History of Humboldt County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 108

Author: Irvine, Leigh H. (Leigh Hadley), 1863-1942
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Los Angeles, Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1328

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HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

also conducted the livery barn, remaining for a year. Later, after four years of farming at Camp Grant, he returned to Dyerville and managed the hotel there for an additional year. He then moved to Lolita, where he conducted a millinery store for a year, and then went to Pepperwood where for fourteen months he conducted the Lucas Hotel. Following this he ranched for three years, having rented for that time the Pedrotti ranch at Holmes, this being the property that he is now conducting as a stock ranch. In 1912 he leased his present store building and put in a first-class stock of general merchandise, and since that time has been conducting this enterprise, with marked financial success, as well as being postmaster.

In his political preferences Mr. Hooper is a Socialist and is a well-read, well-informed man, and a careful thinker. He takes a keen interest in all that goes on about him, and is one of the progressive men of the community, standing squarely for improvement along sane and permanent lines, and for any movement that is for the general welfare of the community. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World at Holmes. The business interests of Mr. Hooper are well looked after by him, and his ranching interests as well as his mercantile interests are prospering. The ranch which he rents from V. Pedrotti, who is his brother-in-law, contains forty-two acres, and is one of the best in the vicinity. There Mr. Hooper is engaged in breeding a high grade of dairy cattle, the Jersey strain being developed. These cows are much sought by the dairymen of the region and find a ready market. Mr. Pedrotti is himself a well-known figure in local affairs and his sketch appears elsewhere in this edition.

Both Mr. Hooper and his mother are well liked in Holmes, and are deservedly popular. Mr. Hooper is a booster for his home city and for the county as well, and his mother is one of the finest type of the pioneer women of a day gone by, gentle, quiet, and full of a thousand kindnesses for all who come her way.

JOHN HOFFMAN .- It was in 1907 that John Hoffman came from Eureka, where he had been employed in the Bendixsen shipyard for the pre- ceding seven years, and purchased his present place of forty acres on Holmes Flat, near what is now the village of Holmes, Mr. Hoffman being the first rancher to improve property at this point and make a home there. He paid $4,500 for the tract and has cleared and improved it in a most praiseworthy manner, and with the general increase of property valuation in this part of the county, together with the improvements that have been made, the place is now considered as valuable as any of its size in the county. The land is especially rich and five crops of alfalfa can be cut without irrigation. Mr. Hoffman is engaged in general farming and dairying, milking from twenty to thirty cows. He has a large modern barn and comfortable dwelling-house, and has utilized the natural resources of the place in his improvements in such a manner as to combine beauty and utility in a striking manner. For instance, he has hollowed out a great redwood stump and made it do service for a cellar and storehouse, and another of about twenty feet in height is mounted with a windmill and reservoir and makes a splendid tower.

Mr. Hoffman is a native of Finland, born near Wasa, April 22. 1876. His father, John Hoffman, was a farmer in Finland and especially well-to-do, owning four hundred acres. He died in 1914. The mother was Maia Lisa Rien, also a native of Finland, where she is still living, at the age of seventy

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years. Young Mr. Hoffman spent his boyhood days on his father's farm, where he assisted with the farm labor while attending school. When he was twenty years of age he was married to Miss Mary Rusk, also born near Wasa, after which he rented a farm from his father-in-law, Matt Rusk, where he engaged in farming for a year. He was ambitious, however, and the oppor- tunities for advancement in his native land were small, under the hated domi- nation of Russia, and he and his young wife determined to come to America and seek their fortune there. Accordingly they came to Pennsylvania in 1897, and for a time Mr. Hoffman was employed in the coal mines at Bitumen, Clinton county, that state. The same year, in the fall of 1897, they came to California, locating at first in Mendocino county, where for a year Mr. Hoff- man was employed in the woods, near Gualala, and later went to Greenwood, where he was with the L. E. White Lumber Company for two years. In 1900 he came into Humboldt county and located at Eureka, where he entered the employ of the Bendixsen Shipyards, being employed by this company for seven years. He began at the bottom and was steadily promoted, and at the time of his resignation was an expert ship carpenter. This is a line of work that he especially likes, and often even now, when the farm work is slack, and the ship-building season is at its height, he goes over to Eureka and works for a month or two in the shipyards where he is always certain of a welcome because of his efficiency.

