The Hunt for Sir Francis Drake’s Fair and Good Bay

• Event Date: 10-12-2019
• Time: 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM
• Presented by: Melissa Darby
• Where: Community Room of the West Linn Library

Melissa Darby unravels the mysteries surrounding Drake's famous voyage and summer sojourn to the Oregon Coast.

“Darby’s book is a masterpiece of detective work into the various claims for the landing location of Drake and the Golden Hind in the summer of 1579. With similarities to the Cardiff Giant and Piltdown Man hoaxes, Darby’s work uncovers a potential scientific conspiracy by one of Califor- nia’s most renowned historians. She masterfully weaves a tale of political intrigue, fraud, and ego into an academic treatise that reads more like a historical mystery novel. Sometimes truth can be stranger than fiction!”
—Todd Braje, professor of anthropology, San Diego State University

“Thunder Go North embarks on a fresh investigation into a centuries-old ‘vexed question’: Where was Francis Drake’s 1579 landing place on North America’s Pacific Coast? Author Melissa Darby presents a compelling case that Drake most likely came ashore on the central coast of Oregon—far to the north of Drake’s Bay, near San Francisco, the allegedly ‘long-settled’ answer to that question. Darby’s conclusions cannot be ignored by Drake scholars or others hoping to unlock this nearly 450-year-old puzzle. In ad- dition, Thunder Go North reveals the incredibly tangled web of intrigue, duplicity, and hoax that has bedeviled past historians’ efforts to answer the ‘Where did Drake land?’ question.”
—Jeff LaLande, historian and archaeologist

Challenges the long-held belief that Drake’s party landed in California

In the summer of 1579 Francis Drake and all those aboard the Golden Hind were in peril. The ship was leaking and they were in search of a protected beach to careen the ship to make repairs. They searched the coast and made landfall in what they called a “Fair and Good Bay,” generally thought to be in California. They stacked the treasure they had recently cap- tured from the Spanish on this sandy shore, explored the country, repaired the ship, and set sail for home.

Thunder Go North unravels the mysteries surrounding Drake’s famous voyage and summer sojourn in this bay. Comparing Drake’s observations of Native houses, dress, foods, language, and lifeways with ethnographic material collected by early an- thropologists, Melissa Darby makes a compelling case that Drake and his crew landed not in California but on the Oregon coast. She also uncovers the details of how an early twentieth-century hoax succeeded in maintaining the California landing theory and silencing contrary evidence. Presented here in an engaging narrative, Darby’s research rewrites the history of this event.

Melissa Darby is a visiting research scholar in the Department of Anthropology at Portland State University and a private consultant in cultural resource management.

One-way Repositioning Cruise from Cascade Locks to The Dalles Oregon

THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 2018
8:30 AM BOARDING TIME
CRUISE FROM 9:00 AM – 3:30 PM

MOTORCOACH RETURN TO CASCADE LOCKS BY 4:30 PM

Complimentary parking provided at the Visitors Center in Cascade Locks OR.

This cruise fills up fast so call now to make your required reservations.

The Oregon Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation (OR-LCTHF) has arranged for a special group passage price on this Repositioning Cruise. Call Kelli at 503-943-9115 and use reference #158164. Provide the names of guests, an email address for confirmation and your Form of Payment. Please have your photo ID available when boarding the Sternwheeler.

April 29-30: To commemorate 60 years since Celilo Falls was silenced, the Oregon and Washington chapters will be going up the Columbia River Gorge to explore several areas of interest and to camp at MaryHill state park.

April 29 Saturday 10:00 AM ‘Tsagaglalal-She Who Watches’ pictograph/and petroglyph Tour at Columbia Hills State Park (Horse Thief Lake) which is on Washington Hwy 14 about 2 miles east of Dallesport/The Dalles. The tour and related sites may take up to 2 hours. Space is limited to 20 people, reservations required, send confirmation to Rennie Kubik at stzeam41@gmail.com (Please arrive by 9:45 AM for pictograph/petroglyph tour)

12:30 Potluck and Chapter meetings at Celilo Park I-84 exit 97

1:30 Geologist Glen Kilpatrick speaking on the geology of the Celilo Falls area. We will also view Celilo Canal, and Expedition campsites and portage routes in the Wishram area.

2:30 Maryhill Museum of Art

Time permitting other trips to Oregon Trail marker near Biggs Junction, Overland Trail route down Maryhill Canyon, Stonehenge Memorial, Maryhill Winery and Wishram Historic Locomotive 1923 Great Northern 2507 P2 4-8-2 locomotive and tender.

6:00 Evening campfire Maryhill State Park Group Camp

Camping accommodations at Maryhill State Park (reservations here http://parks.state.wa.us/223/Reservations) or Peach Beach RV Park at 509-773-4927, or Deschutes River State Recreation Area (OR State Parks) or LePage Park (USACE), or contact Rennie Kubik at stzeam41@gmail.com or 360-546-5949 for group camping at Maryhill Park.

April 30 Sunday 10:00 AM Washington and Oregon Chapters Tour of Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, 5000 Discovery Drive, The Dalles, OR then travel to Rowena Summit for a view of Mount Adams, and depart for home.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2016
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

+ TALK by DR. STEVEN McCLURE – TITLED "MYTHING THE WILLAMETTE: HOW CLARK'S RETROGRADE B TEAM COMPLETED THE EXPEDITION'S MISSION."

