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Redwood
History Basic Data |
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IX. TRAILS, ROADS, FERRIES, AND FREIGHTERS
A. TRAILS
1. Trail from Trinidad to the Klamath Diggings*
The principal mining districts in northwestern California, during the period 1850-1853, were grouped in two areas—the Trinity River mines, of which Weaverville was the center, and the Klamath and Salmon River diggings, of which Orleans Bar was the focal point. It was from the diggings on the Trinity that the Gregg party started on the expedition resulting in the rediscovery of Trinidad and Humboldt Bays. Had the towns of the Humboldt Coast been dependent solely upon the trade with the Trinity River mines, they would have been far less prosperous in the 1850s. But, fortunately for them, adventurers in June 1850 discovered gold on Salmon River and two months later made a strike on the Klamath. The coastal towns were situated to exploit this trade. [1]
*See National Register Forms, pp. 267-279.
Within weeks after the establishment of the towns on the Humboldt Coast, trails were cut through the redwoods and across the mountains to the mining regions. Trinidad and Uniontown (Arcata) took the lead, as both were well situated by geography to act as supply stations for the diggings of the Klamath and Salmon River Districts. Trinidad, the first town established on this reach of the coast, was for a few years the leader in the packing trade, because it was located closer to the Klamath diggings than the others. During the summer of 1850, the packers, utilizing old Indian trails, opened a route from Trinidad up the coast to Big Lagoon, then across the divide to Redwood Creek. Redwood Creek was forded at "Tall Trees," and the trail ascended the Bald Hills to Elk Camp. It then passed along the crest of Bald Hills to French Camp, where the trail forked, one branch leading to the Klamath at Martins Ferry and the other into Hoopa Valley. [2]
The Trinidad trail followed a route dictated by the topography, and intersected the route leading up the Klamath from Klamath City to Martins Ferry. From Uniontown another trail led to Orleans Bar via the Bald Hills intersecting the Trinidad trail near the mouth of the Trinity. [3]
The period of greatest excitement at the Klamath and Salmon diggings was during the summer and autumn of 1850 and the ensuing winter. Consequently, during these months the packing trade was of the greatest importance to the coastal towns, and Trinidad, which was the chief supply depot, enjoyed its greatest prosperity. A large number of mules had been driven to that place over the trail from Sonoma in May 1850, but the demands of the packing trade made it necessary that more be shipped by sea during the winter. [4]
High prices were asked and paid for transporting freight. Two dollars a pound was asked and received for the trip from Trinidad to the Salmon mines. This raised the price of all imported items to an all-but-prohibitive figure, but such were the times that the miners were prepared to pay the price asked. In November 1851 Indian Agent McKee paid $20 for a hundredweight of flour at Durkee's. Ferry and reported that that was ten dollars under the market price. [5]
John Daggett was one of the adventurers who reached the Klamath diggings, in 1852, via the Trinidad trail. He recalled that from Trinidad they found it necessary to "furnish our own transportation, carrying blankets on our own backs," as there were few if any inns on this route to the mining district.
"We passed first through the grand belt of old redwood trees, a sight long to be remembered, thence over the bald-hill country, abounding at that time in elk." [6]
During the Red Cap War of 1855, pack trains were attacked and traffic over the trail was cut. Supplies at the Klamath and Salmon River diggings ran short. With the return of peace, traffic improved. To guard the Trinidad trail and to protect the ranches that had been established on the Bald Hills, troops were posted at Elk Camp in 1862 and 63. These soldiers were supplied by pack trains from Trinidad. The section of the Trinidad trail leading from Big Lagoon, crossing Redwood Creek at "Tall Trees," and ascending the Bald Hills to Elk Camp was abandoned after the construction—in the final decade of the 19th century—of the Bald Hills road, connecting Orick with the Bald Hills. The trail from Elk Camp down to Redwood Creek and the "Tall Trees" was reopened by the Arcata Redwood Company within the past five years. This was done as a public relations project by Arcata foresters. [7]
Over 100 years before the team from the National Geographic Society in 1964 measured the Howard A. Libbey Tree and ascertained that it was the "world's tallest tree," packers and travelers on the Trinidad-Klamath Trail were aware of the great height of the redwood groves on Redwood Creek. As the trail crossed the stream close to the grove, the packers undoubtedly marveled at its size.
Mr. H. Vanderpool, in the late spring of 1853, wrote the editor of the Sacramento Daily Union that near Trinidad Bay there was "a magnificent redwood forest, in which there were a number of trees of very extraordinary size." The largest of these trees was on Eel Creek and "measured 2 feet from its base, the almost incredible circumference of one hundred and twenty feet!" A second tree on the Trinidad-Klamath Trail, between Elk and Redwood camps, which had fallen, "accommodated 17 persons and 19 cargoes or mule packs with abundant room for shelter for three weeks, during the rainy season of 1851." A third tree in the same area measured 91 feet in circumference, one yard from its base, while a fourth, "which was prostrate, was from 70 to 80 feet in circumference, 291 feet in length," with a portion of the top broken off in the fall.
