FORT ROSS On a clear day you can see Mt Shasta from Fort Ross. Shasta is not an English word, it is not an Indian Word, nor is it a Spanish word. It is a Russian word meaning “shimmering mountain over yonder in the distance thataway”. The Russians, the English, and the Spanish, all had plans for territorial expansion in western North America. The local Indians simply hoped to keep what they already had. “Ross” is poetic term meaning Russia to people who speak that language. The first Russians that came to California arrived in 1803 aboard American ships. They were part of a joint fur venture with American ship captains. When those Russians got back to Sitka they told their boss, Alexander Baranov, that there was plenty of unoccupied land north of the
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