It was a very fortunate move when Mr. Hoffman resigned his lucrative position in the shipyards to take up farming, for it led to his purchase of land, at low figures, in the richest section of the county, a veritable garden spot, which has since then greatly increased in value.

In addition to the management of his farm, Mr. Hoffman also contracts for the hauling of gravel in road work, and similar construction work, and thus adds materially to his annual profits. His wife has borne him six chil- dren, four daughters and two sons, as follows: Vendla Matilda, Oscar R., Alvar V., Mabel E., Olga A. and Alice. The mother of Mrs. Hoffman died in Finland about six years ago, and her father has since sold his farm in the native land and moved to Humboldt county in 1903 and now makes his home with his daughter and son-in-law on their farm.

In his political views Mr. Hoffman is a Republican and is a stanch sup- porter of the principles of his party. He is keenly interested in local affairs and especially in educational matters, and gave half an acre of land for the present site of the Englewood school.

VICTOR PEDROTTI .- The sturdy little republic of Switzerland has given to the United States many citizens of ability and worth. Among those who have given us so high an estimate of the character and capabilities of the Swiss, Victor Pedrotti is an excellent representative. He has been a resident of California since he was a lad of fourteen years, having come to Humboldt county when he was eighteen. He has done exceptionally well, and is now one of the leading men of Dyerville and vicinity. He is at present the proprietor of the Dyerville Hotel, is owner and operator of a first-class blacksmith shop in Dyerville, and also owns a good forty-five acre ranch at Holmes, on what is known as Holmes Flat in the rich bottoms of the Eel river, about three miles above Shively. In addition to this Mr. Pedrotti rents a large stock-ranch on the Inglewood range, where he has a large number of cattle. He is a man of excellent business ability, and executive force, and is

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well known through the southern part of the county. The Dyerville Hotel is a well known landmark of this part of the county, and is growing in importance. The coming of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad into Dyerville has greatly increased the importance of this place as a commercial center and with this increase has come a corresponding growth in all business enterprises. There is a handsome steel bridge across the South Fork of the Eel river just below the South Fork station, on which this line crosses the river. and at Dyerville there is another handsome steel structure spanning the river, on which traffic on the state highway and the county road crosses, going from San Francisco to Eureka, and the country above. The Pacific Lumber Com- pany owns many thousands of valuable acres of redwood timber in this vicinity, there being one famous giant redwood that is more than twenty-one feet in diameter and which is said to contain more marketable lumber than any other tree in Humboldt county. Mr. Pedrotti was the manager of the Dyerville Hotel many years ago, and then gave it up, several other persons having been in charge after his resignation, including Col. Dyer and Mrs. Carland. About two years ago he again took charge of this hostelry and has made a great success of it since that time.

Mr. Pedrotti was born in Giumaglio, canton Ticino, Switzerland, March 29, 1862. His parents were also natives of Switzerland, where they lived and died. There were six children in their family, four sons and two daughters, of whom but three sons are now living. Of these the eldest, John, is now residing in Switzerland, on the old Pedrotti home place, having returned to the land of his birth a few years ago. For many years he was a resident of California, running a large dairy farm in Marin county, where he was very successful. Since returning to Switzerland he has been engaged in the raising of goats, sheep, and cattle, dairying and making cheese, growing fruits and chestnuts, and keeping a few guests at his quaint old Swiss chalet. The other brother, Alvitio, is a well-to-do dairy farmer at Waddington. From his earliest childhood Victor Pedrotti had wonderful dreams of coming to America and making a fortune, and he is working out the fulfilment of these dreams with wonderful accuracy. When he was fourteen he came to America, joining his brother John in Marin county, Cal., where he worked first on his ranch for a year, then was with an uncle for two years, and for an additional two years was employed on various ranches in the neighborhood. He was ambitious and industrious, and willing to learn, and at the age of fourteen he was doing a man's work. He was eighteen years of age when he came to Humboldt county and settled at Rio Dell, where he rented a dairy farm, and when he was twenty-one he was running a dairy of twenty cows. At this time he married Miss Amanda Gould, by whom he had six children, all well known in Humboldt county, where they were reared and educated. They are: Victor. who is in the hotel business at Garberville ; Ray, residing at Fort Bragg, and married to Miss Frances Whipple ; Myrtle and Gertrude, twins, and attending the Normal school at Arcata ; Della. employed in a store at Arcata ; and Roy. employed at Alderpoint. Mr. Pedrotti was divorced from his first wife and in 1900 was married a second time to Miss Josephine Hooper, a native of Dayton, Butte county, Cal., their marriage being solemnized on July 6. Mrs. Pedrotti is a woman of great ability and splendid character, and has borne her husband six children : Iris, Giovanni, Pearl, Orliff, Patrick and Philip.

