Navigating Waves of Change: Best-Laid Plans at Caspar Landing
Caspar Landing, also known as Caspar Anchorage or Caspar Creek Harbor, operated from 1864 to the 1930s and is situated within Caspar Headlands State Beach at the mouth of Caspar Creek. Established by William H. Kelley and William T. Rundle in 1861, the Caspar Lumber Company utilized the harbor for shipping until the 1930s when trucks replaced maritime shipments; the mill ceased operations in 1955. SCHUNRS worked with Parks to plan a project devoted to conducting diver surveys in Caspar Cove and investigating anomalies identified through remote sensing surveys the previous year.
In the months leading up to our week-long expedition this summer, we had collected historic photographs, charts, and maps in order to plan where and how to execute our underwater searches. This also helps us understand what associated findings we might make in the adjacent land areas, and thus how everything ties together as a cultural landscape. Maritime stories do not exist solely on the water side of the ports, but are rooted on both sides, passing through the ports from land to sea and back.
As we have become somewhat accustomed to on the North Coast, the ocean cared little for our meticulously laid out plans, and conditions were much too rough for us to safely get where we needed to go and work effectively. With the week already booked, SCHUNRS took the opportunity to work alongside the State Parks Dive Team for their periodic refresher training. We were able to get in some dives searching underwater in the Big River Estuary, although no significant artifacts were located. More importantly, we were able to reinforce existing relationships, create valuable new ones, and leave with a mutual enthusiasm for potential new collaborations in Sonoma and Mendocino counties.
Also, while we were up there and in the archaeology mood, we were able to do some terrestrial work to support future projects in Mendocino. We had the chance to explore the cliffs surrounding Russian Gulch, Caspar Cove, and Van Damme Cove and recorded several undocumented doghole port features that lined up beautifully with our historical maps. Although the ocean conditions kept us out of the water this time, all of our preparations were still highly valuable and will be applied to our next Mendocino expedition.