Redwood History Basic Data

A. COPPER MINING

1. Discovery and Exploitation

Although it was rumored for seven years that there was copper ore in Del Norte County, it was March 1860 before several miners took specimens to be tested by D. S. Sartwell and Dr. Henry Smith. The report was soon out—the ore contained indeed a large percentage of copper. A company headed by D. C. Gibbs, geologist, was organized to exploit the vein, the outcropping having been traced for over a mile. The vein was first opened at a point on the ridge east of Smith River, near Peacock's (Black's) Ferry. [1]

Several shafts, from 20 to 30 feet in depth, were opened, to enable the geologists to ascertain the quality of the ore. The samples secured were sufficient to prove the area was rich in various minerals, "and all that was needed was the energy to prospect, and continue prospecting, until the hidden treasures of her hills would claim for Del Norte an enviable position among her sister counties." [2]

The summer of 1860 was feverish with excitement, because of the copper strike, and the mines of Del Norte attracted attention as far away as San Francisco. A company of Cornish miners disembarked and pronounced the ore they saw as the richest they had heretofore inspected. Besides being rich it was accessible. The copper fever spread. "Oxides, sulphurets, casings, and outcroppings," became familiar words on lips of men who a few months before would have been unable to define them. A stampede ensued. The streets of Crescent City were deserted, and McClelland's Livery Stable had no horses or mules to rent at any price.

The Evoca Company, the first one organized, located its mine on the plank road from Peacock's Ferry to the Illinois Valley, and about one-half mile east of Smith River. The Excelsior was on the same ridge, one mile north of the Evoca, while the Pacific was one-half mile farther north and on the same ridge. The Del Norte was located on the east side of Myrtle Creek, two and one-half miles from Peacock's Ferry. The Alta California was on Low Divide, on the wagon road from Crescent City to the Illinois Valley. The Union was on the opposite side of the road from the Alta California's workings. Four other mines (the Crescent, Bamboo, Mammoth, and the Chaplin & Bradford claims) were located near Low Divide. [3]

These companies all came into existance during a two-month period in the summer of 1860. Many persons who should have known better seemed to forget that it required a large amount of capital to operate a successful copper mine. Most of these mines soon failed. Between 1860 and 1863 there was shipped from the Alta California and Union mines about 2,000 tons of high-grade copper ore. Because of the high price of labor and transportation, the mines were too expensive to exploit at a profit. Moreover, the price of copper on the world market was low. [4]

By 1880 there was only one copper mine (the Condon Copper Mine of Big Flat) operating in the county. Wages for miners had dropped to $40 per month and board, while the cost of transporting ore from the mine to San Francisco had slumped to $10 per ton. Although the ore was rich and commanded a price of between $50 and $60 per ton in San Francisco, the mines remained shut down, the owners lacking the means and enterprise to exploit them. [5]

2. Comments and Recommendations

The copper mines discovered in 1860 were on the ridge separating the watersheds of Peacock and Sultan creeks, at Low Divide, and east of Myrtle Creek. These are all outside the Park. The ore from the mines was hauled into Crescent City over the road belonging to the Crescent City Plank Road and passing through the Park. Some mention of the copper mines should be made in interpreting this road and Peacock's Ferry.

B. GOLD MINING

1. Beach Mining

General Ray, a resident of Carson City, Nevada, spent July 1872 in Del Norte County, inspecting the beach mines, four miles southeast of Crescent City. He pronounced them the best he had seen for "gold, platinum, and magnetic iron," and expressed himself satisfied that they would return large profits to anyone willing to work them with up-to-date equipment. These beach sands at this time, as heretofore, were worked with "wheelbarrow, torn, and sluice." Consequently, it was believed, a large quantity of the metal was lost. Indeed, most of the claims had been abandoned, for want of capital and modern machinery.

