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 20

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

USA > California > Humboldt County > 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 20

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Besides building up commercial activities, great work is being carried forward in the way of agriculture and agricultural colonies. The Humboldt Land and Development Company, organized by Frank K. Mott and his association at Oakland, have twenty-two thousand five hundred acres of land at Fort Seward, destined to be the metropolis of southern Humboldt. This great concern is getting ready for thousands of citizens and it will build a town there which will probably be the principal shipping point south of Eureka.

Activities like those of the Fort Seward company are destined to multi- ply, for with a careful study of horticulture and scientific methods of carry- ing on the dairying and vegetable gardens trade, there is certain to be a growth of canneries and kindred activities. The work of establishing can- neries, wood-working companies, and similar lines of industrial activities is being pushed forward by almost every organization in the county.

Some of the other problems which they are taking hold of vigorously concern the handling of the flood waters in the Eel river bottom, also along Mad river. Owing to the flat valleys and the fact that there are great volumes of water plunging from the mountains each winter, it is a serious question how to prevent the overflow of land, as well as to prevent the river from eating up thousands of acres of land every few years. Engineers have figured that the toll of the river has already cost, in the last twenty years, ten thousand acres of land valued at $500 an acre. The effort to reclaim some of these lost acres is now being pushed forward with great activity by the Chamber of Commerce of Humboldt county and many other organiza- tions either affiliated with it or co-operating with it in this important work.

Another great effort now being put forth by the promotive organiza- tions, civic clubs, women's clubs, and others looks to the preservation of a great National redwood forest in Humboldt county. A bill looking to this purpose has long been before Congress and the organizations of the county are (1914) spending every energy to the accomplishment of their desire.

Everybody in Humboldt county and everybody who ever sees the big trees hope that congressional action may save them from the axe of the woodmen. Closely connected with the question of preserving the forests is the problem of equitable taxation, for unless the forests shall be taxed under some such scientific plan as that which obtains in Germany, where the

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ground is taxed for its value at all times, and where the trees are never taxed until they are cut, the case will look hopeless. These wonderful trees are the oldest and most majestic of all the sky-piercing sequoia sem- pervirens that were "God's first temples." It is evident that if the children of tomorrow are to be permitted to see these precious relics of prehistoric America-sublime survivors of the far-away centuries-there is urgent need of immediate conservation, for the tracts closest to the railroad and the state highway are disappearing before the woodmen from the mills at the rate of about four thousand acres each year. No spectacle that California can offer the tourist from the East or from foreign countries will ever equal the mighty redwoods, for which reason it would be a shame if they were to be destroyed before practical conservation might take care of them. The big timber and lumber owners have informed a number of commercial organiza- tions, especially the promotion committee, that they will be glad to give a price to a congressional committee if that price will be considered as confi- dential, and they have also expressed themselves as willing to meet the public half-way in this matter, feeling that they have enjoyed a great privi- lege in buying them for small sums, for which reason they are willing to be generous to the extent of selling to the government for less than the market price. The Hon. William Kent and a number of other congressmen of means have signified a desire to help in the matter, not only by their vote and activity, but by making substantial gifts to the purchase funds. Too much credit can not be given to the women's clubs, and the organizations around Fortuna in particular, for their activity in behalf of the preservation of a great redwood forest for the generations yet to come.

Possibly the most hopeful feature about all of the work of these organ- izations is seen in the fact that the people are now beginning to understand the value of organized efforts. The Federal Bureau of Commerce of the United States recently issued a report on the work of American develop- ment associations. After examining the activities of almost one hundred cities and towns, its experts concluded that the education of public senti- ment to the point of realizing the value of team-work for the general welfare was perhaps the most valuable feature in all promotion and devel- opment work, and that the maintenance of an active organization of this character is always worth everything that any community can pay for it. Secretary Irvine, of the Humboldt Promotion and Development Committee, is making this campaign for the education of public sentiment, and it is his belief that the best work which the committee can possibly do is to rouse the patriotic impulses that have long lain in the breasts of a number of good citizens of the olden time.

Old residents of the county are noticing the fact that the activities of these commercial and development organizations mark a new time in the work of the county. In conjunction with this, although it has not been taken up by any of the organizations, there is a quiet movement in many parts of the county to suppress the coming into Humboldt of a number of unfit and undesirable citizens. Almost every steamer brings Greeks, Sla- vonians, and others who can neither read nor write the English language and who will work for a very small wage. In this connection, many labor organizations are doing all in their power to prevent employment bureaus

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and like organizations in San Francisco from sending empty-handed men into Humboldt county.