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For several years Mr. Pedrotti continued to conduct his dairy farm at Rio Dell and then rented a place on Bull creek, which he operated for a few years, in the meantime conducting a stage line from Scotia to Garberville. He obtained the United States mails' contract and carried the mails between these and intervening points. Dyerville was a sort of central point and Mr. Pedrotti opened a blacksmith shop there to care for his horses and stages, hiring a man to take charge of it. Circumstances, however, forced him to the forge and anvil, and being apt at learning he soon became an expert in many lines of smithing. He has given up the running of the stage line several years ago, but still maintains the blacksmith shop for general work.

Mr. Pedrotti was well educated in his mother tongue, and although he has never attended school in America, he speaks, reads and writes the English language with fluency and ease, and is well informed on all current topics. He is progressive in his political views and has taken an active part in local affairs for many years, being many times a delegate to county conventions before the days of primary elections. He is an active member of the Odd Fellows, being a member of the Ferndale Lodge, No. 220. I. O. O. F., and takes a prominent part in all the affairs of this order.

WILLIAM LUCAS .- Prominent among the leading men of Pepper- wood is William Lucas, veteran hotel-keeper of the county, and pioneer of California and Oregon. He is an ideal hotel man, having the details of the business always at his finger tips, and takes exceptional care for the com- fort and welfare of his guests. He is the proprietor of the Lucas Hotel in Pepperwood, and also owns and operates a forty-acre ranch at this place. In all his undertakings his helpmeet and close associate is his wife, who is a woman of much ability, a native Californian and of Humboldt county.

Mr. Lucas is a native of Illinois, born at Junction City, November 30, 1863, the son of Christopher and Celia (Hoover) Lucas. When he was nine years of age he removed with his parents to California, locating twenty-five miles east of Stockton. His father was a farmer and owned property at that point, where he died seven years ago. The mother died in Stockton two years ago. She was a native of Illinois, where she was reared and educated and where she met and married Mr. Lucas. There were ten children in their family, William being the eldest. Ile was reared and educated on the farm near Stockton and later worked at farming, being employed first on his father's farm, and later on the various places in the neighborhood. He was also interested in dairying, and in saw-mill work and the work of the woods generally. Mr. Lucas has been twice married. The first time 10 Miss Lena Rogers, by whom he had two children, namely: Orville, who is in the United States navy, being stationed on the supply ship which runs from Apha to Hong Kong; and Lena May, married to James Larson, a farmer of Rio Dell. The first wife died in Oregon, at Coquille City, where Mr. Lucas was engaged in logging. Later he returned to California and located in Humboldt county, where he was married to Miss Rhoda May- field, the daughter of one of the oldest pioneer families of this county, her father, John Mayfield, being now deceased. After this marriage Mr. Lucas went to Dyerville, where he conducted the Dyerville Hotel for a year, at the same time running the ferry and the Dyerville livery stable. Following this he went to Mendocino county, where he was employed in the saw-mills for two years, and then came back to Humboldt county and located at Pep-

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perwood, where he has since resided. He has built up and improved his place here and now owns a very valuable property. The hotel building is a comfortable, modern structure, containing seventeen rooms, which was erected by Mr. Lucas in 1904. From 1904 to 1908 he served acceptably as postmaster of Pepperwood.

Mr. and Mrs. Lucas are both well known in Pepperwood and vicinity. Mr. Lucas is a Progressive in his political views and takes an active interest in local affairs, being especially interested in educational matters. He has rendered valuable service as a member of the local board of school trustees, of which he is at present a member. Mr. and Mrs. Lucas have six children, namely: Truman, Gladys, Mckinley, Alta, Theda and Irenc.