Crescent City business interests seemed unreceptive to outside capital, and when General Ray returned on a steamer on which was loaded the necessary machinery for working the beach sands, he was met with opposition. On disembarking, Ray found that the section of the beach he proposed to work had been "jumped", while he was securing equipment and capital in San Francisco. An exorbitant price was now demanded for it. Ray was not a man to be fleeced, so he ordered the machinery left on ship and returned to San Francisco, leaving the would-be speculators in mining claims to mourn their loss. [6]

The speculators were compelled to work their claims along the beach south of Cushing Creek. Their return per ton of sand was meagre, and the tailings proved by assay to be nearly as rich in gold as before the washing. By 1880 the claims had been abandoned. [7]

In the spring of 1891, H. Raymond and several others rented a Wood & Garcelon Gold Washing Machine. The machine, which had a capacity of four pans, was put into operation on Pebble Beach, two miles above Crescent City. Seven men ran the machine for 30 days, and quit in disgust when the sand only yielded ten cents per ton. Raymond and his partners seeing that the operation did not pay, went out of business. [8]

2. Placer Mining

The Myrtle Creek placer was discovered in 1853 by Louis Gallise. Lack of water was a limiting factor, restricting operations to the winter months until 1894. In that year a ditch was completed, which permitted the placer to be worked for the greater part of the year. In 1891 a nugget valued at $800 had been found. The Myrtle Creek placer is now closed down. [9]

3. Drift Mining

Hiram Rice in the 1890s conducted drift mining and sluicing on a 20-acre tract on Mill Creek. In 1894 he told Robert Jenkins that for the past 23 years he had "made a comfortable living by these means." The gravel on his claim was from ten to 20 feet thick. At the western edge of his claim, he reported that the gravel on the bedrock showed from three to five cents per pan.

He had prospected this gravel to a point about one-half mile east of his house, "where the gravel forms a spur, which runs down from Bald Hill, and is crossed by the Old Kelsey Trail." Up to this point, the gravel paid for sluicing. The gold was coarse, and he had found a number of nuggets worth $20 each.

Several tunnels had been driven into the spur to pinpoint the old channel. Upon the bedrock, he had encountered the trunks of several redwood, "which appeared to have grown upon the spot." Gravel taken from the tunnels had paid only 50 cents per day.

Rice had prospected the gravel between his house and Mill Creek, a distance of 440 yards. Crossing the stream, he found some gravel that paid four dollars to the wheelbarrow. [10]

Cornelius G. Nickerson, who was 15 years younger than Rice, likewise prospected on Mill Creek. His "ranch" was located about a mile south of Rice's house. Coming to Del Norte County in 1867, Nickerson spent his years on Mill Creek as a pocket miner, searching for gold which had been deposited after the spring freshets. He also raised a garden and kept a small orchard. For most of his life Nickerson was a bachelor, but several years before he passed on, he married the widow Jeater. In 1910 he sold out and left Mill Creek. [11]

4. Comments and Recommendations

The story of the unsuccessful efforts to reap great riches mining gold from beaches will be told at Gold Bluffs. Because of the probable high visitation to the area around Cushing Creek, some on-site interpretation should be made at that point.

The Nickerson Ranch site has been identified on the ground but the site of Rice's house has not. An effort should be made by the Service to pinpoint the Rice house site, and the remains of Rice's tunnels, sluice boxes, ditch, and bedrock flume. These should then be identified, and an access trail opened. If the remains are found to be in a good state of preservation, they should be entered in the list of Classified Structures.

C. SILVER MINING

In 1871 Blalock sank a shaft on Myrtle Creek and penetrated rock containing silver ore. For some reason he did not exploit his discovery, and closed his shaft. His find was kept secret until 1874, when word of it was permitted to leak. As expected, this news caused the wildest excitement in Crescent City. Stories spread that a new Comstock had been found in Del Norte County. Men collected on the streets to show one another the "results of the numerous tests of the rock which had been made, some saying that they could find no silver, while others asserted that it was $300 rock."

A new mining district, the Myrtle Creek, was organized, and the entire area staked in claims. The boom quickly subsided without any move being made to develop the Myrtle Creek silver mines. [12]

D. SALMON CANNERIES on the KLAMATH

1. Jones & Richardson Co.

Martin V. Jones and George Richardson in the autumn of 1876 established the first commercial fishery at the mouth of the Klamath. The Yurok protested their presence, and in 1877 they sought to force them to vacate their claim and fishery. Jones and Richardson refused to move. In August 1877 the Crescent City Courier reported that they have already put up a few cans of salmon, and Jones had gone to San Francisco to "lay in a supply of salt and other materials with which to carry on fishing on a more extensive scale." [13]

Captain Savage and his soldiers evicted Jones and Richardson from their property in June 1879, and the first commercial fishery on the Klamath was closed down.