Vanderpool championed these trees "as having no parallel for size in the known history of the world." [8]
2. Trail from Trinidad to the Mouth of the Klamath
A trail was opened from Trinidad up the coast to the mouth of the Klamath in the spring of 1850. This route facilitated communications between the shortlived boomtown of Klamath City and Trinidad. It was the route over which most of the adventurers reached the Gold Bluffs. Superintendent Buell and Lieutenant Hardcastle conducted the Mad and Eel River Indians who had escaped the massacre of February 1860 up this trail to the Klamath River Reservation. In 1862 the Postmaster-General established a mail route from Arcata to Crescent City, via Trinidad and Gold Bluffs. J. F. Denny was awarded the contract to carry the mail. For $1,750 per year, beginning July 2, he would make one round tripper week with the mail. His route between Trinidad and the Klamath was this trail. [9]
As on many early western trails, a man traveling between the Klamath and Trinidad had to be on his guard. Pat McGrath, in the winter of 1875, left Baker City, Idaho Territory, en route to Eureka. About midway between the Klamath and Gold Bluffs, Pat was stopped by nine Indians, who asked for money. After relieving Pat and his traveling companion of their money, they tied them up and stripped them of their packs and clothing. While the Indians were directing their attention toward Pat, his friend kicked loose his bonds and fled. Pat now cried that "Soldiers were coming," and the redmen dropped everything and raced to their canoe, which was hidden in a slough. [10]
After freeing himself, Pat made his way to Mrs. Johnston's. To show him how lucky he was, Mrs. Johnston took Pat to the beach and pointed to a freshly dug grave. Here rested a white man, whose body had been found several days before in the surf. He had met his death at the hands of Indians. Several Indians had been heard to boast that they would take the lives of five whites in revenge for an injury done one of their people accused of stealing a horse in Arcata. One of the men presumed marked for death was Henry Orman, the manager of the Gold Bluff diggings. [11]
The Trinidad-Klamath Trail paralleled the beach from Stone Lagoon to Lower Gold Bluff. It then forked. While one branch continued up the beach fronting the bluffs, the main trail ascended the ridge north of Major Creek and led eastward to Boyes' Prairie on Prairie Creek, then swinging to be west, it rejoined the other trail at Upper Gold Bluff. The trail then parallelled the Pacific as far as the mouth of the Klamath. [12]
3. Crescent City-Klamath Trail
Even before the establishment of Crescent City in 1853, there was a trail of sorts leading down the coast from Pebble Beach to the mouth of the Klamath. This trail had been used by Tolowa and Yurok trading and war parties, while Jed Smith and his mountain men had followed portions of it in 1828. Ehernberg and his companions in 1850 had advanced down this trail. This route followed the beach where ever feasible, travelers awaiting a low tide. Today's Endert's Beach could be reached without difficulty, provided the traveler watched his tides. From there the trail led up over Ragged Ass Hill, coming out at Last Chance. The Indians and whites traveling afoot often went from Damnation Creek to Wilson Creek by way of the beach, when the tide was out, but the jagged rocks made this route impassable to horsemen. [13]
With the establishment of the Klamath River Reservation in 1855, Subagent Whipple turned out a crew improving the trail to Crescent City. When Lieutenant Crook and Company D, 4th Infantry, marched from Crescent City to the Reservation in October 1857, they traveled via this trail as far as Rekwoi. Crook in the fall of 1859 organized and sent fatigue parties to improve the trail. Earlier he had had a trail cut from Fort Ter-Waw to the False Klamath. In June 1862 when Company G, 2d California, abandoned Fort Ter-Waw, the soldiers marched from Rekwoi to Smith River via this route. Beginning on July 2 of that year, Denny carried mail over the trail.
Travel from Crescent City to the Klamath was described by an early resident:
I left Crescent City at 8 a.m., and in one hour and fifteen minutes I was at the summit of Ragged Ass Hill. The brush-lined trail winds down the coast for a distance of about four miles, and then turning to the left at the end of another mile, crosses Damnation Creek, from whence it is three miles to the upper end of Damnation Ridge. It is then about four miles through the redwoods [to Wilson Creek]. [14]
When Peter Louis DeMartin settled on Wilson Creek in 1877, he was compelled to pack in by mules. If he had any produce to market or needed supplies in large quantities he rented Jim Isle's big boat. This craft manned by six Indians was used for trips to and from DeMartin's place on the False Klamath and Crescent City. [15]
Travel to coastal points was usually by boat, but when high seas prevented steamers and schooners from landing or taking on passengers at Crescent City, persons in a hurry to reach San Francisco would secure horses and ride down the trail to Eureka, where their chances of securing passage south were more favorable. A man who was a member of one of these groups reported that in November 1881, he and his companions left Crescent City at 5 a.m., the 13th. They made good time for the first five miles, but progress slowed as they climbed Ragged Ass Hill. About 10 o'clock, they were able to look back and see Crescent City. "The sun shone out on the ocean, and the lighthouse and town seemed not more than two miles off." After being ferried across the Klamath by the Yurok, they proceeded along the beach to Johnston's, where they fed their horses and ate. Leaving Johnston's, they climbed a steep cliff, after first dismounting and holding onto the tails of their horses. Descending onto the beach, they pushed onto the Lower Gold Bluff, where they arrived at 7 p.m. The next day, they rode to Savage's where they were able to secure a buggy to drive them into Trinidad, where they arrived at 3 p.m. [16]
4. The Kelsey Trail*
To facilitate travel to the mining camps on the middle Klamath, Ben Kelsey was hired to cut a trail from Crescent City to the Klamath. The people of Yreka raised the money to complete their end of the road. The Kelsey Trail was used for almost a quarter century to supply the mining camps of the middle Klamath, and western Del Norte and Siskiyou Counties. Kelsey was paid $4,200 for this project. [17]
The Kelsey trail on leaving Crescent City crossed Howland Hill and Mill Creek. [18] Two miles beyond Mill Creek, the Kelsey Trail was joined by the Bense Trail from Crescent City. It then ascended Bald Hill and bore away to the southeast, following the ridge paralleling South Fork of Smith River. [19]
*See National Register Forms, pp. 281-294.
