AHC: Russian-dominated BC/Oregon

I'm wondering if building Fort Ross a little bit to the north-say, in Vancouver Bay-and a half-century earlier might have done it. I don't think it requires a whole heck of a lot of effort, necessarily-IIRC, the entire Afrikaner ethnic group is descended from less than 1,000 Dutchmen the VOC brought over. If we have Russia bring a similar number of colonists into the area sometime in the 18th century, and have the area not fall into non-Russian hands until at least the mid-19th century, I think it might work. If Russia still holds it up to around 1900, it might be a destination for some of the non-Jewish Russians who IOTL immigrated to Canada and the US.

Further thoughts?
 
Have them be colonists and not fur traders. Russia's interests in North America were purely commercial. Not to say this couldn't happen, but look at New Netherland for a similar style of colonization.
 
Have them be colonists and not fur traders. Russia's interests in North America were purely commercial. Not to say this couldn't happen, but look at New Netherland for a similar style of colonization.

Kind of what I was thinking-lets say Russia becomes interested in colonizing the Americas sometime in the 1750's-1760's, and sends an expedition to the west coast, and ultimately plants a colony on the mouth of the Columbia River. Over the next couple decades, Russia sends about 1000 settlers to the colony, but eventually, due to the expense and unprofitability of the venture, looses interest. The place then gets more or less taken over by the Russian Orthodox church, who use it as a base for proselytizing among the local native American tribes (in its formative years, the colony can't really afford to have bad relations with the local natives). Gradually, trade and Orthodox missionaries bring more Indians into the colony's orbit, with many finding work on Russian farms and intermarrying with the Russian colonists. After 1800, the colonists begin expanding into the Williamette Valley and the colony's population expands rapidly.

I recognize that this probably isn't the most likely scenario-the colony would have to be lucky in its early years and not loose too many settlers, and Spain, Britain, and later the US might all claim it at some point-but Oregon is still remote enough that I think such a colony's survival is plausible.
 
http://samlib.ru/g/grinshtejn_b_w/
A huge TL in Russian exactly about Russian Oregon( and all North America to the west of Rockies and to the north of Klamath). PoD is 1780.
If you are interested in the topic and don't read Russian I can write a gist of it.

That would be nice, thanks!

Another idea that occurred to me-perhaps a colony could get founded accidentally-say a large Russian trading ship gets blown aground somewhere in Vancouver Bay, and isn't found for a while-during which time the survivors have built a small settlement, one that the Russian government later decides to add to.
 
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