which they knew nothing ! It is not singular, everything considered, that Indian philanthropists are so rare among the border people.
The county of Coos, on the coast, is not a part of either the Umpqua or the Rogue River Yalleys. It is a basin drained by the Coquille and Coos Rivers, which have many tributaries, and when well developed will prove to be one of the wealthiest divisions of Oregon. Coos is not an Indian name, the natives calling their river Cowes. I have already spoken of the discovery of this region by the fugitives from Port Orford. Cape Arago, at the entrance to the bay at the mouth of Coos River, was named by Spanish navigators, who probably also saw the Coquille, for they described it felicitously, comparing it to the rivers of Aragon for beauty, and also for similarity of the trees and shrubs growing upon its banks.
Soon after the Port Orford affair, in 1852, a small schooner, bound to the Umpqua River, entered Coos Bay by mistake, and remained there for several weeks, looking for the settlements, and in great fear of the Indians. Their plight was discovered by the Umpqua Indians, who informed the inhabitants of Gardiner, when they sent a pilot to bring the voyagers to their intended haven.
In 1853, P. B. Marple, of Jackson County, explored the Coquille Valley, and organized a company of forty men to settle on Coos Bay. Gold-mining on the coast began soon after at Randolph, near the mouth of Coquille, and a seaport town grew up rapidly on Coos Bay, called Empire City, which became the seat of government of Coos County, organized in December, 1853, and is the port of entry for the district of Southern Oregon. It has a small population, while Marshfield, four miles farther up the bay, and founded a little later, by J. C. Tolman, is a place of considerable importance, with a thriving trade. Between the two is the lumbering establishment of North Bend; and on the river, above Marshfield, are the towns of Coos City, Utter City, Coaledo, Sumner, and Fairview.
Coal was very early discovered on Coos Bay, and has been worked continuously for many years, employing a line of steam- vessels to carry it to San Francisco. The quality of some late discoveries in coal is claimed by experts to be of a very high
