Tales of the Wild West: Pacific Coast

"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...