Redwood History Basic Data

A. THE VOYAGE of CAMEO

1. The First Voyage of Cameo

Even while Josiah Gregg and his companions were fighting their way across the Coast Range and through the redwoods, another expedition from the Trinity mines was endeavoring to reach the same goal, via the Pacific Ocean. These miners left the diggings in November 1849, crossed over to the Sacramento Valley, and traveling via Sutter's Mill reached San Francisco. There they chartered a brig, Cameo, and on December 9 sailed through the Golden Gate and up the coast. This attempt failed. Soon after the vessel returned to San Francisco with a report that Trinidad Bay was a myth, the survivors of the Gregg party arrived with news of their discovery. [1]

2. The Second Voyage of Cameo

The San Francisco newspapers played up the bay's rediscovery and interest in the Humboldt Coast soared. In early February 1850 two vessels sailed from San Francisco in an unsuccessful effort to pinpoint from the sea the elusive bay. In the San Francisco Alta California for February 22 appeared this advertisement:

For Trinidad Bay . . . New Gold Diggins . . . The Brig Cameo will be dispatched on or about the 27th inst. for Trinity Bay. For particulars of freight or passengers, apply to A. J. Cost, head of Central Wharf, 2nd door from Montgomery Street. [2]

Cameo in March resumed the search, to be followed within the month by 11 other vessels. After a trying cruise up the coast, the brig hove to on March 16 near Trinidad Head, where she put ashore a four-man landing party. Because of foul weather she was compelled to beat her way up the coast, without those on board knowing that those put ashore had located Trinidad Bay. On rounding a point, the shore party sighted the bay, and near the headland they found an inscription carved into a tree:

Latitude 41 degrees 3 minutes 32 seconds
Barometer 29 degrees 86 minutes
Thermometer Fah. 48 degrees at 12 noon
December 7, 1849.

J. Gregg

This inscription confirmed the story told by the overland party on their arrival in San Francisco. [3]

Meanwhile, Cameo had continued to beat her way up the coast, as far as Point St. George. Ten men were landed at Rocky Point, and the brig returned to San Francisco.

B. THE REDISCOVERY of the KLAMATH

While Cameo stood by, the ten adventures separated into two equal squads, one under Herman Ehrenburg and the other led by Eugene du Bertrand. Both parties would try to reach the mouth of the Klamath, Ehrenburg's by land and Bertrand's by sea in the small boat. Ehrenburg and his people, at noon on April 10, climbed a ridge from where they sighted "a magnificent stream, three quarters of a mile wide, studded with islands, which, as well as the banks and mountains, were clothed in luxuriant foliage." Breakers at the mouth indicated the presence of a bar, but a patch of smooth water showed the location of a pass, 300 yards across. Hundreds of Yurok had gathered at the mouth of the Klamath to net and spear salmon and seal. "They played or caught fish, while the sea lions roared out in the breakers." On the banks were numerous huts, while swift canoes glided over the water.

The appearance of the whites caused the Yurok to take up arms. While the Indians and whites sought to converse, a number of squaws and children emerged from hiding places in the brush. Ehrenburg and his companions made presents of beads and trinkets to the newcomers. This served to pacify the Yurok, and they were induced to ferry the whites across the Klamath. On landing on the south bank, the explorers proceeded to take up claims upon the "site of the new seaport each calling the other to witness that he laid claim to a tract of one hundred and sixty acres, in accordance with the preemption laws of the United States." [4]

They then continued southward along the beach. On the 11th they discovered gold on the beach at Gold Bluffs, but agreed to keep their strike a secret until such time as they could exploit it. On the 13th they reached Trinidad to find the area occupied by whites, instead of Indians. [5] While Cameo was still off Point St. George, another vessel, California, had sighted Trinidad Head. She was piloted into the bay by the four men landed from Cameo March 16. Not conditioned to living off the country, these men were nearly famished for lack of food. California soon returned to San Francisco to report that Trinidad Bay had been found. Other vessels now were fitted out. The most notable of these was the schooner Laura Virginia. [6]