Oregon chapter member, Dr. Steven McClure, will share recent discoveries and theories about the Lewis & Clark Expedition's exploration of the Willamette River, including maps that indicate where Captain William Clark's canoe party camped in what is now the North Portland, Oregon area on April 2, 1806." For background information, read this: http://columbiariverimages.com/Regions/Places/willamette_river_terminal_4.html)

This great Explore More activity is being held at Cathedral Park beneath the St. Johns Bridge in Portland Oregon. Gary and Faye Moulton have indicated that they may be able to join us at the picnic, too, as they will be in the area.

To get to Cathedral Park, follow Hwy 30 west from downtown Portland. Go across the St. John’s bridge. Turn left on Ivanhoe. Go 2 blocks and turn left on Baltimore Avenue which aligns parallel with the bridge. Follow Baltimore down to the park. At the bottom of the hill you will come to a sign reading "Cathedral Park." Turn left at the "Cathedral Park" sign. The picnic area parking lot is to your immediate right. Free parking is also available on several side streets if that lot is full. You risk a fine if you park in the large parking lot for the boat ramp. (See attached maps at the bottom)

There are nine picnic tables, most of which have shade, between the restrooms at the boat launch area and this parking lot. We will gather in the center of the picnic area where Dr. Steven McClure will have our Chapter banner displayed. The Park’s L&C interpretive sign is only 15-20 yards from the nearby restroom.

Bring some food to share, your own utensils and your own chair(s) if you don’t want to sit on the bench of the picnic tables. Added feature for our really active members – You can hike up the hill to the sidewalk on the North side of the bridge and look down on Clark’s campsite.

Hope to see you there!

Come join us for a rare opportunity to step foot on the same beach William Clark and others camped on while Lewis was selecting the future site of their winter quarters at Ft. Clatsop. This is an exciting chance to visit Tongue Point, or “Point William”, as the expedition called it, which is on federally secured land and is not open to the public. Captain Bruce Jones, recently retired Coast Guard commander of sector Astoria will meet us at the security gate at Tongue Pt. where he, Tom Wilson, Mark Johnson and others will share the research that they and others have done. We will discuss the amazing history of Tongue Point beginning with native American history, its Ft. George connection, and its current use. We will also discuss our chapter's plans for new historical interpretation.

We will walk the beach and quite possibly see the same “butifull pebble of various Colours” that Clark described in his journals.

Feel free to come earlier to the Astoria area and explore on your own the many historical opportunities it has to offer, as well as SHOPPING!

For the Explore More event:

• Meet at 1:30 pm at the security gate leading into the Tongue Point Job Corps (turn just east of the Crest Motel, a bit east of Astoria)
  
• Bring sturdy shoes, we will walk on uneven terrain.
  
• Expect to be out in the weather for 2 hours.

Please RSVP Tom Wilson, 503-325-6284 (wilson206@charter.net) if you are planning to attend, he needs to give numbers in advance to Capt. Jones to allow for security planning.

Note — Board members will also have a meeting at Ft. Clatsop at 11:00am the same morning.

Where: Old Aurora Colony Museum, 15018 Second Street NE, Aurora, Oregon.

Museum admission fee: $5 per person.

Willie Keil caught Oregon fever and convinced his father, Wilhelm, to guide a wagon train to the Oregon Territory in 1855 with Willie as the driver of the lead wagon. Just days before they left Bethel, Missouri, Willie died. In his grief, Wilhelm fulfilled Willie’s wish, taking the young man along in a lead-lined coffin, and founded the Aurora Colony, a Christian commune.

For the Oregon Trail’s sesquicentennial (1993), Laurel Cookman of Aurora was one of 30 who reenacted the Keil wagon train’s journey from Missouri to Oregon. “Except for the hunger, we experienced everything they did: animals dying, people getting sick,” recalls Ms. Cookman, who will share her adventures at the Old Aurora Colony Museum.

The day will begin with a tour of the museum followed by Ms. Cookman’s presentation and lunch. We will then move to the Pacific Hazelnut Candy Factory,14673 Ottaway Rd NE, Aurora, where we get to see how hazelnuts are roasted, removed from their shells and sprayed with chocolate. Their signature Hazelnut Toffee is made in copper kettles. The L&C Journals mention hazelnuts in several places in the Columbia territory. There will also be a special viewing of busts of the members of the Corps of Discovery carved by the former owner of the factory. After spending your money on the delicious goodies at the factory you will have ample time left in the day to visit the City Park and the many intriguing Aurora Antique Stores.

RSVP by April 26 to: Lyn Trainer, trainerlyn@yahoo.com, 503-246-0451. Bring a brown bag or order a box lunch when you RSVP (no later than April 26).

• Whole sandwich, chips, pickle, cookie and beverage, $8
• ½ sandwich, chips, pickle, cookie and beverage, $6
• Sandwich choices: Smoked turkey, Black Forest ham or vegetable
• Bread choices: Healthnut wheat, sourdough white or dill rye
• Beverage choices: Coke, Diet Coke, Caffeine free Coke or Fresca

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