2. Klamath Commercial Co.

The opposition of the Indians mollified, Jones incorporated the Klamath Commercial Co. for the "purpose of lumbering and fishing at or near the mouth of the Klamath." On August 27, 1881, the Del Norte Record announced:

The milling and canning enterprise on the Klamath River is now under way. M. V. Jones, who is the general superintendent of the work, has been on the ground for some weeks with a crew of men, and has the mill and building sites all ready. [14]

The cannery was to be erected on Hunter Creek, more than a mile from the river. The Indians would catch and deliver the salmon for so much a head. The scow Ester Cobos, drawing six feet of water, would be employed to trade between the Klamath and Crescent City. [15] As the cannery was off the Reservation and the Indians were benefitted by its presence, the military took no action to interfere with its operation.

3. The Klamath Packing & Trading Co.

John Bomhoff in 1886 received permission from the Indian Agent to build a saltery near the mouth of the Klamath. R. D. Hume of Gold Beach, Oregon, likewise decided to get into the business. In 1887 he sent down a scow, on which quarters were built, equipped to carry on the business of general merchandising and salting salmon. The craft was seized by a U. S. Marshal during the winter of 1887-88. After extensive litigation, the case was decided in favor of Hume, and he proceeded to build a cannery on the right bank of the Klamath, about one-half mile from the one constructed the previous year by John Bomhoff & Co. Hume's cannery was wrecked by the flood of 1890, and the two companies merged under the name of Klamath Packing & Trading Co. [16]

These early fisheries salted most of their catch. In 1887 Bomhoff packed 700 barrels of salmon, and R. D. Hume 500. The schooners Requa and Geo. Harley made frequent runs to the Klamath, bringing in tin, salt, and other materials for the canneries, and taking out barrels of fish. [17]

The Klamath Packing & Trading Co. found the years between 1894 and 1909 profitable. In the latter year, it was reported that Klamath River salmon bring the "top-notch in the market, as their reputation for superiority is far-famed." The plant in that year was owned by the R. D. Hume Estate and W. T. Bailey. For a number of years, Bailey had been plant superintendent. During the calendar year 1908, there were 6,500 cases of salmon shipped from the cannery aboard its gasoline-powered craft. This vessel made the run from Requa to Humboldt Bay, during favorable weather, with cases of fish which were transshipped to San Francisco. On her return, the vessel brought in items needed by the cannery and supplies for the area. [18]

4. Salmon Fishing on the Klamath

In the heyday of commercial salmon fishing on the Klamath, it was not uncommon during a good run for the netters, Indian and white, to bring 7,000 to 10,000 fish daily to the canneries. Seventeen thousand was the record catch in 1912. When several canneries were in operation, as many as 100 nets were in use. These nets, with buoys and weights, were about 20 feet deep, and usually of 7-1/2-inch mesh to permit the smaller fish to escape upstream to spawn. Old Timers recalled that "it was quite a feat to haul in a net of fighting fish into a dugout canoe and not lose any of the catch." When the canneries had all the salmon they could handle for the day, a signal was given for the netters to cease operations. [19]

For over 50 years commercial fishing on the Klamath flourished. Many Yurok found employment in the industry for several months each year. Fish were caught, salted or canned, and shipped out in small schooners. Commercial fishing was declared illegal on the Klamath and Smith rivers in January 1934, and the Klamath Packing & Trading Co. closed. [20]

This action was followed by illegal netting, the guilty parties employing nets with as small as three-inch mesh. These allowed nothing except the fingerlings to escape. So flagrant and defiant of the laws were these people that they loaded their trucks with netted salmon in broad daylight, then trucked to Oregon wholesalers for sale and distribution. This condition got so bad during World War II that Del Norte sportsmen telegraphed Governor Earl Warren, either to take immediate action to stop the depredations, or they would.

Governor Warren accordingly ordered Otis Wright, a hard-boiled warden, to Del Norte. From the day that Wright stopped his first truck-load of fish on U.S. 199, en route for Oregon, illegal netting was on its way to extinction. [21]

Today the Klamath is a mecca for sport fishermen. During the salmon runs thousands of fishermen work the waters near the mouth of the Klamath, eager to catch the big Chinook salmon and the wily steelhead.

