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 32

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 32

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HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY

Commandery. A deep and varied interest in the Masonic Order by no means represents the entirety of the Judge's fraternal affiliations, for in addition he has been a local leader of the Elks, the Improved Order of Red Men, the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America and the lodge and encampment of Odd Fellows.

WILLIAM EDWARD COOK, D. D. S .- The distinction of having assisted in framing the first dental laws of California belongs to Dr. Cook, who is not only a native son of the commonwealth, but also one of its pioneer dentists and a citizen whose identification with any movement has tended toward its betterment. He was born at Lake Tahoe, this state, January 10, 1862, and is a son of John Cook, a western pioneer who built the first saw- mill in the Lake Tahoe region and was connected with other enterprises of the formative era of state history. When Dr. Cook was a mere lad the family moved to Sonoma county, where the father was engaged in freighting from Petaluma to the valley towns until the building of the Donohoe railroad, now the Northwestern Pacific. In this environment William E. Cook received a good education, in boyhood, and afterward continued his studies, in fact he left no effort unmade that would enlarge his fund of classical and professional knowledge. Finally he was graduated in dentistry, having enjoyed perhaps the best advantages for that profession to be had in the state. Then, with am- bition still unsatisfied, he went cast to take post-graduate courses in institu- tions famous for the thoroughness of their training and their adoption of modern methods of work in every branch of dentistry.

After years of successful dental practice in Sonoma county Dr. Cook came to Eureka in 1885 and has since become the Nestor of the profession in Humboldt county. Meanwhile he has been very active in local movements, has devoted a part of his time to the city and county and has taken a patriotic interest in politics. Indeed he has become almost as well known in civic affairs as in his profession and has directed his energies toward municipal advancement with a zeal that indicates the loyalty of his public spirit. A very difficult task came to him in his appointment as chairman of the committee that solicited the funds for the purchase of the site on which stands the Car- negie library: Although the enterprise involved many discouraging features, the results are eminently satisfactory to the people and he is fully repaid for his labors in the satisfaction connected with the knowledge of fostering a great public enterprise. Harbor improvements also have received his cordial assistance and he was a member of the first committee for the improvement of Humboldt bar. Throughout this period of civic and professional progress he maintained his home and reared his children, Earl, now of Oakland, and Edith, now a school teacher in the Eureka schools. After the death of his first wife he married Miss Bertha Henderson in 1912 and they have a pleasant home in Eureka, surrounded by evidences of culture and refined tastes.

As might be expected of a man so alive to the needs of the hour, Dr. Cook is prominent in local educational progress and for eight years he has held office as president of the board of education. The standard of education has been advanced under his thoughtful oversight and efficiency has been made the slogan of the public-school course. For years he has been very active in the Eureka Chamber of Commerce and he has the distinction of being the oldest living ex-president of the organization. While he was presi- dent of the Chamber of Commerce that body made an effort to obtain ter-

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minal freight rates for Eureka, and it was largely through his efforts that these rates became effective. At the same time, with others, he interested the Santa Fe Railroad Company in acquiring the Eel river road between Eureka and San Francisco, and among other things he was also interested in promoting the street car system in Eureka. It was chiefly through his efforts that the new State Normal School was located in Humboldt county and he was also a factor in the bond issue for the building of the new high school in Eureka. Indeed, it would be difficult to mention any forward move- ment of the city or county that has lacked his intelligent co-operation. Fra- ternities that have received his allegiance are the Elks and the lodge and encampment of Odd Fellows, but it has not been practicable for him to identify himself widely with associations or clubs, as the demands of his profession and the desire to promote local progress have necessarily been first in his mind.

CAPT. C. M. PETTERSEN .- For a quarter of a century and more, Cap- tain Pettersen has been a resident of Eureka, and during the greater part of that time engaged by the Humboldt Manufacturers' Association of Eureka as master mariner, at present having the reputation of being the best pilot on Humboldt bay. This means much to those who are familiar with the dangers of Humboldt bar, and his capable seamanship is highly appreciated by his employers. He commands the tug Relief, whose powerful engines have a capacity of eight hundred horsepower, and which is used to bring in the large steamers from foreign ports to load with redwood lumber at Humboldt bay, after they are loaded towing and piloting them to the safety of the open water once more.

