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 Humboldt
County is a county located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of
California, on the Pacific Ocean.
The original inhabitants of the area now known as Humboldt County
include the Wiyot, Yurok, Hupa, Karuk, Chilula, Whilkut, and the
southern Athabascans, including the Mattole and Nongatl. Humboldt County
was formed in 1853 from parts of Trinity County. The first recorded
entry by people of European origin was a landing by the Spanish in 1775.
The county derived its name from Humboldt Bay. The first recorded
entry of Humboldt Bay by non-natives was an 1806 visit from a sea otter
hunting party from Sitka employed by the Russian American Company. The
hunting party included Captain Jonathan Winship, an American, and some
Aleut hunters. The bay was not visited again by people of European
origin until 1849 when Josiah Gregg's party visited. In 1850, Douglas
Ottinger and Hans Buhne entered the bay, naming it Humboldt in honor of
the great naturalist and world explorer, Baron Alexander von Humboldt.
The area around Humboldt Bay was once solely inhabited by the Wiyot
Indian tribe. One of the largest Wiyot villages, Tolowot, was located on
Gunther Island (AKA Indian Island and AKA Bloody Island) in Humboldt
Bay. Founded circa 900, it contains a shell midden 6 acres in size and
14 feet deep. It was the site of the February 26, 1860 massacre of the
Wiyot people that was recorded by Bret Harte, then living in Union, now
called Arcata. Between 60 and 200 Wiyot men, women, and children were
murdered that night. In 1998, musician Frank Black wrote and recorded a
song about this event, called "Humboldt County Massacre." Tolowot is now
an archeological site, designated "Gunther Island Site 67", and is a
National Historic Landmark.
State historic landmarks in Humboldt County include Trinidad Head,
Fort Humboldt, The Old Arrow Tree, Centerville Beach Cross, Camp Curtis,
the Town of Trinidad, the City of Eureka, California's first drilled oil
wells in Petrolia, the Jacoby Building, the Old Indian Village of Tsurai
in Trinidad, the Arcata and Mad River Railroad Company, the Humboldt
Harbor Historical District, and the town of Ferndale.
On February 5 and 6, 1885, Eureka's entire Chinese population of 300
men and 20 women were expelled after a gunfight between rival Chinese
gangs (tongs) resulted in the wounding of a 12 year old boy and the
death of 56 year old David Kendall, a Eureka City Councilman. After the
shooting, an angry mob of 600 Eurekans met and then informed the Chinese
that they were no longer wanted in Eureka and would be hanged if they
were to stay in town longer than 3 p.m. the next day. They were put on
two steamships and shipped to San Francisco. No Chinese were killed in
the expulsion. Another Chinese expulsion occurred during 1906 in a
cannery on the Eel River, which expelled 23 Chinese cannery workers
after local loggers objected to their presence. However, A few Chinese
remained in the Orleans area, where some white landowners sheltered and
purchased food for Chinese mineworkers until after racial tension
passed. The Chinese did not return to the coastal cities until the 1950s
Wikipedia
County Seat: Eureka
Year Organized: 1853
Square Miles: 3,573
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