5. Comments and Recommendations

The story of commercial and sports fishing at the mouth of the Klamath is one that lends itself to on-site interpretation. As the bar at the river's mouth and "Anchor Row" will be overrun with fishermen, during the salmon runs, the Service should cooperate with the owners of Dad's Camp to insure maximum use and enjoyment of the area.

E. THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

1. H. H. Alexander*

H. H. Alexander, who resided three miles southeast of Crescent City, on the trail to the Klamath, in 1890 owned a well-equipped dairy farm. The author of Del Norte County As It Is reported that "everything about his farm indicates thrift and comfort." [22] The Alexander Farm in 1969 was owned by Benjamin Pozzie. *

2. David Griffin

In Del Norte County, prior to 1900, David Griffin had taken the lead in the introduction of purebred livestock. He showed great pride in his purebred Jersey and Holstein cattle. In 1894 he owned two thoroughbred four-year-old colts of the "Go Bang" line, one of which had carried off the largest purse in the three-year-old trotting race in 1893 at the Del Norte Agricultural Association Fair. [23]

3. Louis DeMartin*

Louis DeMartin was born in Switzerland in 1839, and at the age of 15 he came to the United States in steerage. To get to California, he crossed the isthmus of Panama. In 1874 DeMartin moved from Petaluma to Eureka, where he purchased the Revere Hotel. Three years later, he bought the ranch in Del Norte County that was to be his home until his death in 1907. His ranch was on Wilson Creek and fronted on the Pacific for a number of miles. To reach his property, he came up from Eureka by overland trail, bringing with him his family and belongings by pack mule.

At first, DeMartin raised sheep, having at one time about 3,000. Wild dogs and bear killed so many that he determined to diversify. He was soon raising a variety of crops, as well as cattle and hogs. Butter was churned and since it could not be taken to market immediately, it was "put down" in wooden barrels, in brine, and the barrels placed in a side-hill cellar, where a constant temperature could be maintained. Hogs were butchered every two months, as many as 60 at a time. The lard, hams, and bacon, along with the casks of butter, were shipped to Crescent City. Until the road was completed in 1894, these items were sent out aboard Jim Isles' big redwood canoe, with its crew of seven Yurok. When the canoe returned, it brought such items as were needed on the ranch to supplement its own produce.

Sometimes there was a special cargo—Mrs. DeMartin and one of her children traveling to Crescent City so the priest could baptize the little one. Milton DeMartin recalled that he was four years old when he first saw Crescent City.

The mail came once a week at first, later, three times. In December 1884 the mail carrier, John Waggle, was drowned in fording Wilson Creek when he was thrown by his horse. Waggle's body, which was swept out to sea, was found in April, about one-half mile below the mouth of the creek by a squaw. DeMartin and Eli Porter interred the body near where it was found.

In 1889 DeMartin built a new home and hostelry. He charged travelers 25 cents for meals, and a similar amount for a bed. The ranch, after DeMartin's death in 1907, remained in the hands of the heirs until 1944, when it was sold to Mrs. Henry Rudisill. [24]

4. Charles Fortain

A native of Canada, Charles Fortain was living on the Klamath as early as 1892. Besides farming, he entered in 1895 into a partnership with W. T. Bailey of Requa to operate the Klamath Ferry. [25]

5. Comments and Recommendations

Buildings which merit inclusion on the List of Classified Structures survive at three of these sites—Alexander's, DeMartin's, and Fortain's. The structure at Alexander's is a large barn that was standing at least as early as 1894; at DeMartin's it is the house which dates back to before 1900; and at Fortain's the dwelling dates to the late 19th century. Historic Structures reports should be programmed for Alexander's Barn and DeMartin's House. If the Fortain House is included in the Park, it should likewise have a Historic Structures Report.

The story of man's successful struggle to establish first a sheep ranch and then a dairy farm in the redwoods can be inter preted at DeMartins.