JOSEPH RUSS .- No history of Humboldt county, Cal., would be com- plete without a mention of Joseph Russ, now deceased, who was perhaps the most extensive cattleman and land owner who has ever lived in the county ; a miner, freighter, stockman, merchant and lumber manufacturer, having risen from a young man without means to the opulent estate of a millionaire cattleman and land owner in Humboldt county. Among other things, he established the Russ meat market at Eureka, the largest of its kind in that city and one of the largest in northern California. He made his money by taking advantage of the low price of grazing lands in Humboldt county and by attending personally to the details of his business, being an untiring worker, one who rode the ranges himself and saw that his stock received the best of care. By always dealing on the square he made and held the friend- ship of all with whom he was concerned. His estate in Humboldt county comprises more than fifty thousand acres, whereon are kept thousands of cattle and sheep as well as horses and mules. Mr. Russ was a native of the state of Maine, having come west in 1849, attracted by the discovery of gold in California, where, after a prosperous career of almost forty years, he died October 8, 1886. His wife is Mrs. Zipporah (Patrick) Russ, who was born in Pennsylvania, the daughter of Nehemiah Patrick, a pioneer of Humboldt county who crossed the plains to California in 1852 and settled in Humboldt county the following year. Mrs. Russ still lives at Fern Cottage ranch at Ferndale, the summer home of the Russes.

The son, Joseph Russ, is a worthy descendant of the industrious pioneer of the county, being the youngest of thirteen children and having been born November 27, 1876, at Fern Cottage ranch, where his early life was spent. He attended the schools at Eureka, after which he attended Hopkins Acad- emy, Oakland, and later Belmont Academy in San Mateo county, after which he entered Anderson's Private Military Academy at Alameda, from which he was graduated in 1895.

When a mere lad Joseph Russ often rode his pony alongside his father in his extensive cattle business. In 1896 he began active operations himself as a cattle man, and at present is the owner of three ranches, the Mayflower, consisting of about fourteen hundred acres, the Woodland Echo, of about twelve hundred acres, both adjoining and in the Wildcat District about twelve miles from Ferndale, and the Ocean View ranch of twenty-one hundred acres below Cape Mendocino, which he purchased in 1899, and which extends nearly two miles along the ocean front. The two former places are run as dairy farms, the third as a cattle ranch, and all receive the careful attention of their

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owner, his business interests centering about these three prosperous ranches.

The marriage of Mr. Russ to Miss Sadic A. Flowers, a native of Fern- dale, and the daughter of William J. Flowers, Sr., a pioneer of Humboldt county, took place in San Francisco in 1902, and to them were born six chil- dren, of whom only two sons, Joseph and Herbert, are at present living. The family reside at their handsome bungalow at Ferndale. In her religious belief Mrs. Russ is a Catholic. Mr. Russ is a member of Eureka Lodge No. 652. B. P. O. E., also of Ferndale Lodge No. 220, I. O. O. F., and of Ferndale Encampment, I. O. O. F.

GEORGE R. YOUNG .- As proprietor of the principal general merchan- dise store at Pepperwood and ex-postmaster of that thriving little burg, George R. Young is one of the best known, as well as one of the most popular men in the vicinity. He has lived a most interesting life throughout the west, being a pioncer in half a dozen states west of the Missouri, having made his first trip to Denver in 1862, when he was but eighteen years of age. Later he drove stage from Denver to Cheyenne and on to Salt Lake for a number of years, and also from Salt Lake City westward, meeting during these years such men as Buffalo Bill (Col. Cody), Capt. Jack Crawford, and others of carly day fame. Later he went with an expedition into the mountains of Idaho and Montana, where they established forts in the back districts, and was also en- gaged in mining for many years through Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Colorado. Mr. Young came first to California in 1881, and has been a permanent resident of this state since 1884. He came to Pepperwood in 1903 and has been in the general merchandise business here since that tinie.

Mr. Young is a native of Illinois, born at Danville, Vermilion county, January 10, 1844. His father was David Wallace Young, a native of Dayton, Ohio, and started the first plow factory in Illinois, at Bloomington, in 1851. in partnership with James Bunn. The mother was Miss Elizabeth Mills, in her girlhood, a native of Frankfort, Ky., and descendant of an old Southern family. The parents came later to lowa, and at a still later date moved to Sterling, Kan., where they both died, the father at the age of sixty-six years, and the mother at the age of eighty-six, her death occurring in 1896. There were fifteen children in their family, nine sons and six daughters, George R. being fourth son, and the sixth child born. He lived in Danville, Ill., until he was eight years old and then moved with his parents to Bloomington, where he grew to young manhood. He remembers having seen Abraham Lincoln once, at Bloomington. He started out for himself when he was fifteen years of age, but returned in 1864 to Iowa where his parents were then living. In 1865 he left home again, this being the last time he ever saw his father, although he visited his mother in Sterling, Kan., in 1892.

