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 farmsteads appeared almost overnight. For many pioneers, Coos County was truly paradise, a land of opportunity rich in natural resources where they optimistically forged new lives with sacrifice and backbreaking labor. Their perseverance and rugged individualism distinguish the region to this day.