Researcher traces paths of Swede-Finns to South Coast

In the mid-1840s, a Finnish ship ran aground on the Pacific Coast and stranded its crew thousands of miles from home. But several of the sailors made the best of their mishap, permanently settling in the territory that was to become the state of Oregon. Such was the unlikely beginning of a diaspora that, in time, sent more than 300,000 people to the United States from Finland, including more than 1,000 in Coos County alone.