Captain Stephen Smith of the bark George Henry is credited with first
bringing pianos to California, and he established an early sawmill and
the first steam-sawmill in the Bodega Bay area north of San Francisco.
In 1841, he sailed north from San Francisco Bay and saw the tall redwoods
through coastal mists. He realized a business opportunity in that people
had been shipping lumber from as far away as the Sandwich Islands where
here prime lumber grew less than 100 nautical miles north of San Francisco.
He returned in 1843 with a sawmill from Boston, hired white laborers
from San Franicsco to help him build the mill, and began his operation.
He was the first American to settle in this area.
Captain Stephen Smith married a 15-year-old Peruvian, Manuela Torres,
and became a Mexican citizen in order to receive a land grant. He petitioned
the government to establish a ranch and In August of 1844, Captain Stephen
Smith was granted the 35,487 acre Bodega Rancho, bordered by the Russian
River to the north and Estero Americano to the south, a large portion
of the Bodega Bay Area.
Then he built the first steam-powered saw mill in California with parts
he also brought in by ship. Bodega suited him well with its abundant
source of wood and nearby bay for shipping and he helped establish the
commercial and fishing shipping industries out of Bodega Bay.
By the mid-1880s, more than 400 mills operated in California's Humboldt
forest region alone.
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Captain Stephen Smith
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Captains exercised absolute authority at sea and so were dubbed "Master Under God"
by early insurance writs, agreements with ship owners and passengers and the Board of Trade.
Recommended Reading.
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The Annapolis Book of Seamanship
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Charlie Wing
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Page: http://www.maritimeheritage.org/
Date Entered: November 2005
Source: Daily Alta California, Family Papers, Historical Records, Submissions from Researchers
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The Maritime Heritage Project is a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity established in 1998.
Contact: D. Blethen Adams Levy
www.MaritimeHeritage.org
Post Office Box 2878
Sausalito, California 94966
U.S.A.
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