Don't think Russia exerted much influence here..They had a fort down in Calif. though..We had trouble with the Brits though. Hudson Bay Co. had a fort on the Columbia River by Portland OR. and there was the Pig War in the San Juan islands. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany mediated that dispute...
......Westy.....
The Russians had a fort along the northern California coast, called Fort Ross...its kind of near to where my relatives live down in California...
You can go there and visit the fort, and see all the buildings, and stuff that was left behind...let me see if I can find more info...
I have been there a few times...