The promotion committee and other organizations take the position that while this is an empire of virgin opportunities for the right man, it will be unwise to leap in the dark. These organizations are trying to give facts that should be known by every sensible person before he even thinks of visiting the county. While they maintain that it is a wonderful country for the right man, they are very anxious to have those who start investi- gate the question as to whether they are the right men before they buy their tickets. Those contemplating a visit to Humboldt county are warned not to come under any mistaken impression that gold grows on the bushes anywhere in the Golden West. All inquirers are plainly told that the county needs capital and skill in manufacturing, agricultural, horticultural and kindred industries. The committee discourages the riff-raff from flocking into the North under the mistaken belief that there is a chance for every- body. Those desiring to do common labor are advised to make inquiry before they rashly come into a strange land without funds.

CHAPTER XX.

Past and Prospective Humboldt Agriculture.

The student of history, especially if he goes to original sources, will soon learn by talking with men and women who settled in Humboldt county any time between 1858 and 1870 that the history of agriculture in those times was much like the famous book on snakes in Iceland. The author had the book bound in beautiful covers, and it contained almost a thousand pages, only one of which contained any printed matter. The only words appearing in the entire book were printed in bold letters on the first page. The text was as follows: "As for snakes in Iceland, there are none."

As for agriculture in Humboldt county during the early days of its occupa- tion, there was almost nothing worthy of the name. Much of the development of this county ever since it was settled has lain along the line of lumbering. The fact that mighty virgin forests abound in this great county has always attracted the capitalists and the woodsmen alike. It was natural that the great profits which were made in this industry should intensify it, and it is also natural that agriculture should take a secondary place during a long period of years. Of course sheep and cattle ranges abounded in the old days, and a rude form of agriculture also existed side by side with the grazing industry.

But the conditions of yesterday could not continue indefinitely, for the reason that the great development of agriculture along scientific lines was sure to make our acres valuable to the husbandman. Such men as Henry DeVoy soon saw the great advantage of our climatic conditions and scores of them have reaped fortunes from the soil.

It is well known that there was a period when it was almost impossible to market the perishable crops satisfactorily. Even today (1914) the only way to ship crops satisfactorily is by water, although the completion of the North-

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western Pacific will bring new and different conditions to the farmers of Hum- boldt county.

There was a time, particularly from 1870 to 1880, when clover was known as the king of agricultural products. Prior to that time Humboldt county was known as the greatest potato belt in all the West, but potatoes were so cheap in those days that the growing of these tubers was abandoned in favor of clover.

With the coming of clover it was inevitable that the dairying industry should take its place as one of the great productive occupations of the county.

Many years ago a number of far seeing farmers and business men began to devise ways and means whereby they might use the cut-over lands which had sustained forests of redwood, but no great progress was made for the simple reason that there were no organizations to take the matter up seriously, aggres- sively, and scientifically. It might be said in a general way that the organization of the Humboldt Promotion and Development Committee, following the editorial agitation by Leigh H. Irvine, managing editor of the Humboldt Times, supple- mented by his addresses on the history and philosophy of community develop- ment, was the beginning of the organized movement which finally culminated in the present efficient farm bureau system that characterizes the agricultural activ- ities of the county.

The promotion committee was organized on October 19, 1912, and by the middle of July, 1914, Prof. A. H. Christiansen had been detailed to the county by the State University at Berkeley as official farm adviser. He immediately began his work in conjunction with the promotion committee and it was not very long before farm centers were organized throughout the county. These are really farmers' clubs, which meet and discuss practical questions pertaining to the good and welfare of the farmers. All sorts of questions concerning soil analysis, rotation of crops, fertilization, the use of lime, and green manuring are discussed at these meetings. The farm advisor usually visits a center at least once a month, but the work grew so fast the first year that a determined effort was made to obtain another advisor to enter the field with him.

The older school of Humboldters-men like Ex-Governor James N. Gillett and W. S. Clark-were long suspicious of any efforts to make Humboldt county ·

a typical agricultural region ; but those who have watched the painstaking work of those farmers who are following Professor Christiansen now realize that thousands of acres heretofore regarded as unfit for agriculture are destined to become productive. The beginning of the new agriculture may be said to have dated from the coming of Professor Christiansen and the organization of his farm bureau. Methods wholly unknown to the farmers of early days are now practiced successfully every day. The use of lime on sour lands has worked wonders wherever it has been tried.

Another important epoch in the history of Humboldt agriculture may be said to have dated from the arrival of Charles Willis Ward, of New York in 1913. His father had left him a large amount of redwood land and he was drawn to the county by reason of litigation affecting the title to his holdings. As he had been engaged in the nursery business and truck gardening in New York City for many years, as he is at this writing, he began to experiment with Humboldt soil. Within six months after his arrival he had transformed an ordinary Eureka lot into a rich garden of delightful vegetables. By the use of his soil board, and by scientific fertilization and gardening he produced seven crops of lettuce within a few months, each crop following the other in rotation.