5. Cold Spring Mountain Trail
The first trail opened by white packers from Crescent City to Oregon Territory was the Cold Spring Mountain Trail. On leaving Crescent City, this trail crossed Elk Valley, passed over Howland Hill, descended Mill Creek, crossed Smith River at Catching's Ferry, and ascended the ridge separating the watersheds of Rock and Myrtle Creeks. The trail continued on to the Oregon diggings at Sailors Creek by way of Cold Spring Mountain. [20]
This trail was an instant success, as many as 500 mules a week being packed out of Crescent City for the Sailors Creek diggings. In June 1854 the Crescent City Herald announced, "Our present trail [to Oregon] needing some repairs in different places;" the sum of $1,700 was subscribed by the citizens in a few hours, "to be applied to that purpose," and seven men were sent to repair the Cold Spring Mountain Trail. [21]
6. Ah Pah Trail
By 1882 a trail had been opened from Boyes' Prairie to the Klamath. Near the southeast corner of Section 32, Township 12 North, Range 2 East, the trail forked, one branch reaching the Klamath at the mouth of Ah Pah Creek and the other striking the river opposite the Yurok village of Serper (Suppar). [22]
In the early 1900s, C. W. Ward's Ah Pah Ranch was a sportsman's mecca, which featured "the grandest salmon known on the Pacific Coast for the daily bill of fare." At the ranch two expert Indian guides and trackers, Henry McDonald and Charles Frye, could be hired. To reach the ranch, it was necessary to rent horses at Boyes' and take the Ah Pah Trail. [23]
B. ROADS
1. Crescent City Plank Road*
Crescent City by 1854 had grown to 300 houses and a population of 800. As the town was becoming the center of a considerable trading area, the merchants called for the construction of a wagon road to connect Crescent City with the Illinois River Country in Oregon Territory. Realizing that good roads were vital for the town's economic growth, the people held a mass-meeting on June 10 to devise a way to build a road network. Six thousand dollars had been previously pledged for the enterprise. At the meeting, preliminary arrangements were made for the organization of a joint-stock company to build "a plank and turnpike road." S. G. Whipple was elected president, F. E. Weston, secretary, and S. H. Grubler, treasurer, of the corporation which was designated, "The Crescent City and Yreka Plank and Turnpike Company." A resolution was passed constituting the company officers as a board of directors, and empowering them to employ a competent engineer to survey the route, and to hire suitable persons to assist "in the looking-out and survey of different routes." [24]
*See National Register Forms, pp. 295-310.
A survey of the route for the projected road was finished by T. P. Robinson in October, and the subscription books opened. Capital stock was established at $50,000, divided into 400 shares of $125 each. Before the end of the year paid-in subscriptions totaled $18,500. [25] The failure of a number of San Francisco business houses in 1855 caused liquid assets to disappear, and the promoters abandoned, for the time being, their project. [26]
By December 1856 the business climate had improved with the discovery of gold on Elk Creek. Men rushed to exploit the new strike. Within a short time, it was estimated that 300 men were at work, and none of them clearing less than $10 to $20 per day. Encouraged by this development, the business community of Crescent City revived the defunct corporation under the name of the "Crescent City Plank Road and Turnpike Company." W. A. Hamilton was elected president, T. S. Pomeroy, secretary, and Henry Smith, treasurer. A three-man team was charged with selecting and reporting on a favorable route for a wagon road to the Sailors Creek diggings in Oregon. Fifty thousand dollars in capital stock, to sell for $125 per share, was made available. [27] In June 1857, to speed construction, an assessment of $10 on each share of stock outstanding was levied, and agents named to collect it. [28]
The plank road was completed in May 1858, and the first through stage rumbled out of Crescent City en route for Sailors Creek on the 19th. It ran tri-weekly and connected at Sailors Creek with the stage line for Jacksonville, Oregon, and Yreka, California. This stage line, the first in Del Norte County, was operated by McClellan & Company and P. J. Mann. After leaving Crescent City, stops were made at Smith River Corners, Altaville on the Low Divide, North Fork, Tailor's on top of McGrew Mountain, and Sailors Creek. [29]
The tons of freight that had formerly been forwarded to the mining camps on pack trains now went forward by wagon. Sections of the road were planked. It was a toll road, and the toll house was at Peacock's Smith River ferry. A two-horse team paid five dollars, a four-horse team eight dollars, and a six-horse team ten dollars. If the river was low, the wagons could ford. When wagons could travel the road, from April until the wet season commenced in the fall, a four-horse team could pull 3,000 to 3,500 pounds of freight up-hill to Oregon. Often two wagons were hitched one behind the other with six or eight horses pulling. [30]
In the spring of 1862, the Postmaster-General invited proposals for carrying the mail twice a week, both ways, from Crescent City to Waldo, Oregon. R. V. Husbands filed the low bid of $2,100 and was awarded the contract. On July 3 Husbands left Crescent City at 6 a.m., en route up the plank road to Waldo. He reached Waldo as scheduled at 11 a.m. the next day. [31]
Crescent City was a busy shipping center from 1857 to 1865. In the former year, during the period March through May, there were landed at the town 1,278 tons of freight and 1,717 passengers. From Crescent City the mining districts of southwestern Oregon and northwestern California were supplied until 1865. "We doubt," a local booster boasted, "if any town on the coast commanded the extent of that business that Crescent City did." The town was advertised as a commercial center, and steam and sailing vessels, plying the coast between San Francisco and the mouth of the Columbia, habitually announced that they would "call at Crescent City with and for freight and passengers."
Not a day passed, when the rains and snow would permit passage over the Crescent City Plank Road through the mountains, but there was great activity on 2d Street. One side of this street, between E and K, was lined with incoming teams and the opposite side with outgoing. In addition, there were always pack trains. The construction of the Oregon & California Railroad to Redding and Roseburg, Oregon, diverted most of the traffic away from Crescent City, and the heyday of the packer and the teamster in Del Norte was over by 1866. [32]
The Crescent City Plank Road passed up Elk Valley, crossed Howland Hill (about one-half mile south of where U.S. 199 does), turned to the northeast, striking Smith River at Peacock's Ferry. It then ascended the ridge dividing the watersheds of Smith River and Myrtle Creek to High Divide and Altaville, then on to Jacksonville, Oregon. [33]
2. Gasquet Road
Horace Gasquet, after acquiring the stand of J. D. Mace & Co. at the confluence of North and Middle Forks of Smith River in 1857, expanded his activities. A trail was opened from his stand into Oregon. Over this route he packed tons of supplies and equipment to the mining camps. Next, he cut a trail down Gold Mountain to Indian Creek and Happy Camp on the Klamath. Stores were opened by Gasquet at Waldo and Happy Camp. These stores, his mining activities, and trail construction and maintenance, as well as his farm at Gasquet, were handled with Chinese labor until 1886.
