Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/352

334 from three to five vessels loading at a time with lumber and coal, since which period coal-mining, lumbering, and ship-building have been carried on at this point without interruption. Railroads were early projected, and many who first engaged in the development of coal mines became wealthy, and resided here till their death.

Some also were unfortunate, one of the shareholders, Henry A. Stark, being drowned in the spring of 1854, while attempting with five others to go out in a small boat to some vessels lying off the bar. Several of the Umpqua company, after the failure of that enterprise, settled at Coos Bay, prominent among whom was S. S. Mann, author of a pamphlet on the early settlement of that region, embellished with anecdotes of the pioneers, which will be of interest to their descendants.

Any new discovery stimulated the competitive spirit of search in other directions. Siuslaw River was explored with a view to determining whether the