C. THE CRUISES of LAURA VIRGINIA

Lt. Douglass Ottinger of the Revenue Marine captained Laura Virginia as she passed out the Golden Gate and headed northward. The coast was reconnoitered from Cape Mendocino to Point St. George. Near the latter headland, the lookouts sighted a brig at anchor and a schooner aground. The schooner was the Gloucester fishing boat Paragon of 125 tons. She had been purchased by a group of 42 adventurers in March and had sailed from San Francisco.

Captain Marsh had taken his ship in close to the shore as she beat her way toward the Humboldt Coast, while the lookouts kept a sharp watch for a harbor. Paragon sailed by Humboldt Bay without sighting it, because the entrance has a northwest slant, and a view into that body of water is cut off by "the overlapping south spit." She now encountered a squall, and she was driven out to sea. Paragon then was caught in front of a gale, which drove her back toward the coast. Captain Marsh now ran his vessel close into the point and anchored. That night a storm swept in, and although Paragon was anchored in lee of the island, her cables parted and she "plowed her way to a berth she never left." [7]

No lives were lost in the stranding of Paragon, but the crew and passengers spent several uneasy nights ashore, as the Tolowa were not "overly friendly, as the occupants of a small boat, which had landed here several days before, had shot and killed an Indian." [8] To Paragon belongs the distinction of being the first identified vessel to be lost on the Humboldt Coast.

Captain Ottinger, on contacting the vessels, learned of the mishap, and that Cameo had taken aboard the survivors. He was also told of another disaster. He was informed that Lts. R. Bache and R. Browning, U. S. Navy, and two others had been drowned, when their small boat from Cameo had capsized in making a landing through the booming surf. Bache's body had been recovered and buried on the beach. As Ottinger was a friend of the deceased's brother, A. D. Bache, Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey, he led a landing party which removed and reinterred the body on high ground near the beach. A letter was then addressed to the Superintendent, giving him the details of his brother's death. [9]

Ottinger then took Laura Virginia down the coast to Humboldt Bay. As the vessel coasted southward, the mouth of the Klamath was reconnoitered. Ottinger reported:

The Klamath is a river of considerable magnitude in latitude 41° 33' with but few little breakers on its bar, and not less than three fathoms, so far as I had an opportunity of sounding. This stream, I have no doubt, can be safely entered by vessels of 50 or 100 tons, and rafts of timber floated to ships outside where the anchorage is good, and the current strong from the river three-quarters mile from the beach. [10]

D. KLAMATH CITY IS ESTABLISHED

Ehrenburg and his companions did not waste much time at Trinidad, but after securing supplies prepared to return to the mouth of the Klamath. Not having heard anything from Bertrand's party and suspecting that it had been lost at sea, Ehrenburg told several others of their discoveries. When they headed north, one group traveled by land and another by boat. The two parties rendezvoused at the mouth of the Klamath on April 16, and three days later they sounded the pass through the bar and found 20 feet of water at ebb tide. Ehrenburg surveyed the individual claims and a city was platted, "making liberal reservations for schoolhouses, public buildings, and public squares." In accordance with the preemption law, gardens were planted, while some of the speculators built log cabins and others put up tents. [11]

Du Bertrand straggled into Klamath City, as the boomtown was called, on April 24, and told of disaster. His boat had been swamped in effecting a landing near Battery Point, and his comrades, including Lieutenants Bache and Browning, had drowned. The next day, the 25th, John Winchester and a party of men arrived up the beach from Trinidad. In May, several days after Laura Virginia had reconnoitered the bar, Capt. L. B. Edwards arrived off the Klamath in the brig Sierra Nevada. Aboard were supplies and 20 passengers. Captain Edwards did not bother to sound the pass, but crossed the bar where breakers ran highest. Sierra Nevada came over the bar like a race horse, but she lost her deck boat, as there was a high sea. She thus became the first ship of record to enter the Klamath. [12]

