California
Related: About this forumJuana Maria Better-than-Nothing: The Strange Tale of the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island
It was 1853 on San Nicolas Island, the most remote of California's eight Channel Islands. Sixty-five miles southwest of Point Mugu, in Ventura County, one visitor reported the island's "shifting sand dunes, its 90-foot fog shrouded peak, its deep cut canyons, its bleak cliffs and the crashing seas breaking over its rocky shores" made it "just about one of the most desolate places on earth." This isolated isle had once been home to a thriving group of native people known as the Nicolenos. Now it was supposedly uninhabited, though sailors sailing by occasionally reported seeing a human figure waving her arms, running towards them on the foggy shore. In 1853, Captain George Nidever set out on his third trip in search of this legendary apparition.
More at http://www.kcet.org/shows/california_coastal_trail/content/history/juana-maria-better-than-nothing-the-strange-tale-of-the-lone-woman-of-san-nicolas-island.html
lunasun
(21,646 posts)Island of the Blue Dolphins -
1monster
(11,012 posts)children... This fills in a few of the blanks. Thanks for sharing.
Brother Buzz
(36,217 posts)Nidever was mountain man and fur trapper before he ever saw an ocean. He arrived overland with Joseph R. Walker's party on super double secret orders from Bonneville, presumably to find an overland route to California, and have a look-see as to what the Californios were up to in 1833.
After a harrowing crossing of the Sierra punching through snow, the the Walker party descended the easier western slopes and in the course of a week, they saw Yosemite, discovered huge redwood trees, experienced an earthquake, and witnessed a spectacular meteor shower (1833 Leonid meteor shower).
George Nidever liked what he saw in California and was granted permission to stay. He built a boat and acquired a legal license to hunt sea otter, something Californios (if it can't be done on horseback it ain't worth doing) had little interest in, but liked the revenue. He married and settled in Santa Barbara and established himself as a maritime trader, and one would suspect his observations and intelligence on the disposition of California went east with the Yankee captains.
petronius
(26,581 posts)out his memoir...
Brother Buzz
(36,217 posts)Bil Gilbert's Westering Man: The Life of Joseph Walker (1985) would make an excellent companion read. Extraordinarily well researched book on a key figure in California history. Walker networked and knew and commanded respect and praise from everyone (except, LOL, Frémont), and it is a mystery to me why he doesn't get more mention in the history books. Turns out George Nidever's chief skill was hunting; George always assured the party had fresh meat, that is, unless you're struck high in the Sierra snow with no game around.
The other book that is interesting and mentions Nidever:
Adventures of a Mountain Man: The Narrative of Zenas Leonard
Leonard was a modest mountain man but he could read and cipher and was hired as the company clerk by Walker. He kept a detailed diary that was published in 1839, one year before Two Years Before the Mast was published. Both books were read extensively by the east coasters starving for information about California when gold was discovered.
Sadly, Walker's journals were lost in a river crossing.
denbot
(9,894 posts)I had heard vague references to this story, I will read this when I have a bit of time.