By the late 1870s it was apparent to Gasquet that the efficiency of his multiple business operations would be improved by the construction of a toll road from his base of operations at Gasquet Flats, (as his home base at the junction of the north and the middle forks was called), to Oregon. On May 15, 1881, a petition was circulated calling on the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors to help fund the project. While the board talked, Gasquet put his Chinese to work opening up a road over a route surveyed by Laurant Bonnaz. This route led from Gasquet's place up Patrick Creek, up East Fork of Patrick Creek, over the ridge to Shelly Creek, and on to Oregon. [34]
Gasquet in 1882 notified the Board of Supervisors that the road was under construction and about one-half completed. Its cost so far had been $10,800. As it was already being used by the public, he asked the board to establish a rate of tolls, "pedestrians 25¢, horsemen $1, pack animals laden 50¢, unladen 25¢, loose horses and cattle 12-1/2¢ each, sheep and hogs 6¢ each, vehicles with one horse $2.75, two horses $3, four horses $3.50, and six horses $4." [35]
Gasquet's toll road into Oregon was completed by 1887. Meanwhile, to increase traffic over his road and to reduce hauling costs to Crescent City, Gasquet had opened a road from Gasquet Flats down the left bank of Smith River to the mouth of South Fork. This road, although built by private enterprise, was free of toll. Del Norte County hired Nels Christensen to lay a plank road through the Mill Creek bottom and across Howland Hill. This road joined the Crescent City Plank Road in Elk Valley and connected with Gasquet's at South Fork. The suspension bridge across South Fork was built by Gasquet and donated to the county. [36]
3. Crescent City-Trinidad Road*
The construction of the road south from Crescent City to the Klamath, and beyond, is an excellent example of the difficulties encountered by roadbuilders in the redwoods. By 1887 there were enough settlers on the lower Klamath to pressure the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors into ordering the District Attorney to take legal action to secure a right-of-way for a wagon road to the Klamath. On October 22 it was reported that work on the road had commenced. Construction had started "where the road commences below Alexanders." [37] Progress was agonizingly slow. Becoming discouraged with the county, Lewis DeMartin in June 1889 hired Pat Feheley to open a sled road from his Wilson Creek dairy farm to Requa. This six-mile road was completed in July, and DeMartin lost no time in hauling up from Requa 600 pounds of freight in a cart. The road was said to be excellent, and running along the ocean, it followed the old trail. [38]
*See National Register Forms, pp. 341-324.
The Klamath Trail in October was reportedly in bad condition as the rains had made "the ground slippery so that it is hardly safe to ride a horse over it faster than a walk." [39] Bids had been asked by the county for two and one-half miles of wagon road from the south approach to the Cushing Creek bridge to the top of Ragged Ass Hill. No bids were received. [40] The Board of Supervisors on November 9, 1889, announced that they would make a trip to the Klamath to reconnoiter the wagon road survey. Supervisor John Miller told the editor of the Record that "the growth of the country demands a good wagon road to the Klamath." [41]
DeMartin was delighted to learn from the Record of March 6, 1891, that Supervisor Miller "will have the wagon road completed to Klamath in one year from date if people will let him alone." As far as he was concerned, DeMartin was willing to be taxed 50 cents on the hundred dollars of assessed value of his property to get the project off dead-center. Commenting on DeMartin's letter, which he published, the editor noted that except for P. S. Snyder, DeMartin paid the most taxes in the district. With the exception of one or two others, there was not a taxpayer who had paid over $10 of his assessment for the much desired road. The editor trusted that the Board of Supervisors in April would find a petition for a special election in the Klamath Road District for building the road.
At the same time, the Arcata Union was pointing out that if a road were opened from Redwood Creek to the Klamath, trade from that area would gravitate to Arcata. [42]
A contractor who had examined the route reported that the Klamath Wagon Road could be completed for $6,000. [43] Road building was resumed in the spring, and on September 19 it was announced that the men working on the road were inching closer to Crescent City, and they would "soon have the road finished to the beach." On October 3 the road overseers had 16 men at work clearing brush. As soon as the right-of-way was opened, the crew would be reinforced. [44]
The editor of the Record informed his readers on July 30, 1892, that the road is in "very good condition," but it is very narrow. Evidently, the road was unsatisfactory, because on November 4, 1893, the Record complained, "In 1887 the Klamath Road was surveyed and still there is no road." Support for the completion of the road materialized, and in January 1894 the Board of Supervisors awarded the contract for building the road, from Last Chance to DeMartin's, to W. T. Bailey for $985. Joseph Bertsch agreed to build the road across his property for $600. DeMartin planned to use road machinery to open the road across his land, and he was to be paid $75 for the bridge he had thrown across Wilson Creek. [45]
By May the road had been completed to DeMartin's, and on July 7 Pat Feheley of Requa was given the contract to open the Del Norte section of the road south of the Klamath. The wagon road was finished by the late summer of 1894 and stages were operating between Crescent City and Eureka. [46] The supervisors now discussed proposals for bridging the Klamath at Requa, but, after studying the situation, it was dropped for the time being as too costly. [47]
Much of the road through the redwoods was built on puncheons. The roadbed was graded, then paved with slabs of redwood. These made an excellent roadway as long as the puncheons were solidly packed. When the winter rains came, the dirt was washed away and water collected under the puncheons, "Forming veritable geysers as vehicles drove over them." The puncheons kept the vehicles from sinking in the mud, but they were very rough and un comfortable to ride over.
In the summertime, the dust became so thick that clouds of it rolled up behind each wagon. The trees and ferns along the right-of-way were coated with dust, which was not washed away until the winter rains came. [48]
The Crescent City-Trinidad Road, on leaving Crescent City, paralleled the beach to within a short distance of Cushing Creek. At ebb tide the stages and cars would be driven along the beach. After crossing Cushing Creek, the road ascended Ragged Ass Hill and passed around the head of Nickel Creek. It then descended Damnation Ridge by way of Skunk Camp and Last Chance and on to Wilson Creek. The road then paralleled today's U.S. 101 as far as Hunter Creek, where it crossed High Prairie Creek and continued to Requa. South of the Klamath, the old wagon road and the Redwood Highway followed the same alignment to Elk Grove. There it skirted the western verge of the prairie. From May Creek to a point just below the confluence of Prairie and Redwood creeks, the wagon road and today's 101 had identical right of-ways. Here the wagon road crossed to the east side of Redwood Creek. [49]
The coming of the automobile speeded up and increased traffic on the Crescent City-Trinidad road. By 1915 there was a guide for tourists. According to this publication, it was possible to reach Eureka from Medford, Oregon, via Grants Pass, and through the redwoods of Smith River to Crescent City. South from Crescent City the road passed through more redwood groves to Requa, where the tourist crossed the Klamath on a ferry. He then drove southward, skirting the proposed National Redwood Park down the valley of Prairie Creek, "through the grandest redwood growths known to Crick." From Orick the road led southward, "along the margins of placid lagoons . . . and rock-bound coast," to Trinidad and Eureka. [50]
4. Redwood Highway*
The Redwood Highway was created as a State Highway by a bond issue in 1909. It was October 19, 1917, before any action to expedite its construction was taken in Del Norte. At that time the Board of Supervisors announced plans to secure the right-of-way for the Redwood Highway between Wilson Creek and Crescent City. A contract was let in July 1919 for construction between Cushing and Wilson creeks. In 1923 the section from the head of Richardson Creek to Hunter Creek was built by prison labor. A camp for the prisoners was established on the Del Ponte place. [51]
*See National Register Forms, pp. 325-337.
