Joseph Goff Gale (April 29, 1807 – December 13, 1881) was an American pioneer, trapper, entrepreneur, and politician who contributed to the early settlement of the Oregon Country.

[1] From 1830 until 1839, the heyday of the Rocky Mountain fur trade, he was a well regarded trapper and an associate of western legends such as Ewing Young, Nathaniel Wyeth, Joe Meek, Jim Bridger, and Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians.

The goal of this expedition was to export horses and mules from California for sale in the Missouri Valley, and do some trapping of beaver and perhaps hunting sea otter on the side.

A year later, in July 1833, Gale was at the fur trapper's Rendezvous at Green River in present-day Wyoming, where he joined Joseph Walker's expedition to California.

[3] The expedition traveled from the Great Salt Lake to California by way of the Humboldt River, crossing the Sierra Nevada near the Yosemite Valley.

[4] In February 1834, the Joseph Walker party began its return trip to the Rocky Mountains, but Gale stayed behind in California.

In 1840, a group of settlers began construction of a ship with the goal of sailing the vessel to San Francisco, and trading it for cattle to bring back north.

To raise capital and free his labor for its construction, Gale sold his Tualatin Valley farm and moved his family to Champoeg.

All summer and fall he worked on construction of the schooner at Oregon City, where it had been relocated, which came after Hathaway quit the project and left the completion up to the remaining partners.

"Mr. Gale, whose dwelling is situated..(approximately 1.5 miles from) the Fort experienced a severe injury during his exertions to rescue his children from the ruins of his falling house".

However, Gale's business activities were badly damaged with the demise of the Butterfield Overland Mail service in March 1861 and the closing of Fort Tejon in June 1861.

In January 1862, a record flood washed away the ferry, stage station, and much of the road connecting San Francisco with Los Angeles.

Joseph Gale died on his farm on December 13, 1881, and is buried in the Eagle Valley cemetery, Richland, Baker County, Oregon.