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He demonstrated that the climatic conditions and soil are such as to warrant a great deal of activity in berrying, truck gardening, and like industries. He soon bought two large places in Eureka and has turned the yards into scientific gar- dens for the production of vegetables.

Not content with this small way of doing business he bought a good sized farm on Yager creek, not far from the town of Carlotta. As Mr. Ward is the author of the World's Standard Work on Carnations, and as he has long been a successful horticulturist, there is much hope in his prophecy that Humboldt county is destined to afford a living to hundreds of men and women who know how to raise good vegetables by the use of modern methods. He says there is not an acre of ground anywhere in the vicinity of Eureka, Arcata, and other towns around the bay that is not capable of producing a good living for a family of moderate size.

No history of Humboldt county's agricultural and horticultural development would be complete without some mention of the great work carried on by the Humboldt Land and Development Company, of which Mayor Frank K. Mott, of Oakland, is president. This company bought almost twenty-three thousand acres known as the Fort Seward country in the year 1911. In anticipation of the completion of the railroad the company, under the management of E. B. Bull, laid out a townsite adjacent to the river at Fort Seward. Scientific gardeners and farmers were brought to the land, and it was through the effort of Mr. Bull that Judge G. W. Rowe, vice-president of the American Pomological Society, first visited Humboldt county. As stated elsewhere in this work, he found the greatest apple lands in the world in this far away country.

Enough is known of the agricultural achievements of the past to warrant great hope in the future. The history of the walnut industry, though a brief one, shows the line of endeavor that is likely to characterize the future of Humboldt county. Many years ago some venturesome soul planted some walnuts of com- mercial value. Though they were neglected and almost forgotten, they have often produced wonderful crops. In the Petrolia country, which was looked over, about 1911, by Joseph Bagley of Eureka, who is deeply interested in walnut culture, there are many evidences that the old trees are heavy bearers. These scarred veterans of the forest have here and there attracted much attention and favorable comment. Expert walnut men from other parts of California, notably C. W. Sheats, have come and seen and been conquered by the beautiful growth they have beheld. A number of interested persons, encouraged by these evidences of past growths, are now projecting plans that look to the subdivision of some of these lands for the purpose of scientific walnut culture.

Though the old residents have wandered over all parts of the county, they usually paid little attention to the rolling lands except for grazing purposes. The last ten years, however, have shown that the prairies are susceptible of wonderful uses by the farmers. The prairies are, in a general way, the following: Dow's prairie, Trinidad prairie, Hydesville prairie, Rohnerville prairie, the upland prairies of Mattole, the upland prairies of Garberville, and in a general way the prairies along the Klamath river. The uplands have been developed sufficiently during the last few years to attract the attention of the historian who cares to note the progress of agriculture. The uplands above Hydesville, those in the Table Bluff section, those above Trinidad, above Mattole, and along the Upper Mattole river have been developed sufficiently to indicate their great value. As a rule they are excellent for dairying, while every vegetable grows to perfection.

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Melons and tomatoes thrive better here than almost anywhere in the state. It may be worth while to look into the future and give the reader an idea of the line of development likely to characterize the agricultural activities of tomorrow. By the time this chapter is before the reader Humboldt county will have an outlet by rail which will enable it to market its products without delay and to reach the buyer when the price is of most advantage to the producer.

In predicting what the future of any part of Humboldt county may be one is reminded of the famous declaration of the immortal Patrick Henry, who declared in one of the most famous speeches ever made on American soil that he knew no way of judging the future but by the past. He would guide his footsteps by the lamp of experience.

So, in making a forecast regarding any section of California or any part of Humboldt county, one must bear in mind the lessons of experience. Those who know the Eel river valley best willingly testify that every acre of her rich bottom land is susceptible of highly profitable uses. The heavy soil is like a mint in the open, for it is rich enough to enable any man of thrift and experience to coin a for- tune therefrom.

Although the values of these acres are today deemed excessive by some people, the truth is that we have scarcely begun to use the soil to its full capacity. With the coming of an increased population to Northern California, Humboldt county is certain to be visited by thousands of men and women who know what's what in agriculture, and particularly in dairying.

This simply means that our present method of handling this important branch of industry will be modernized, and when every acre is made to give the best possible account of itself production will be greatly enhanced. Expert agricul- turists who have seen and examined the great dairying sections south of Beatrice unhesitatingly predict that there will be a greatly increased output per acre within the next few years. If we admit that the present rich acreage can be made richer still, the picture of tomorrow becomes a pleasant one indeed.

