By Chaplain Grady "Irish" O'Shucks

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Sunset District's notorious fog belts were deadly for a group of 19th century adventurers exploring the City's west side, according to San Francisco State University archaeologists. The remains of the expedition were discovered this week in the back yard of a Sunset District home, putting to rest a mystery that had puzzled historians for decades.

The expedition was led by Conor MacCormack, a San Franciscan of Scottish extraction who had a flair for the eccentric. Searching for one of the continent's last frontiers, MacCormack in 1889 began organizing an expedition to the Sunset District, which at the time was uninhabited and was known by San Francisco residents as "The Great Nether Region."

MacCormack gathered a party of 20 men and on May 23 set off west from the Haight-Ashbury District, at the time the western limit of the City. Their goal was to be the first party of white men to traverse the western side of the City and reach the Pacific Ocean, where a schooner was scheduled to pick them up on July 31. Instead, they were never heard from again.

Historians have long speculated on the fate of the party. Some believed that it may have been ambushed by a remnant band of Ohlone Indians, while others held that MacCormack's penchant for whisky could have caused the party to become lost and tumble into the Golden Gate in the vicinity of Land’s End.

Based on the contents of a diary found at the scene, MacCormack's party made good progress for the first three weeks, progressing through what is now known as the Inner Sunset and crossing what would become 19th Avenue on June 14. At that point, however, the party's late start became fatal.

The District's notorious summer fog belts began rolling in, chilling the party to the bone and causing them to become hopelessly lost. Clad only in woolen overcoats, flannel shirts, and denim jeans, the party was no match for the area's bone-chilling temperatures.

Having lost his way and unable to see the sun for days at a time, MacCormack called a halt to the expedition's western progress and settled into winter quarters in late June somewhere in the vicinity of 42nd Avenue and Noriega Street. Supplies began running low, although ironically the expedition's relief ship was only a mile away, anchored off the coast but invisible due to fog. The end became obvious when the party drained its last bottle of whisky, and to a man every member succumbed to the elements.

The San Francisco State archaeological team plans to put MacCormack's diary on view for the general public in a special exhibit at the school's J. Paul Leonard Library. Plans are also afoot to serialize the party's last days by publishing the diary in FogWatch.com.