The Northwest Coast: Or, Three Years' Residence in Washington Territory

In 1849 James Swan turned his back on his wife and two children, a prosperous ship-fitting business, and the polite and predictable world of commerce in Boston and fled to the newly opened gold fields in California. Soon sick of the bonanza society, he emigrated to a shallow harbor called Shoalwater Bay (now Willapa Bay) north of the Columbia River in Washington Territory.

Swan eagerly became a part of the frontier community, enjoying the company of both the white settlers and friendly …