How are these improvements to be brought about? Primarily through efficiency engineering applied to the farm. For example, the cows now furnish- ing milk for the dairymen produce about two hundred pounds of butter fat per year. The cows that should be used in this industry would produce six hundred pounds of butter fat during the same period. Not only is this true, but the six hundred pounds of butter fat from the improved breed of cows will be a far better grade than any ever yet produced in Humboldt county.

The improvements which the thoughtful person sees in the dairying industry alone will come about by the use of better cows and better feed. Those who know most about the dairying industry are of the opinion that it would be well for dairymen in the Eel river valley to agree upon some good strain of milk- producing cows. The Holstein, Guernsey, and the Jersey are said to be excel- lently adapted for this rich country. There are advantages in uniformity. The history of dairying shows a tendency toward uniformity.

A third element destined to contribute to the greatness of the dairying indus- try, therefore to the wealth and prosperity of this section, will be found in clean milk. Scientific methods and sanitary precautions will be very much increased within the next ten years, and every improvement of this character will make for a greater Eel river valley. Let us assume that dairying will remain the chief business of this section of Humboldt county. There is not likely to be any diminution of the demand for high grade dairying products in the United States,

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and with the increase of population which California is sure to obtain, dairying on an intensified and scientific basis will surely always remain one of our greatest productive industries.

In the Scotia country, and after you cross the Van Duzen river, also up the Eel river and the Van Duzen, one cannot fail to see many rich pockets, little valleys and hillsides susceptible of intensive horticulture, agriculture, and dairy- ing. Alfalfa will yet come into its own in many parts of this region. The first section of the Van Duzen valley will be excellent for alfalfa, hog-raising, mixed agriculture, the vine, berries and fruits. It is easy to see either one or two good sized canneries or many small ones dotting the hillsides of tomorrow. With greater freighting facilities it is not impossible that fresh fruits and berries may find a market in the years to come.

Going up the main Eel river by way of Pepperwood, Shively and Camp Grant, one beholds a region that stands almost alone in its wonderful possi- bilities for almost all kinds of fruits, berries and alfalfa. When the cry "Back to the land!" begins to ring throughout the country these lonely acres will be peopled with a large and independent population of intelligent husbandmen. In the past these wilds have been in the hands of hunters and trappers.

People are reading these days and Bolton A. Hall's theory of three acres and liberty has not fallen on the desert air. Some of us are remembering that Abraham Lincoln said that the problem of the future of this land of the stars and stripes would be to master the art of making a good living from the smallest possible area of the soil. He held that a community whose every member knows how to cultivate the soil need never fear any kind of oppression, for that com- munity would be alike independent of crowned kings, money kings, and land kings. If this be true, and it sounds like wisdom, we can see that this section will contain a prosperous and independent people.

The conditions obtaining in the bench and hill lands just described are largely duplicated in the Mattole valley, along the upper South Fork, and in the White Thorn valley. With increased transportation facilities, the completion of the railroad, the jetties and the Panama Canal, it is possible that the extreme southern portions of Humboldt county will experience rapid development. Albert Etter is already in touch with large Australian corporations whose managers have heard of the wonderful possibilities which the Mattole section presents to those interested in canning fruits and berries.

It is impossible that Briceland and the many table lands, lowlands and other desirable sections will remain uncultivated. Many little agricultural centers, villages and shipping points are likely to spring up throughout this section with the development of alfalfa, farming, dairying, fruits, hog raising and the pro- duction of walnuts and other nuts that give promise of high commercial profits. Joseph Bagley is the pioneer among scientific walnut growers in this section. C. W. Sheats, late of Santa Ana, has recently (1914) located in the walnut busi- ness in this section.

In forecasting the possibilities of poultry raising in the county, the southern part of the county should not be overlooked. Those experienced in this line of work are unanimously of the opinion that our climatic conditions, coupled with the richness of our soil, make southern Humboldt the ideal spot for the poultry business.

Of course the rougher lands will have to be used in connection with stock- raising, for there are many acres where the successful farmer will be com-

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pelled to run stock in connection with gardens, orchards and dairying. It can not be denied that much of our land will always remain a grazing area. It is to be regretted that we have not yet come upon any method that will guarantee an equitable subdivision of the very large holdings in southern Humboldt. There are hundreds of tracts susceptible of supporting a large number of families, but they now constitute portions of vast areas which are owned by one or two men. Nobody would confiscate this property, but one of the problems of the future will be to reclaim this land from its present wild condition and make it the scene of many happy homes. There are vast tracts given over to cattle which should be cut up into small farms.

It should not be forgotten that one of the greatest apple experts in the world, George E. Rowe, vice-president of the American Pomological Society, has declared that Humboldt county contains some of the best apple-growing lands on the face of the earth.

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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 20

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