By the end of 1923 the Redwood Highway, except for the bridge across the Klamath, had been completed and opened to through traffic in Del Norte and Humboldt counties. Between Crescent City and Cushing Creek, the Redwood Highway and the old road followed the same alignment. South of Cushing Creek, the Redwood Highway clung for three miles to the cliffs, providing the motorists a spectacular view of Crescent City and the Pacific. The new highway then skirted the headwaters of Damnation Creek, descending Damnation Ridge to Wilson Creek. Its alignment here was parallel to and a few hundred yards west of the old road. Wilson Creek was crossed several hundred yards above the False Klamath. Between Wilson and Hunter creeks, the Redwood Highway followed the same general alignment as the old road. From Hunter Creek, the Redwood Highway, instead of sweeping toward Requa, continued southeastward and struck the Klamath at the mouth of Hoppaw Creek. The roadway on the south side of the Klamath ascended Richardson Creek and intersected the old road near High Bluff. From High Bluff to Orick the alignments were identical, except at two points: between Elk Grove and May Creek, the new road was located east of the old, while at Orick the Redwood Highway crossed Redwood Creek about one-half mile farther south. [52]
The California Highway Commission, which has frequently been a whipping boy for conservationists, demonstrated a keen sense of aesthetic values in accepting the right-of-way for the Redwood Highway in Del Norte and Humboldt counties. The counties had to acquire land for the right-of-way. Heretofore, they had been in the habit of purchasing the right-of-way, logging it, and then turning it over to the State Highway Commission. The State Commission now refused to go along with this practice, and the County Boards of Supervisors were required to turn over to the State an unlogged right-of-way. In building the Redwood Highway through Del Norte and Humboldt only those redwoods interfering with construction were felled. Thousands of these giants were thus saved for the American people. This practice was followed when sections of the highway were relocated in the 1930s. [53]
5. U.S. 101 (Redwood Highway)
Costly slides, which fortunately caused no fatalities, compelled the State of California to relocate six miles of the Redwood Highway in Del Norte County. This was done in the early 1930s. South of Crescent City the new highway, on entering Section 35, Township 16 North, Range 1 West, ascended the ridge and passed around the head of Cushing Creek. From this point for the next four miles it paralleled the Wagon Road constructed in 1887-1894. It then descended Damnation Ridge to a junction with the cliffside road in Section 31, Township 15 North, Range 1 East.
Before the new bridge across the Klamath was opened in 1965, two sections of U.S. 101 were relocated. South of the Klamath, the road was aligned to ascend the valley of Waukell Creek. North of the river one-half mile of road was repositioned to facilitate the approach to the new bridge.
6. U.S. 199
Today's U.S. 199 was built in the late 1920s to link Crescent City with Medford, Oregon. The Hiouchi Bridge across Smith River was officially opened for traffic and dedicated on June 22, 1929. [54]
C. FERRIES
1. Requa Ferry
The first white man to operate a toll ferry across the Klamath at Requa was Morgan G. Tucker. This was in 1876. The Yurok opposed the undertaking, because it would deprive them of the revenue they had formerly received for passing travelers across the river in their big redwood canoes. [55] On September 2 Tucker employed the Crescent City Courier to announce:
To Whom it may Concern
The undersigned will apply to the Honorable Board of Supervisors of Del Norte County for authority to erect and keep a Toll Ferry on the Klamath River about one-half mile above the mouth of said river. The said applicant will be at the office of the clerk of said Board . . . on Monday, October 2, 1876. [56]
His application was approved, and on September 23, John Young who had come up the trail from Eureka informed the editor of the Courier that Tucker's ferry at the mouth of the Klamath "is a grand improvement." [57] Tucker's ferry caused the Indians to protest its presence to the agent in charge of the Hoopa Valley Reservation. At first, the Office of Indian Affairs was willing to let matters drift. On April 11, 1878, Tucker wrote the Commissioner of Indian Affairs "for permission to continue the ferry franchise" now held at Requa. To strengthen his position, he pointed out that "the mail from Crescent City to Eureka crosses at this point, and the maintenance of the ferry is a public benefit." [58]
The Secretary of the Interior was agreeable to granting Tucker the franchise, provided he posted a bond, and signified his willingness to observe such rules and regulations as established by the Office of Indian Affairs. [59]
Tucker continued to operate his ferry until June 1879, when, along with the other squatters, he was evicted from the Klamath River Reservation.
