The question is why.

Really, I think that is the question behind everything. Why did these explorers-settlers-visionaries come to the wild and untamed Pacific Northwest in the first place? Most of these people – actually I would say all of them – had no real idea at all what awaited them except what they read in clearly over-puffed sales brochures of the time. Land speculators wanted warm bodies, and city folk from places like Chicago, St Louis, Kansas City wanted to get away to a place where they could be free. But wanting and doing are two different things. That’s what amazes me, that so many people not only made the journey, but then actually stayed and attempted to build new communities of their own. I have never done anything so brave in all my life. Who were these people? What drove them?

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