F. HOTELS and INNS

In the first decade of the 20th century, after the opening of a through road from Crescent City to Eureka, a number of hotels and inns were opened along this route. These guest houses catered to tourists, hunters, and fishermen. These inns were:

1. The Orick Inn: Walter Devlin, its proprietor, provided guides, horses, camping outfits, and provisions for hunters and fishermen.

2. Davidson's Inn: At Davidson's on Prairie Creek many parties interested in deer and bear hunting, and trout fishing made their headquarters.

3. Boyes' Ranch: This was a popular resort of hunters and fishermen. Here horses and pack outfits were available for the trip over the Ah Pah Trail to Ward's ranch.

4. Hamilton's Hotel*: The Hamilton Hotel was popular with both sportsmen and tourists. It was located in good deer and bear hunting country, while the Hamiltons specialized in a "good home table, home-made butter and cream, fresh vegetables, and berries." From the cliffs fronting the hotel, the visitor had a spectacular view of the Pacific. In August, schools of whales could be seen frolicking off-shore. [26]

5. Comments and Recommendations

Two of these hotels, the Orick Inn and Hamilton's, still stand, but only one, Hamilton's, is within the Park. Hamilton's Hotel will be included on the List of Classified Structures, and a Historic Structures Report will be required.

As Hamilton's Hotel enjoys a commanding view of the ocean, it should be used as a visitor contact point, to interpret the tourist and the Redwoods.

ENDNOTES

1. Bledsoe, History of Del Norte County, p. 66. The mine was eight miles from Crescent City, and 500 feet above the river.

2. Ibid., pp. 66-67.

3. Ibid., p. 69.

4. Ibid., pp. 140-141. Miners' wages were from $75 to $100 per month and board; freight from the mines to Crescent City over the plank road, $10 per ton; and transportation from there to San Francisco $13.50 per ton.

5. Ibid., p. 141.

6. Bledsoe, History of Del Norte County, pp. 88-89.

7. Ibid., p. 138.

8. Jenkins, Del Norte County As It Is, pp. 69-70.

9. Ibid., p. 66.

10. Ibid., pp. 68-69. Hiram Rice had been born in Pennsylvania in 1829, and had moved to Del Norte County in the late 1860s, settling on Mill Creek. Great Resister of Del Norte County (1879).

11. Personal Interview, Eva McNamara & O. Endert with Fred E. Hearth, (seasonal naturalist at Jed Smith State Park), 1960. Nickerson was born in Maine in 1843. Great Register of Del Norte County (1879).

12. Bledsoe, History of Del Norte County, p. 90-91.

13. McBeth, Lower Klamath Country, pp. 48-49.

14. Del Norte Record, Aug. 27, 1881.

15. McBeth, Lower Klamath Country, p. 42.

16. Ibid., pp. 49-50.

17. Ibid., p. 50.

18. Scotten, Del Norte County, California, pp. 18-19. Besides the cannery, there was at Requa a postoffice, Hammond's General Store, the Requa House and Stable, a blacksmith shop two taverns, and the ferry. Requa could be reached from Crescent City by Frank Bosch's "popular stage line." In 1909 the telephone line connecting Requa with Crescent City was completed. The cannery owned by the Klamath Packing & Trading Co. was destroyed by flood waters in the winter of 1949-50. At this time, however, it had been closed for a number of years.

19. Del Norte Triplicate, Centennial Edition (1954), p. 5-C.

20. Ibid.; McBeth, Lower Klamath Country, p. 51.

21. Del Norte Triplicate, Centennial Edition (1954), p. 5-C.

22. Jenkins, Del Norte County As It Is, pp. 42-43. Alexander, a native of Kentucky, was a Del Norte pioneer. He was living on this farm as early as 1869. Great Register of Del Norte County (1897).

23. Jenkins, Del Norte County As It Is, p. 43. The Griffin farm was located in the north one-half of Section 2, Township 16 North, Range 1 West.

24. Del Norte Triplicate, May 7, 14 & 28, 1959. The bridge carrying U.S. 101 across Wilson Creek and dedicated October 20, 1957, is named in honor of Louis DeMartin.

25. McBeth, Lower Klamath County, p. 53; Great Register of Del Norte County (1894); Personal Interview, Chaffey with Bearss, April 26, 1969.

26. Humboldt County, California, The Land of Unrivaled Undeveloped Natural Resources, pp. 23-26.