident of the locality, John Lewis operated a ferry on Coquille River near the mouth of this stream in 1870, and the creek took its name from the ferry. The style Fairy Creek is wrong according to Mrs. Drane. ”

“ Prominent among matters growing out of beach mining, next after the Indian difficulties, was the more perfect exploration of the Coos Bay country, which resulted from the passing back and forth of supply trains between the Umpqua and the Coquille rivers. ”

“ The portion of this section west of the coast range is generally heavily timbered with fir, spruce, and cedar. Extensive coal deposits are found, some of which are developed and yield largely. Coos Bay is one of the best harbours on the Oregon Coast. Eastern Oregon embraces all the state east of the Cascade Mountains, forming a parallelogram 275 miles long and 230 miles wide. It is a great inland plateau of an altitude varying between 2000 and 5000 feet. The southern half of this plateau belongs to the Great American Basin, while the northern portion slopes towards the Columbia river valley. ”

“ Coos County. Coos County was created December 22, 1853, by the Territorial Legislature. It originally comprised parts of the western portions of Umpqua and Jackson Counties. Coos is an Indian name of a native tribe whose habitat was the vicinity of Coos Bay. The name is first mentioned by Lewis and Clark, who spell it Cook-koo-oose (Thwaites' Original Journals, volume VI, page 117) . The explorers heard the name among the Clatsop Indians, Slacum, in his report of 1837, gives the name of Coos River, Cowis; Wilkes, in Western America, spells it Cowes. ”

“ This was the beginning of fur trade ¥nth the whites who came by ship to Coos Bay.
Destruction of Life. This being the year of the great fire along the Coast Range, the superstitious Indians attributed the fire to the presence of the white man's boat. There had been other forest fires in that locality, but this one was so terrible that much game and many Indians were burned to death and the Indians who survived lamented the coming of the "white sail." The heat was so intense at Coos Bay that the Indians were driven into the water for protection. ”

“ They were compelled to remain in this isolated portion of the world for four months before a rescue force came to their relief. This narrative alone reads more like fiction. The ship Nassau was brought to Coos Bay, the first ship ever to enter upon its waters, to bring away the wrecked supplies saved from the Lincoln. ”

“ Five tugs are employed, with a tonnage of 620, gross. The total exports of Coos Bay for the year ending June 30 amounted to 221,329.1 tons, value $1,992,903; and the imports to 18,000 tons, value $1,175,600 ”

“ The view outside of distant hills and a belt of pine trees fringing the shore reminded me strongly of the Bay of Point de Galle in Ceylon, where the eastern mail steamers used to call before the construction of the harbour at Colombo.
Kôchi Bay is in reality an estuary, with a very narrow outlet, much obstructed by rocks. We seemed to be running straight on to the sandy beach, when a sudden turn to the left put our head into the river, and we came to an anchor in fifteen feet of water inside a little cove. ”

“ Given a good breeze and plenty of daylight, the whale-ships of the olden days could stand round the western horn of the island, a projecting point rendered pleasingly conspicuous by the grove of graceful coco-palms which Cook was so glad to observe so many years before, and then enter a deep bay on the north-west coast, where they obtained good anchorage in from fifteen to twenty fathoms of water of the most wonderful transparency, and within a mile of the vast stretches of white sandy beach that trend away for miles on either hand. ”

“ Going from Po-Po’s house toward the anchorage of the harbour of Taloo, you catch no glimpse of the water until, coming out from deep groves, you all at once find yourself upon the beach. A bay, considered by many voyagers the most beautiful in the South Seas, then lies before you. You stand upon one side of what seems a deep green river, flowing through mountain passes to the sea. Right opposite a majestic promontory divides the inlet from another, called after its discoverer, Captain Cook. ”

“ The partridges of the wooded slopes promised abundance of food, and there was excellent fox and beaver trapping. Compared to the other rocky barrens of northern Labrador, Richmond Harbor seemed Paradise, “but oh, my conscience,” wrote Captain Coates, “there is so profound silence, such awful precipices, [357] no life, that the world seems asleep. The land is so tremendous high that wind and water reverberate between the cliffs entering two miles to our gulf. Inside are mountains, groves, cascades and vales adorned with trees. On the Hudson Bay side nothing is seen but barren rocks. ”

“ On the rising ground beyond these, the bread-fruit trees are planted, and flourish with the greatest luxuriance.
Koaara extends from the westernmost point to the northern extremity of the island; the whole coast between them forming an extensive bay, called Toe-yah-yah, which is bounded to the north by two very conspicuous hills. Toward the bottom of this bay there is foul, corally ground, extending upward of a mile from the shore, without which the soundings are regular, with good anchorage, in twenty fathoms. ”

“ It is with peculiar interest that we look upon the spot where the illustrious Cook cast anchor after his discovery of this Bay. Some unhappy quarrels with the natives occasioned much blood to be shed on both sides, and for a long time caused this island to be looked upon with horror, and avoided by all Europeans. It was the courage and enterprise of the crews of our South Sea Whalers who exhibited these interesting islanders in their true character, and proved to the world that it was quite as safe to anchor in the Bay of Islands as in the harbour of Port Jackson. ”

“ The point answered captain Cook's description: it is a steep head, at the extremity of a neck of land which runs out two miles from the main, and lies in 25° 56' south, and 153° 13' east. On the north side of the point the coast falls back to the westward, and presents a steep shore of white sand; but in curving round Wide Bay the sandy land becomes very low, and a small opening was seen in it, leading to a piece of water like a lagoon; but the shoals which lie off the entrance render it difficult of access, if indeed there be a passage for any thing larger than boats. ”

