Editing Morro Bay, California (section)

==History ==
[[File:Morro Rock - 1883 (2619478125).jpg|thumb|Morro Rock in 1883]]

The prehistory of Morro Bay relates to [[Chumash people|Chumash]] settlement, particularly near the mouth of [[Morro Creek]]. At least as early as the [[Millingstone Horizon]] thousands of years before present, an extensive settlement existed along the banks and terraces above Morro Creek.<ref>C. Michael Hogan (2008). "[http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18502 Morro Creek]". ed. by A. Burnham.</ref> A tribal site on present-day Morro Bay was named ''tsɨtqawɨ'', [[Obispeño language|Obispeño]] for "Place of the Dogs".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.housing.calpoly.edu/ytt |title=yakʔitʸutʸu resources - University Housing - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo |publisher=Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo University Housing |access-date=November 1, 2018}}</ref>

The [[Landing of the first Filipinos|first]] recorded [[Filipinos]] to visit America arrived at Morro Bay on October 18, 1587, from the Spanish galleon [[Pedro de Unamuno|''Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza'']];<ref>{{cite book |title=Manila Men in the New World: Filipino Migration to Mexico and the Americas from the Sixteenth Century |last=Mercene |first=Floro L. |year=2007 |publisher=The University of the Philippines Press |isbn=978-971-542-529-2 |pages=38–42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OSqhZphG_gQC&pg=PA38|access-date=July 1, 2009}}</ref> one of whom was killed by local Native Americans while scouting ahead.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Valerie Ooka Pang|author2=Li-Rong Lilly Cheng|title=Struggling To Be Heard: The Unmet Needs of Asian Pacific American Children|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZyIYK1M1ikC&pg=PA166|year=1998|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-3839-8|page=166}}</ref>

The first European land exploration of [[Alta California]], the Spanish [[Portolá expedition]], came down Los Osos Valley and camped near today's Morro Bay on [[Timeline of the Portolá expedition|September 8, 1769]]. [[Franciscans|Franciscan]] missionary and expedition member [[Juan Crespí]] noted in his diary, "we saw a great rock in the form of a round morro".<ref>{{cite book |last=Bolton |first=Herbert E. |pages=185–186 |year=1927 |title=Fray Juan Crespi: Missionary Explorer on the Pacific Coast, 1769–1774 |url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000288788 |publisher=HathiTrust Digital Library |access-date=June 18, 2017}}</ref>

While governed by Mexico, large [[land grant]]s split the surrounding area into cattle and dairy ''ranchos'', which needed shipping to bring in dry goods and to carry their crops, animals, and other farm products to cities.

The town of Morro Bay was founded by Franklin Riley in 1870 as a port for the export of dairy and ranch products. He was instrumental in the building of a wharf, which has now become the Embarcadero.<ref>{{cite book|author=Carina Monica Montoya|title=Pacific Coast Highway in California|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZJRDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA84|date=April 9, 2018|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-1-4671-2751-6|page=84}}<br />{{cite book|author1=Gene L. Gerdes|author2=Edward R. J. Primbs|author3=Bruce M. Browning|title=Natural Resources of Morro Bay: Their Status and Future|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sE4QAQAAIAAJ|year=1974|publisher=State of California, Department of Fish and Game|page=27}}</ref> During the 1870s, [[schooner]]s could often be seen at the Embarcadero, picking up wool, potatoes, barley, and dairy products.{{Citation needed|date=February 2015}}

A subspecies of butterfly, the "Morro Bay Blue" or " Morro Blue" (''[[Icaricia icarioides moroensis]]'') was first found at Morro Beach by entomologist [[Robert F. Sternitzky]], in June 1929.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sternitzky |first1=Robert F. |author-link1=Robert F. Sternitzky |title=A New Subspecies of ''Plebejus icarioides'' Bdv. |journal=Pan-Pacific Entomologist |date=1930 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=93–94 |url=https://archive.org/details/panpacificentom7vand/page/93 }}</ref>

During [[World War II]], a U.S. Navy base, [[Amphibious Training Base Morro Bay]], was on the north side of Morro Rock, where sailors were trained to operate [[LCVP (United States)|LCVPs]]. The breakwater on the southwest side of the rock was built in 1944–45 to protect the LCVPs entering and leaving the harbor. Soldiers from [[Camp San Luis Obispo]] came to Morro Bay and practice loading into the LCVPs. Many of those men were at [[Normandy]] on [[D-Day]].

In the 1940s, Morro Bay developed an [[abalone]]-fishing industry; it peaked in 1957; stocks of abalone had declined significantly due to overfishing.<ref>{{cite report|first1=Susan |last1=McBride  |first2=Fred F. |last2=Conte |url=http://aqua.ucdavis.edu/dbweb/outreach/aqua/ASAQ-A10.PDF |title=California Abalone Aquaculture |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116150434/http://aqua.ucdavis.edu/dbweb/outreach/aqua/ASAQ-A10.PDF |archive-date=January 16, 2009 |url-status=dead |date=January 16, 2009 |publisher=California Aquaculture, University of California |location=Davis}}</ref> [[Halibut]], [[Sole (fish)|sole]], [[sebastidae|rockfish]], [[albacore]], and many other species are still caught by both commercial and sport vessels. In addition, [[oyster]]s are grown by [[aquaculture]] in the shallow back bay.

In the 1950s, the [[Pacific Gas and Electric Company]] built the Morro Bay Power Plant, which created jobs and increased the tax base and led to the city acquiring the nickname "Three Stacks and a Rock".{{r|NYT 2022-06-17}} The city incorporated in 1964.<ref name="LAFCO">{{cite web |url=http://www.calafco.org/docs/Cities_by_incorp_date.doc
 |title=California Cities by Incorporation Date
 |format=Word
 |publisher=California Association of [[Local Agency Formation Commission]]s
 |access-date=August 25, 2014
|url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103002921/http://www.calafco.org/docs/Cities_by_incorp_date.doc
 |archive-date=November 3, 2014
}}</ref> The plant closed in February 2014.{{r|SFG 2022-05-03}}