On May 15 a party started up the Klamath in three canoes to explore the river. They returned in three days to report the loss of one man by drowning, along with their provisions and arms. They complained that the Indians were hostile and had upset their canoes. A land party was now sent to reconnoiter the river. They found the way very difficult, as the countryside near the mouth of the Klamath was a "dense jumble of rugged hills." It took the trail blazers eight days to reach the mouth of the Trinity, but they were able to make the run downstream in canoes in two days. An expedition was outfitted, sent up the river, and punished the Yurok who had plundered the first party. [13]

The citizens of Klamath City by the end of the summer of 1850 had erected 20 houses, laid out gardens, begun the cultivation of farms, made arrangements to have steamers on the San Francisco-Columbia River run make their town a port of call, secured specifications for a Klamath River steamboat, sent out parties which pinpointed new diggings along the Klamath and Trinity rivers, and had established contact with the camps about Weaverville. [14] So certain of success were Ehrenburg and the other promoters that they had prevailed on The Pacific Daily News of San Francisco to announce on October 16, 1850, that Klamath City was on the "only direct and the cheapest route to the Klamath and Salmon river mines." The town as platted was about three miles from the mouth of the Klamath, and 250 miles from San Francisco. At all times, it was reported the Klamath River afforded "a safe and excellent harbor," and it was navigable by steamers from the city to the mines, 50 to 75 miles upstream. The river abounded in salmon and the valleys with deer and elk, while the forest contained a noble growth of pine and redwood fit for piles.

For the merchant, miner, mechanic, and capitalist, Klamath City presented unsurpassed opportunities. Vessels were now running from San Francisco to the Klamath, and a line of steamboats would soon be plying the route. [15]

On January 7, 1851, The Pacific Daily News reported, "A fortune will be quickly realized by the first light draught steamboats that are put on the Klamath river." Because of the powerful current, sternwheelers would be necessary. [16] But trouble was at hand. On January 17 a resident of Klamath City reported that Tarquin had grounded and had stranded in crossing the bar. Recent storms had thrown up another bar beyond the one screening the north shore. This had constricted the pass into "a long letter S," and it was now only 70 yards wide but very deep. On the 16th the outer bar had begun to wash at a favorable point, and it was hoped that with in 72 hours there would again be a good entrance. Vessels, however should continue to be careful in navigating the bar and entering the river. [17]

At this time, an additional 20 to 30 houses and stores were under construction, while a prefabricated sheet-iron house had been shipped in and assembled. "Doctor C." had built a large boat capable of transporting at least 4,000 pounds of provisions, with which he planned to make a run up to the diggings on the Salmon River. [18]

The boom town now received a fatal blow. Although the January storm had closed the bar, hopes were voiced that the War Department might receive an appropriation of $30,000 to improve the harbor. But the citizens could not wait for Congress to act. Klamath City was accordingly abandoned before it was a year old, having cost its promoters thousands of dollars and the lives of 29 whites, who were either killed by the Yurok or drowned. The iron house was dismantled and shipped back to San Francisco, and Klamath City became a memory. [19]

E. CRESCENT CITY IS LAID OUT

Crescent City was laid out in 1853, and soon large numbers of settlers arrived, attracted by the nearby mineral and agricultural resources. The mining region in the mountains to the east was then thought to be "among the best and richest in the State." Although the expectations of the miners in regard to the lasting qualities of the placer mines were not realized, yet the mines "panned out" and the deposits were of sufficient abundance to arouse considerable excitement.