A Yurok took over Tucker's franchise. The service now provided caused numerous complaints. On January 29, 1887, the Courier warned, "River high. The ferry boat run by the Indians is not fit for use during high and swift water, and under no circumstances would I at present take the chances of crossing with horses." [60] In July 1888 it was reported that the Yurok who ferried Frank Brown across the Klamath got lost in a fog and went upstream several miles before discovering his error. [61] In June 1890 Captain Spott, who operated the ferry, transported 1,800 sheep across the river at five cents a head. The captain crowded too many sheep onto his boat, smothering three. The owner demanded and received $2 per head for the dead animals. [62] Travelers were also disenchanted by Captain Spott's failure to establish and maintain a schedule. They urged that the franchise be awarded a responsible white man. [63]
It was 1895, three years after the Reservation had been discontinued, before Captain Spott was squeezed out. In December of that year Bailey and Fortain signed an agreement with the Board of Supervisors to operate a ferry near the mouth of the Klamath. W. T. Bailey proposed to run a cable across the river, 1,700 feet in length. This was 300 feet longer than the Eel River cable. The cable would be similar to the one used at Peacock's crossing of Smith River, and the current would be employed to drive the ferry across. [64]
The cable, after several failures, was finally stretched across the river, and continued in operation for a number of years. By 1919, however, it had seen better days. On May 9, 1919, the editor of the Del Norte Triplicate complained that the ferry at Requa, because of the low stage of the river, might have to be relocated and new equipment provided, "if the present regular mail, passenger and tourist service is maintained." Traffic during ebb tide was delayed as much as six hours. [65]
In June 1919 the Triplicate announced that a new contract for the Klamath ferry had been let by the Board of Supervisors. Dave Ball was to receive $1,402.13 for building a new boat, while Stacey Fisher was to be paid $2,580 a year for operating the ferry. Subsequently, Frank Bosch ran the ferry until the Douglas Bridge was opened for traffic in 1926. The ferry then went out of business. [66]
Bids for the Klamath River Bridge were received May 26, 1924, and the contract awarded to F. Rolandi of San Francisco on June 19. Work was commenced in July. The bridge was dedicated May 17, 1926, with appropriate addresses by Governor Friend W. Richardson of California and Walter M. Pierce, Governor of Oregon. It was not opened to traffic, however, until the late fall of 1926. The bridge was named the Douglas Memorial Bridge in honor of the late Dr. Gustave H. Douglas. Dr. Douglas had spearheaded the campaign to secure construction of a highway bridge across the lower Klamath, which would link Del Norte with the improved highway system of Humboldt County and other areas to the south. [67]
During the flood of December 1964, two spans at the south end of the Douglas Bridge were washed out, a third span left "wobbly," and the north approach swept away. The golden bears were left standing guard over a ruined structure. Until a new bridge could be built one-half mile upstream, a Bailey Bridge, built by the Army Engineers, carried U.S. 101 traffic across the Klamath. [68]
2. Catching's Ferry
Catching's Ferry, located one-half mile above where Mill Creek flows into Smith River, provided transportation across to those taking the Cold Spring Mountain Trail from Crescent City to Sailors Creek. This ferry was in operation as late as 1884. [69]
3. Peacock's Ferry
Travelers on the Crescent City Plank Road crossed Smith River at Peacock's Ferry. This ferry was located a short distance below the mouth of Clark Creek. During certain seasons of the year, the ferry was moved about one-fourth mile farther downstream. [70]
In the 19th century a hemp line about the size of a man's forearm was stretched across Smith River at this point. One end was secured to a tree and the other to a windlass. A flat boat, large enough to accommodate a stage or large wagon, was attached to the line by blocks. When the ferry was ready to cast-off, she was pushed into the river by means of pulleys—her bow inclined upstream. The current, which struck the craft at an angle, provided the propelling force, and guided by a traveling block, the boat passed rapidly across Smith River. The ferryhouse and tollhouse were combined and located on the north bank. [71]
D. FREIGHTING—1858-1915
T. H. Miles of Trinidad recalled that before the automobile the roads were atrocious. They were steep, dangerous, and rough. In the summer, dust was ankle deep, while in the winter the mud all but put a stop to freighting. In building roads, little thought was given to making easy grades, and no effort at all was made to eliminate hairpin turns. The grades were narrow with few turnouts. Repair work in the spring consisted of filling in the worst mud-holes with small rocks, cedar bark, and brush. There was no gravel, because of the primitive equipment. Here and there were toll roads which were kept in fair condition.
At first, the teamsters hauled their own beds and camp outfits, and pulled out of the road whenever night overtook them. As the years rolled by, ranchers along the different freight roads began to cater to teamsters, building corrals and feed sheds and boarding drivers. Eventually, the number who camped out were few. The "stopping places," as they were called, that put out the best meals got most of the teamsters, and it was not uncommon to find six or eight big outfits—stopping for the night—at a popular station. [72]
The big front wagon was "a creation of great skill, strength, and precision, and was made by hand." High grade Norway steel was used in its construction. The front axles were two and one-half inches in diameter, the rear two and three-quarters, with corresponding heavy wood stock. The wheels were high, the rear averaging from five to five and one-half feet in diameter, the front in proportion. Hubs and boxes were massive, bored and tubed to allow oiling without removing the wheel. The brake beams that held the brake blocks were of white oak or hickory. The brake blocks were of white or sugar pine, bushed in the initial groove worn by the wheel with dagger pine. These blocks were at least two feet long. The tail wagon was rigged in similar fashion, with the brake rope leading through rings on the side of the front wagon. The wagons were coupled by "crotch chains" with a few long links in the bight of the chain. The short coupling tongue had a heavy slot iron clamped or bolted to it. [73]
The largest rigs required a ten-horse team which was a single line or "jerk line" team. The line was snapped to the lip strap of the near leader (who had been broken to turn "gee" when the line was jerked) and led by rings on collar and harness to the wheel-horse and hung on his hames. The off-leader was kept in place by a four-foot jockey stick, one end of it fastened under the collar of the leader, the other snapped to his lip strap. To keep him from surging ahead, he was controlled by a "buck strap" which kept him in his place; otherwise the leader would have no control over him. Behind the leaders (of a ten-horse team) came the "eights," the "sixes," and the pointers. The pointers' stretchers were hooked to the tongue. The pointers were the most important horses in the team, because they—and, to a lesser extent, the wheelers—kept the big front wagon in the road. They were accordingly selected for their pulling qualities and intelligence. [74]
These long teams were seldom composed of big horses. Heavy draft stock could not stand the travel (an average of 15 miles per day) and would become so "leg-weary and slow that, by early fall, the team would lose a day every trip, and a six-day haul would take seven days." A good free-walking team would average about 1,200 pounds to the horse, though the pointers and wheelers were usually a little heavier. [75]
The average rate of travel for a team loaded to capacity (on the down-grade trip) was about two miles an hour, and the load (generally lumber or concentrate from small mines) was a ton to a horse. From the seaport or railhead up to the mountains, the average load for a ten-horse team was 16,000 pounds.
