Captain Jonathan Winship made the first recorded entry into Humboldt Bay by sea in June 1806. Josiah Gregg’s party encountered it in 1849, and new word of its existence reached San Francisco. By 1850 the Laura Virginia Association had founded Humboldt City, Union (Arcata), Bucksport, and Eureka. In subsequent years the bay became a major north coast lumber port and shipbuilding center.