 While most sought prime agricultural land, some did gravitate to the Newport area and a small settlement was born.Desperate for materials and food, residents of this small settlement were thrilled when Captain Samuel Sumner Dunnels cautiously guided his 105-ton, flat-bottomed steamer "Vaquero" into the virtually unexplored Newport Bay, then known as San Joaquin Bay, on September 10, 1870.Heavily loaded with 5,000 shingles and 5,000 feet of lumber from San Diego, he entered the bay slowly.