Our country, our state, and some of our towns are gearing up to celebrate America’s 250 birthday and the signing of The Declaration of Independence in 1776. Many of us remember our country’s bicentennial in 1976, an exciting time of Tall Ships, parades and much pomp and circumstance. In Bristol, we have a robust 250 Commission assigned with the task of creating our own celebrations and we are very much looking forward to involving the entire community, with a weekly feature called 250 Words of Joy. The task is to ask yourself, What gives you joy?….and to write 250 words to be featured in the paper. The Phoenix will feature one per week. We are looking for all age groups to tap into their creativity and write an essay, micro short story, poem, or reflections. Let’s get a good start towards what we know will be a memorable celebration in our beautiful town! Please send submissions to cnadalin@eastbaymediagroup.com.

Nor’west John D’Wolf - Part One

In August 1804 young sea captain John D’Wolf sailed from his native port of Bristol to the North Pacific with a crew of twenty-six to trade his goods for sea otter pelts from Native Americans along the Pacific Coast in Russian Alaska.

While he left Bristol three months after Lewis and Clark began their overland journey from St. Louis, he passed the Columbia River seven months before they arrived there. After a successful trading season, John sent his crew to China where furs fetched up to $100 each, then back to Bristol with a profit of $100,000.

Meanwhile, he sailed west along the Aleutian Islands on an adventure that took him around the world, including a 5,000 mile trek across the wastes of Siberia to St. Petersburg - a feat accomplished by no North American before him.

The hero of our story did not start with wealth. His father, Simon, was lost in a shipwreck in the West Indies shortly after John’s birth, and he was raised by his widowed mother. His education consisted of a few years of school, yet at age 24 he was given full command by his uncles to trade in the North Pacific.

Four years elapsed before he returned from this circumnavigation; yet it was only part of his story, for during the crossing to Siberia, his ship was raised three feet out of the sea by a whale . . . but that will be told in Part Two.

- DeWolf Fulton & Bob Page