Humboldt County
History
History of Humboldt County California - Historic Record Co., Los Angeles, 1915
CHAPTER VI.
Gold Mines Lure Men to the North
The atmosphere of early Humboldt county was that of the true pioneer. The early settlers were inured to hardships and accustomed to the difficulties of canoe and saddle, of wind and flood. They knew what it was to go to bed hungry, to escape from the perils of Indian warfare, to trap the bear, and slay the deer.
But the lure of gold had more than anything else to do with the men of 1845, 1846, and 1847. It was Trinity and its pictures of Monte Cristoan wealth that caused the bold explorers of 1845 to brave the terrors of the unknown North and blaze their way to her rugged fastnesses.
After all, the search for gold is sure to be the dream of aggressive men as long as the present economic ideals obtain; but one must talk with the pioneers of the late '40s if he would understand the overpowering influences which moved men in antebellum days. Those were times of comparative poverty, for the crudest imaginable conditions surrounded most of those who lived in rural regions. Homespun and small wages were almost universal. Agur's prayer, "give me neither riches nor poverty," had been partly answered, for none were rich, but many indeed were poor. Wages for common labor and almost everything else were triflingly small, the hours of toil were long, and the supply of men for every demand was great.
In the very midst of these conditions the sleeping world heard of ingots in the foothills of California, of glistening gold, the idol of the ages, in the creeks, rivers, and sands of California's hills and mountains. No wonder that the name California became the magical word that was on every tongue.
The entire East at once became a supply and outfitting station for the bold adventurers, who immediately began to cross the plains in great numbers.
Just here it might be said that so long as man shall covet wealth, under an industrial system that makes a bank account the very symbol and passport of power, the story of the accidental discovery of gold in far away California must appeal to mankind with the weird and luring freshness of romance, and the detailed accounts of the finding of the first particles by the discoverer on January 24, 1848, the history of the smelting that produced the first ingots, the memory of the "dust" first used as legal tender—all this will ever remain the greatest human interest story of the nineteenth century—a story rivaling the tales of Sinbad, the feats of Aladdin, the luck of Fortunatus.
Though never a great mining county, Humboldt was brought into civilization by the romantic feat of Marshall. The trail of Marshall's followers led to the Trinity, the Klamath, and finally to Humboldt bar, as we shall see as the story is unfolded. The Sutter creek romance made an empire of a wilderness, turned the heads of sturdy men the world over, and worked wonders with thousands of humble persons. Through that discovery the lowly were lifted to places of power, and the cap of Fortunatus was placed on the heads of many lucky pioneers. The way that the discovery of gold lifted many humble men into positions which made them famous in the later days is one of unceasing interest.
The marvel of this entrancing story lies partly in the fact that so many generations of gold-hunting expeditions had passed away before anybody learned that the earth was filled with gold, as when the first men ate of it, according to the legends of Gautama, and found it deliciously sweet. That which must have been seen and handled by many generations in California still lay hid and unknown up to the time of Marshall's discovery, as it had lain unknown and unseen throughout the generations of Spanish conquest. From Ximenes, Cabrillo, and their compeers to the days of Marshall and the Bonanza Kings, it is indeed a far cry, yet the gold of California and Nevada had lain practically undeveloped until the era of the Comstock.
How wonderful it seems that it remained for a humble millwright to discover, quite by accident, in the glittering gravel of a tailrace, that which had been unobserved throughout the ages of Spanish civilization—a discovery destined to revolutionize the history and commercial development of men and countries.
This fact brings us to the influence of that discovery on Humboldt county itself. In order to understand the meaning of the claim that Marshall's discovery affected Humboldt it will be necessary to make a brief study of the Trinity gold excitement.
To Major Pearson B. Reading belongs the credit of leading the first band of trappers and explorers into the mining territory of Trinity, in Shasta county, in 1847. Reading left Sutter's Fort in the spring of 1845, taking with him thirty men and one hundred pack horses. It was his purpose to trap the streams of California and Oregon. By May he was crossing the mountains from the Sacramento river near a divide now known as "the backbone," and twenty or thirty miles from there he discovered the Trinity river, and supposed that it flowed into Trinidad bay, as it had been thus marked on an old Spanish chart.
The party remained on the river for about three weeks, engaged in trapping, but in all that time they discovered no known ledge of gold. In June, 1849, however, Major Reading, then a rancher in Shasta county, went on an exploring expedition, accompanied by a small party, and made a great many examinations of the earth in the vicinity of the Trinity river.
Gold-bearing gravel bars, which afterwards made the river famous, were then discovered. When these explorers visited the Sacramento river, the following August, they brought the news of the discovery of gold, and the famous rush for Trinity county began. The canyons and rivers of the country in the Trinity vicinity were then explored and a regular gold rush set in. The search for the mouth of the Trinity then began in real earnest, and there was a general opinion that the river discovered by Reading emptied its waters into Trinidad bay.
It was supposed that the best road to the mine would be by way of the river from the ocean. Many expeditions were fitted out to find the mouth of the Trinity river. The Cameo sailed up the coast in December, 1849, but had to return to San Francisco with the report that no such place as Trinidad bay could be discovered. Soon after this many contradictory reports were received and the Cameo again sailed North, followed in quick succession by half a dozen or more steamers. In March, 1850, the harbor of Trinidad was discovered by the Cameo and was soon thereafter entered by the Laura Virginia, the James R. Whiting and the California. At San Francisco the news of the discovery of Trinidad was received with great enthusiasm, and much excitement followed. Soon thereafter a number of little cities sprang up in the vicinity of the supposed magical Trinidad bay.
The old historian tells us that the first townsite located on the bay was Humboldt City, named by the Laura Virginia Association in April, 1850. After this the towns of Bucksport, Union, and Eureka were established and when the survivors of the great Gregg party reached Sonoma, and after L. K. Wood had recovered from his injuries and sickness, thirty men started to return overland to Humboldt bay. On April 19, 1850, this party reached the bay, having occupied about twenty days in the trip from Sonoma. In Mr. Wood's narrative, published some years thereafter, he speaks of having seen the Laura Virginia inside and tells how Humboldt point was occupied by her party. In the month of April, 1850, Eureka was established on the south side of Humboldt bay, and Trinidad, which was first known as Warnerville, was located at Trinidad harbor. One of the ephemeral little towns of the time, born of mining excitement, was Klamath City. It did not last long, being of a mushroom character. Like some other little towns of the time, every evidence that it had ever existed has been wiped away.
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.