The mountain haul for the first two days inland from the coast was the hardest, as one had not yet climbed out of the searing heat. A good driver would "save his team in every possible way." If he came to shade, he would stop and rest his horses, pulling the collars away from their necks to permit the air to cool them. When he came to a steep grade, he would give them plenty of time, pulling not more than a few feet at a time. On reaching camp in the evening, the welfare of the team came first. [76] A wagon breakdown was bad, and could take half or all the profit out of a trip; but worst of all would have been to have a sick horse. [77]
"A well-found team," swinging down the road, wagons clicking and "chuckling" along, was an impressive sight. Most of the freighting companies took pride in the appearance of their teams. From the bridles hung gaily dyed squirrel tails. The horses' manes were roached, and the housing over the hames bore the owner's initials in brass tacks. The bells on the leaders lent a cheerful air to the scene. These bells, however, had a practical use, since they could be heard a mile off. This was important, because turnouts were few and far between, and it was understood that all teamsters, on starting up or down a long narrow grade, would stop and listen, repeating this at the first turnout, where they would pull over and wait for any outfit that could be heard oncoming. [78]
E. COMMENTS and RECOMMENDATIONS
Few areas, if any, in the National Park Service afford a better opportunity than Redwood National Park for interpreting man's struggle to cope with his environment. Trails were difficult to open, and roads, until the advent of huge power earth-moving equipment, next to impossible to build. For example, in the last quarter of the 19th century it took from 1887 to 1894 to open the wagon road from Crescent City to Trinidad. No through railroad penetrated Del Norte County or the northern portion of Humboldt County. While the Del Norte & Southern Railroad and the Crescent City & Smith River Rail road were common carriers, their operations were limited, in general, to the level belt of country between the Pacific and Howland Hill. Practically all the tonnage carried was made up of logs for the lumber mills. Plans were made to connect Crescent City with Grants Pass by rail, but the cost of building a right-of-way and laying track through the rugged and wild Coast Range frightened investors.
Until the construction of modern highways in the 1920s and the advent of trucks and trailers for long-distance overland hauling, Del Norte and northern Humboldt Counties were cut off, except by water, from the commercial and population centers of California and Oregon. All goods and equipment, except those carried by mail carrier, had to be brought in by ship, while the products of the area's farms, forests, and mines had to go out the same way. To supply the inland mining camps, first trails and then roads were opened. Pack trains loaded out of Crescent City and Trinidad were driven over these trails with supplies and came out with gold. As soon as roads were opened, freight wagons, except during the rainy season, replaced the pack trains.
The construction of the Redwood Highway in the 1920s and the successful efforts of the California Highway Department in the field of conservation cannot be ignored, because they brought visitors in to the region and helped make the public cognizant of the grandeur and dignity of the redwoods.
The roads, trails, ferries, pack trains, and freighters constitute an important and invaluable element in the story of man and the redwoods. This is a facet of the area's history that can be interpreted on site, because portions of the old trails and roads are extant. The ferry sites can be easily identified. Certain of these sites should be designated Class VI Land. Sites meriting this designation are: (a) The portion of the Crescent City Plank Road between U.S. 199 and Peacock's Ferry; (b) Peacock's and Catching's ferries; (c) the portion of the Kelsey Trail (today's Bald Hill Road) in Sections 22 and 23, Township 16 North, Range 1 East; (d) the extant sections of the Crescent City-Trinidad Wagon Road along Damnation Ridge and Ragged Ass Hill—the remains on Damnation Ridge are especially interesting, because you can still feel the puncheons just below the surface; and (e) the five miles of Redwood Highway constructed in the 1920s and abandoned in the 1930s, running along the cliffs and skirting the head of Damnation Creek. While the trail from Trinidad to the Klamath, where it was reopened by Arcata Redwood Company, has lost its integrity, it still possesses historical significance. As such it should be designated Class VI Land, and an effort made to acquire the trail between the Park boundary and Elk Camp.
ENDNOTES
1. Coy, The Humboldt Bay Region, pp. 67-68.
2. Dept. of the Interior Rept., March 17, 1853, U.S. House, Executive Documents, Serial 688, Doc. 4, p. 181; Preemption Claims, Klamath County, 1851-1853, p. 13; "Official Map of Humboldt County, California, Compiled and Drawn by Stanley Forbes, 1886"; "Topographical Map of the Trail from Fort Gaston to Stone Lagoon, Calif.," drawn from field notes made on a scout commanded by E. B. Savage, Capt. 8th Inft., by Lt. R. H. Wilson, Febry. 1879; "Map of Humboldt County, California, 1888, by J. N. Lentell"; Map, General Land Office, Township No.10 North, Range No.2 East, Humboldt Meridian, Dec. 30, 1882.
3. George Gibbs, Journal of the Expedition of Colonel Redick M'Kee, United States Indian Agent Through Northwestern California (Philadelphia, 1860), p. 135.
4. Alta California, May 22 and July 1, 1850, and Feb. 12, 1851.
5. Coy, The Humboldt Bay Region, p. 69.
6. John Daggett, "Reminiscences of a Pioneer," Scrapbook, p. 5, California State Library, Calif. Section.
7. "Official Map of Humboldt County, California," Compiled by J. N. Lentell, 1898.
8. Sacramento Daily Union, July 8, 1853.
9. "Mail Routes, Ark., Calif., Ill., Iowa, Kan., Ky., Mo., Neb., Nev., N. Mex., Tenn., Tex., and Utah, 1858-1862," Library P. O. D., pp. 238-239, NA, NNR/68—724. Denny was to leave Trinidad on Tuesdays at 6 a.m. and to reach Crescent City by 3 p.m. the next day. He would depart Crescent City on Thursdays at 6 a.m. and reach Trinidad at 3 p.m. the following day. On July 1, 1863, the route was shortened by 18 miles to extend from Trinidad to Crescent City. Denny was again the low bidder, securing the route for $1,500.
10. Broadus to Smith, Feb. 20, 1875, NA, RG 75, 01A, ltrs. Recd., Calif. Supt. John Broaddus was agent in charge of the Hoopa Valley Reservation.