In 1862, on his first trip into the Rocky mountains, Mr. Young drove a six-yoke team of oxen to Denver for Ben Haliday, the man who established the overland stage. The wagon was loaded with corn for the feeding of the stage horses. In 1865, he again drove a similar outfit to Denver for Haliday, and on his arrival in Denver was given employment by the com- pany for two years in that city. Later he drove the Overland stage from Cheyenne to Denver, in 1868. In 1867 he went with the supply train of the Wells Fargo Express Company, with one hundred fifteen mule teams with government supplies to the Big Horn mountains and established two forts :

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Fort C. F. Smith, on the Big Horn river, and Fort Phil Kearney, at the head- waters of the Crazy river fork of the Powder river, the expedition being in. command of Col. C. F. Smith. The Wells Fargo Express Company bought out the Overland stage from Ben Haliday in 1866, and in 1869 the coming of the railroad caused the stage line from Cheyenne to Denver to be dis- continued, and Mr. Young went into the mines, continuing in this line of occupation for a number of years. He was for a time at Silver City, Idaho, and there he met and married Miss Camelia Kuhr, a native of Hamburg, Germany. In the spring of 1876 he came with his wife to Virginia City, Nev., where he was employed in the Consolidated Virginia mine, the richest silver mine known up to that time, where he continued for twelve years. Later he was made foreman of the Mt. Como mine near Virginia City. Giv- ing up the life of the miner after a time, Mr. Young came to San Francisco, and for a number of years was in the employ of the Market Street Railway Company, as gripman on the Market Street cable road. Following this he engaged in the theatrical business, being manager for the Bob McGinley theatrical troupe, and traveling all over the coast, from Gray's Harbor to the Mexican line of Lower California, and eastward to Denver, making all of his journeys with a horse and buggy, and continuing in the theatrical business, intermittently for twelve years. He then went to Dakota, Alameda county, where he engaged in the general merchandise business, and served as post- master under Mckinley. In the fall of 1903 he came to Pepperwood, where he established himself in the general merchandise business, and has so con- tinued since. He was made postmaster under President Taft and served with great satisfaction for four years.

Mr. and Mrs. Young are the parents of ten children, who are all well known in California, where they occupy, or have occupied, various positions of responsibility and trust. They are: Nettie, now the wife of Frank Suzie, a hotel keeper in San Francisco; Chester, foreman of the shipping department of the Smith Premier Typewriter Company, residing in Syra- cuse, N. Y .: George Bruce, residing in San Francisco; Frank Partlow, elec- trician at Mare Island, in the employ of the United States government, married and with one child ; Robert Blaine, a commercial salesman residing in Oakland: Luella Belle, the wife of George Mattieson, butcher, at Center- ville, Alameda county, Cal. ; Roy Albert, in the hospital corps of the United States government in the Philippine Islands : Clarence and Raymond, residing at home, and employed in their father's store ; and Ira Dakota, aged twelve, and attending school at Pepperwood.

In addition to his interests in the general merchandise store, known by his name, Mr. Young is also a partner in the Happy Camp Shingle Mill Company, with a mill at Holmes. The partnership consists of himself and John Helms, under-sheriff at Eureka, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this edition. Mr. Helms is president, and Mr. Young is . secretary. Besides shingles, they manufacture fruit box shooks. This mill was built at Holmes Flat in 1912, and has a capacity of one hundred thousand shingles per day. In his political views Mr. Young is a Republican, his father being an old line Whig. He takes a keen interest in all that pertains to the welfare of the community, and is a man of more than ordinary business ability and judg- ment. Outside of his commercial interests, however, his chief interest is in

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History of Humboldt County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 108

Author: Irvine, Leigh H. (Leigh Hadley), 1863-1942 Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Los Angeles, Historic Record Company Number of Pages: 1328

Author: Irvine, Leigh H. (Leigh Hadley), 1863-1942
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Los Angeles, Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1328