Located in the North Bay region of the Bay Area , the city had a population of 77, as of the end of The word "napa" is of Native American derivation and has been variously translated as "grizzly bear", "house", "motherland" or "fish". Of the many explanations of the name's origin, the most plausible seems to be that it is derived from the Patwin word napo , meaning "house".
Further adding confusion, Napa was originally spelled with two Ps: Nappa. Shortly thereafter, the present spelling was adopted; the reasons for this are unclear. At the time of the first recorded exploration into Napa Valley in , the majority of the inhabitants consisted of Native Americans. Spanish priests converted some natives; the rest were attacked and dispersed by Mexican soldiers. At the time, its boundaries also included Lake County to the north.
By this time, the indigenous people were either working as field laborers or living in small bands in the hills surrounding the valley. Tensions between the white settlers and Native Americans broke into war in , resulting in soldiers hunting down and massacring all the natives they could find, driving the remainder north toward Clear Lake. The City of Napa was founded by Nathan Coombs in Instead, the Napa town site was surveyed on property Coombs had received from Nicolas Higuera, original holder of the Rancho Entre Napa , a Mexican land grant.
The first record of a ship navigating the river was the Susana in , though by the Dolphin became the first passenger steamship to navigate the Napa River in order to open another path of commerce. In the mids, Napa's Main Street rivaled that of many larger cities, with as many as saddle horses tied to the fences on an average afternoon. John Patchett opened the first commercial winery in the county in Horrell and L. Hoxie Strong, made its debut on August 10, , with weekly publications until becoming a daily newspaper in A tent city was erected along Main Street.
Many cattle ranches were maintained, and the lumber industry had greatly expanded. Sawmills in the valley were in operation cutting up timber that was hauled by team to Napa and then shipped out on the river to Benicia and San Francisco. In , the great silver rush began in Napa Valley, and miners eagerly flocked to the eastern hills. In the s, mining carried on, in a large scale, with quicksilver mines operating in many areas of Napa County.