12. Official Map of Humboldt County, California—1886; Map of Humboldt County, California—1888.
13. McBeth, Lower Klamath Country, p. 54.
16. Del Norte Record, Nov. 19, 1881. Johnston and his wife lived near the county line, and kept a stopping place for travelers on the Trinidad-Klamath trail. Taking advantage of their preemption rights, they secured possession of much of the range land between the Klamath and Orick. McBeth, Lower Klamath Country, p. 58.
17. Doris Chase, They Pushed Back the Forest, (Sacramento, 1959), p. 32.
18. Mill Creek was crossed in the southeast quarter of Section 19, Township 16 North, Range 1 East, Humboldt Meridian.
19. Map, General Land Office, Township No. 16 North, Range No. 2 East, Humboldt Meridian, Oct. 17, 1884.
20. Chase, They Pushed Back the Forest, pp. 30-31; General Land Office Maps: Township 16 North, Range 1 West, 1856; Township 16 North, Range 1 East, 1878; Township 17 North, Range 1 East, 1884.
21. Chase, They Pushed Back the Forest, pp. 30-32.
22. General Land Office Maps: Township 11 North, Range 1 East, 1882; Township 12 North, Range 2 East, 1889.
23. Humboldt County, California, The Land of Unrivaled Undeveloped Natural Resources on the Westernmost Rim of the American Continent (Eureka, 1915), p. 29.
24. Bledsoe, History of Del Norte County, pp. 24-25; Esther R. Smith, The History of Del Norte County, California (Oakland, 1953), pp. 27-28.
25. Bledsoe, History of Del Norte, p. 26; Smith, History of Del Norte County, pp. 27-28.
26. Bledsoe, History of Del Norte, p. 49.
27. Ibid.; Smith, History of Del Norte County, p. 27-28. The company's board of directors, elected on June 4, 1857, were: J. W. Stateler, John A. Baxter, F. E. Weston, David Price, D. C. Dewis, E. Y. Naylor, and J. G. Wall.
28. Bledsoe, History of Del Norte, p. 52.
29. Ibid., p. 61; Smith, History of Del Norte County, p. 28.
30. Chase, They Pushed Back the Forest, pp. 35-40.
31. "Mail Routes, Ark., Calif., Ill., Iowa., Kan., Ky., Mo., Neb., N. Mex., Tenn., Tex., and Utah, 1858-1862, "Library F. O. D., pp. 226-227, NA, NNR/68—724. The mail carrier was to depart Crescent City at 6 a.m. on Mondays and Thursdays, and to leave Waldo on the return trip at 3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays. George F. Johnson of Crescent City took over the route from Husbands on April 1, 1863.
32. Robert J. Jenkins, Del Norte County as It Is . . . (Crescent City, 1894), pp. 26-28.
33. General Land Office Maps: Township 16 North, Range 1 West, 1856; Township 17 North, Range 1 East.
34. Ernie Coan, "Horace Gasquet: Del Norte's Early Multi-Purpose Man," Del Norte Triplicate, Centennial Edition, 1954.
36. Chase, They Pushed Back the Forest, p. 41. Until the plank road was opened in the early 1890s, across the Mill Creek bottom, Gasquet Flats was reached from Crescent City via the Cold Spring Mountain Trail. The trail to Gasquet branched off from that trail at Catching's Ferry and ascended the left bank of Smith River. The road, when built, followed the same alignment as the trail. General Land Office Maps: Town ship 16 North, Range 1 East; Township 17 North, Range 1 East.
37. Del Norte Record, Oct. 22, 1887.
38. McBeth, Lower Klamath Country, p. 58.
39. Del Norte Record, Oct. 12, 1889.
44. Ibid., Sept. 19 & Oct. 3, 1891.
46. Ibid., May 5 & July 7, 1894. Frank Bosch signed the first contract to carry passengers, freight, and mail over the Crescent City-Requa portion of the road, while Burr McConnaha ran the stage line from Trinidad to Requa. Mrs. Elsie Bosch, Humboldt County Historical Society, 10, No. 2.
47. McBeth, Lower Klamath Country, pp. 60-61.
48. Ibid., p. 61; Del Norte Triplicate, Centennial Edition (1954), pp. 3A & 6 AA.
49. Map of Del Norte County, California, June 1918; California State Parks, Del Norte Park, Key Map, Olmsted Brothers, June 1931; Official Map of Humboldt County, California, Lentell, 1898; Denny's Official Map of the County of Humboldt, California, 1911; Personal Interview, Bearss with Ray Chaffey, April 26, 1969. Ray Chaffee, of the High Prairie Creek Community, has lived in the area for over 50 years.
50. Humboldt County, California, The Land of Unrivaled Undeveloped Natural Resources, p. 29.
51. McBeth, Lower Klamath Country, pp. 61-62.
52. California State Parks, Del Norte Park, Key Map, Olmsted Bros., June 1931; California Highway Bulletin, Oct. 15, 1912, 1, No. 1, p. 3; Ltr., E. Thomas to Bearss, July 30, 1969. E. Thomas is Assistant District Engineer, State of California—Transportation Division.
54. Del Norte Triplicate, Centennial Edition, 1954, p. 5-B.
55. Crescent City Courier, Aug. 26, 1876.
58. Tucker to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, April 11, 1878, NA, RG 75, 01A, Ltrs. Recd., Calif. Supt.
59. Secretary of the Interior to Tucker, May 13, 1878, NA, RG 75, 01A, Ltrs. Recd., Calif. Supt.
60. Crescent City Courier, Jan. 29, 1887.
64. Del Norte Record, Dec. 28, 1895.
65. Del Norte Triplicate, May 9, 1919.
66. McBeth, Lower Klamath Country, p. 54.
68. Del Norte Triplicate, Dec. 25, 1964.
69. General Land Office Maps, Township 16 North, Range 1 East, Humboldt Meridian, for 1878 and 1884.
70. General Land Office Map, Township 17 North, Range 1 East, 1884.
71. Del Norte Triplicate, Centennial Edition, 1954, p. 2-F.
72. Smith, History of Del Norte County, pp. 29-30.
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