“ On the south side, the coast, for about a mile inland, has a rugged appearance; beyond which the country rises with a gradual ascent, and is overspread with cultivated inclosures and groves of cocoa-nut trees, where the habitations of the natives are scattered in great numbers. The shore, all around the bay, is covered with a black coral rock, which makes the landing very dangerous in rough weather; except at the village of Kakooa, where there is a fine sandy beach, with a Morai, or burying-place, at one extremity, and a small well of fresh water at the other. ”

“ Cook found the low sandy coast backed by well-wooded hills rising to mountains on which patches of snow were visible, while smoke could be seen through the trees, speaking of native dwellings. The natives were too treacherous to make it safe landing for the white men, so they sailed out of Poverty Bay and proceeded south. Angry Maoris shook their spears at the Englishmen as they coasted south along the east coast of the North Island. But the face of the country was unpromising, and Cook altered his course for the north at a point he named Cape Turnagain. ”

“ I'll never forget that boat ride if I live to be a hundred; the drums rolling and re-rolling around the bay, and that strange humming of voices behind us like the wind in the rigging of a ship, and Coe and the Kanakas and the Chinaman and John Rau and the men pulling. But as for Coe's plan, we weren't long kept waiting for what it was. The prisoners were bundled into the ship's waist, with Lum to stand over them, while the mate got out the kedge and brought the schooner broadside on to the mountain. ”

“ Keeping along the shore until nine o'clock, the water shoaled to nine feet, and obliged them to haul off to the NE. Being now to the northward of where Captain Cook had laid down the coast line, and the land being visible at W 10 degrees N from the deck, and as far as NW from the mast head, he judged it unnecessary to pursue the research any longer, under the supposition of there being a double bay, and therefore continued his course for the extreme of Break Sea Spit, the sloping hummock bearing S 9 degrees E at the time of altering the course. ”

“ On the 3rd July, 1789, the brig Mercury, John Henry Cox, master, entered a deep bay on the south side of Van Diemen's Land, and was about ten miles from the Mewstone: attempting Adventure Bay, he was carried to the eastward, and afterwards accidentally discovered Oyster Bay.
Captain Wm. Bligh, subsequently governor of New South Wales, touched at Van Diemen's Land in 1788, when on his voyage to Tahiti, whence he was instructed to convey the bread fruit tree to the West India Islands. ”

“ The country is not in general woody, but in some of the interior parts there appeared great abundance. Among these islands I have no doubt of there being many convenient places for shipping. On the east side in latitude 42 degrees 42 minutes south and longitude 148 degrees 24 minutes east in July, 1789, Captain Cox of the Mercury found a convenient and secure harbour from all winds which he named Oyster Bay. ”

“ This mark is the more necessary, as there is a small cove about a league to the eastward, with a sandy beach in the bottom of it, a valley and cocoa-nut trees behind, which strangers may mistake for Port Praya, as we ourselves did. The two points which form the entrance of Port Praya Bay, are rather low, and in the direction of W. S. W. and E. N. E. half a league from each other. Close to the west point are sunken rocks, on which the sea continually breaks. The bay lies in N. W. near half a league; and the depth of water is from fourteen to four fathoms. ”

“ The soundings gradually decreased with a soft muddy bottom, as we approached the eastern shores of the bay; which is so large and free from shoals, that a vessel not wishing to anchor might pass the night standing off and on with perfect safety. There is over the head of this bay a remarkable level-topped hill, called by Captain Cook, Janes' tableland ”

“ In person and manner of living, they agree with those described by Marion and Cook; but the vocabulary of their language is somewhat different; and bark canoes, which preceding navigators had thought them not to possess, were found in the channel. The description of the country is, generally, favourable; though somewhat less so than that of captain Cook at Adventure Bay. The climate was thought good, though moist; and the supplies of wood, water, and fish, for ships, were abundant; but the preference, in these respects, was given to Adventure Bay, even by the French admiral. ”

“ The transcriber of the Endeavour Log, 8959, possessed by Banks, wrote in a neat but rather small hand, very different from Cook's. It is, as might be well expected of such an early Journal, though passing through Banks's hands, ignorant of the existence of a Botany Bay, but refers to Skeats rather than Stingray, after which Cook's Autograph Log names the Bay. It has neither Point Hickes nor Cape Howe as in later days, though indicating Pidgeon's House Hill and Mount Dromedary. Yet we have smoaks and smooks as in Cook's own hand work. ”

“ The ancient Kaoo, and about half a dozen old chiefs, remained on shore, and took up their abode at the priests' houses. During all this time, not a canoe was seen in the bay, and the natives either kept within their huts, or lay prostrate on the ground. Before the king left the Resolution, Captain Cook obtained leave for the natives to come and trade with the ships as usual; but the women, for what reason we could not learn, still continued under the effects of the taboo ”

“ A few hundred yards from the shore is the village of Hanga Roa, the native name for Cook’s Bay. This is the only part of the island 125which is inhabited, the two hundred and fifty natives, all that remain of the population, having, been gathered together here in order to secure the safety of the livestock, to which the rest of the island is devoted. The yacht was soon surrounded by six or seven boat-loads of natives, clad in nondescript European garments, but wearing a head-covering of native straw, somewhat resembling in appearance the high hat of civilisation (fig. 83) . ”

“ The successful effort of the American colonists to assert their independence put an effectual stop to the deportation of English criminals across the Atlantic, and it became necessary to find some other receptacle for them. Eight years previously, Captain James Cook had been sent on a voyage of discovery to the southern seas. He landed on the eastern shores of the Australian continent, at a place whose name has since gained a world-wide notoriety—Botany Bay, so called by Sir Joseph Banks, the botanist of the expedition, on account of the luxuriant vegetation all round it. ”