The miners in the Myrtle Creek diggings did well in 1854. Each hand averaged from five to 15 dollars per day, and in June one prospector took out in two hours $400 in gold. [20] New diggings were now found on South Fork of Smith River. Within a short time, miners were making from ten to 25 dollars a day, each, while laborers were being paid from $100 to $150 per month. [21]

On November 4, 1856, new diggings were reported on Peacock Creek, a stream draining the redwood country and discharging into Smith River, near the White & Miller ferry, six miles from Crescent City. Dirt paying from three to five cents per pan was found in large quantities, and some claims were worked which produced from ten to 20 cents to the pan. [22]

F. COMMENTS and RECOMMENDATIONS

The desire for quick wealth focused the attention of many Californians on the Humboldt Coast in 1850. Ship after ship sailed through the Golden Gate en route up the coast. To reach the diggings on the Trinity and the newly discovered placers on the middle Klamath and Salmon, the adventurers thronged ashore at Trinidad Head, Humboldt Bay, and the mouth of the Klamath. Towns were platted and sprang up over night. The San Francisco press told of their promise. Klamath City for a while looked like a winner, but the elements doomed her: the Klamath was too swift and rocky for steamboats, while the bar shifted constantly and the pass opened and closed. The rugged coast likewise took its toll. Paragon was wrecked, and Tarquin stranded.

The site of Klamath City and the wreck of Paragon are outside the Park, but the site of the former on Wau-Kell Flat is indicated on the Historical Base Map. As another site of historical significance, the Klamath River Agency, was also located on this flat, consideration should be given to the possibility of including Wau Kell Flat in Redwood National Park. The story of Klamath City could then be interpreted on site; otherwise it will have to be told in the Visitor Center. Visitors can be told of the stranding of Tarquin and the difficulties of navigating the Klamath bar at one of the field interpretive stations.

ENDNOTES

1. Coy, The Humboldt Bay Region, p. 44; Quest for Qual-a-wa-loo, pp. 159-160.

2. Alta California, Feb. 22, 1850.

3. Frances T. McBeth, Lower Klamath Country (Berkeley, 1950), pp. 12-13.

4. John S. Hittell, "The Story of an Unfortunate City," The Overland Monthly (San Francisco, 1868), 1, 142. Ehernburg's companions were: J. T. Tyson, William Bullis, A. Heepe, and a Mr. Bunus.

5. Ibid., p. 143.

6. Alta California, April 1, 1850; Quest for Qual-a-wa-loo, pp. 159-160, 164.

7. Charles A. Murdock, A Backward Glance at Eighty: Recollections & Comment (San Francisco, 1921), pp. 36-37; John Daggett, "Reminiscences of a Pioneer," MSS, California State Library. The wreckage of Paragon could be seen for many years on the beach near Point St. George, and for many years the roadstead was known as Paragon Bay.

8. Daggett, "Reminiscences of a Pioneer."

9. Elliot, History of Humboldt County, p. 97.

10. Ibid.

11. Hittel, "The Story of an Unfortunate City," Overland Monthly, 1, 143.

12. Ibid.; McBeth, Lower Klamath Country, p. 15.

13. Hittell, "The Story of an Unfortunate City," Overland Monthly, 1, 143.

14. Ibid., p. 164.

15. The Pacific Daily News, Oct. 16, 1850.

16. Ibid., Jan. 7, 1851.

17. Ibid., Jan. 17, 1851. Before Tarquin broke up in the pounding surf, several Yurok waded out to assist those aboard. The survivors were able to send a line ashore, which the Indians made fast to the rocks, and the crew and passengers were landed through the breakers, just before the ship broke up. McBeth, Lower Klamath Country, p. 19.

18. Pacific Daily News, Jan. 17, 1851.

19. Hittell, "The Story of an Unfortunate City," Overland Monthly, 1, 144; D. L. Thornbury, California Redwood Wonderland of Humboldt County (San Francisco, 1923), p. 160; Anthony J. Bledsoe, History of Del Norte County, California, with a Business Directory and Traveler's Guide (Eureka, 1881), pp. 10-11.

20. Bledsoe, History of Del Norte, p. 21.

21. Ibid., pp. 21-22.

22. Ibid.