The Living History Farm’s unique Ethnobotanical Gardens hold the Mexican Hedge Nettle. In 1775, a Spanish expedition sailed north from Mexico to Nueva Galicia (Pacific Northwest). The ships included: a ship of war, a supply ship, and a smaller packet boat to supply provisions for the mission outpost at Monterey and then map San Francisco Bay. Officers were sent from Spain and the crews were selected from the physically fittest local
Mexican ranch hands. All went well until they visited the coast of what is now the State of Washington. Two ships anchored several miles from the mouth of the Quinault River. These larger ships kept their distance from the rocks using small launches to reach shore. The first day all went well. Gifts were exchanged and the crew became the first non-Indigenous people to step ashore in the NW. The land was now to be considered part of Mexico and the Kingdom of Spain (a religious ceremony was held, the natives looking on). In the next day’s landing, whitecap waves almost swamped a small launch. Unexpectedly, in an ensuing battle, the Native Americans massacred the crew and hacked the small landing boat apart for its metal. (Salvaging a Japanese or Chinese shipwreck was a reoccurring event for centuries; iron tools were prized by the Natives who did collect raw copper on these southerly current-swept coasts.) The Spanish ships had no alternative, they left. Whether it was the Quileute, Hoh, or Quinault, exactly who killed the men sent ashore is unknown, but they massacred mostly Hispanic farm hands who until a few months earlier had never been to sea. That’s how Pacific NW history starts: Easterners who think they own the place, Natives who disagree, and Mexican Americans doing the work. If you look at the Jepsen (“ucjeps”) URL distribution below, you might ask why this week’s photo of the Mexican Hedge Nettle is called “mexicana” as it is found only north of San Francisco, past the Quinault River, all the way to Alaska – Stachys Mexicana?
http://naeb.brit.org/uses/species/3814/
https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=45368
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_west_coast_of_North_America
https://www.huntbotanical.org/admin/uploads/hibd-mcvaugh-sesse-mocino-pp315-626.pdf
https://www.washingtonhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/WA_Latino_History_GAMBOA_3parts.pdf
https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2017/10/12/225-years-ago-spanish-explorations-of-the-pacific-northwest-and-the-first-spanish-settlement-in-washington-state-nunez-gaona-neah-bay-1792-part-ii-spanish-explorations-of-the-pacific-northwest-a/
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