The Captain was born at Frederikshald, Norway, February 11, 1866, and grew up in his native land. His education was received in the common country schools, and he was reared in the faith of the Lutheran Church, in which he was confirmed. In 1881 he shipped as helper on a pilot boat, and the following year went to sea, sailing the Baltic and making various European ports. Leaving home in 1887, he afterward sailed from Antwerp to Boston and Baltimore on an English tramp steamer. Finally he made a trip to San Francisco by rail and from there made a voyage to Australia in a sailing vessel, for coal from Australia, this being in 1888. The next year he shipped on a tug and came to Eureka, where he has made his home since 1889. During the first year after he settled here he was employed by A. M. Simpson, of San Francisco, and then engaged with his present employers, as a deck hand on the tug Mary Ann. He was captain of the Antelope for four years, then on the tug Ranger and the H. H. Buhne, and has held his present position for some years. His tug is kept busy towing and piloting tramp schooners and other sailing craft and steam schooners engaged in the lumber carrying trade. and he has made many friends on the bay and among the seafaring men gen- erally who put into Eureka. Captain Pettersen has risen to a responsible posi- tion by steadiness and intelligent attention to his duties, and he is respected for what he has accomplished by his own efforts, his substantial qualities gaining him confidence wherever he is known. He is a member of the Benevo- lent Protective Order of Elks, and politically supports the Republican party.

In March, 1896, Captain Pettersen was married at Eureka to Miss Carrie Olson, who died in 1902 leaving three children, Edward, Carlton and Oliver H., the last named dying when one year old. For his second wife the Captain mar- ried Mrs. Ruth (Wunderlich) Falkner, daughter of Henry Wunderlich, of

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Eureka ; she was reared at Vallejo, Cal. By her first marriage Mrs. Pettersen had one child, Velma, and there are three children by the present union : Marie, Geraldine and George. The Captain has built a comfortable residence at No. 2301 Fairfield street, Eureka, which he occupies with his family.

ANDREW H. CHRISTIANSEN, B. S .- One of the many progressive movements that have placed Humboldt county in the forefront of the forward march of the west has been the recent establishment of a Farm Bureau and the securing, under the new state law providing for such, a farm adviser, whose duty it is to co-operate with the farmers on any and all questions that are of interest to them, to make a careful study of local conditions and to then strive to overcome any defects that may exist in the rural life of the community, whatever they may be. The new farm adviser for Humboldt county is Andrew H. Christiansen, a Humboldt county boy, and one who before he received a technical education, was a practical farmer and dairyman, having been reared on a dairy farm in this county. He received his appoint- ment to the new position in 1913, and already he has worked incredible good throughout the county, co-operating with the farmers, making scientific analyses of the soil, and advising and demonstrating as to the quality and value of fertilization, etc.

Mr. Christiansen is a native of Tondern, Sleswick, Germany, born November 18, 1880, the son of Jorgen C. and Mary (Nissen) Christiansen. When he was a babe of but one year his parents came to America, settling at Ferndale, Humboldt county, Cal., where the father is a rancher and dairy- man, owning a well-cared-for ranch of twenty-five acres. There are three children in the family, the eldest being the subject of this sketch, and the others, Anna, the wife of John Rossen, a rancher of Ferndale, and John M. Andrew H. Christiansen grew to manhood on the farm at Ferndale, attending the local schools and assisting with the farm work. He graduated from the Arcata high school in 1903, and in 1904 matriculated at the University of Cali- fornia, graduating from the Department of Agriculture in 1911 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. During the time between 1904 and 1911 he spent eighteen months following his sophomore year on a ranch on Bear river. Still later he returned to the University for post-graduate work, and for two years he was a teacher of agriculture at the high school at Livermore. He was appointed to the staff of the University as assistant professor of agricultural extension, and assigned to his present position in July, 1913, and is meeting with unqualified success in the new field of endeavor.

The marriage of Mr. Christiansen took place at Berkeley, in 1909, uniting him with Miss Anna Staples, of San Francisco, also a graduate of the State University. They have two children, Andrew H., Jr., and Freya. Both Mr. and Mrs. Christiansen are popular members of their social circle in Eureka, where they have many friends.

Mr. Christiansen is a member of the faculty of the University of Cali- fornia, in the Agricultural Extension Department, and is paid, so far as his salary goes, by the University, from a special fund appropriated for this particular purpose by the recent legislature. He is also on the staff of the Bureau of Plant Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture and is intimately connected with the Agricultural Department of the state and of the nation. His office also co-operates with the supervisors of Humboldt

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county to the extent that they supply the traveling expenses of the farm adviser. The idea and purpose of the office is manifold, and may be designated as follows: First, to provide meeting places and meetings for the purpose of discussing improvements on the business end of farming. Second, to create a better social spirit throughout the country and farm districts, and to provide for gatherings where problems of the farm, home and community may be discussed. Third, to provide discussions of the means of buying and selling the farm produce. Fourth, to provide meeting places for discussions of rural schools and schools dealing with country life, both in the home and on the farm. There are now nineteen centers of the Humboldt County Farm Bureau where all such questions as rural credits, better seeds, liability acts relating to farms, eight-hour laws, home sanitation, tuberculin testing, and prevention of tuberculosis, and a host of other subjects may be discussed. These centers are: Orleans, Orick, Trinidad, Mckinleyville, Blue Lake, Arcata, Freshwater, Eureka, Loleta, Fortuna, Ferndale, Carlotta, Capetown, Mattole, Ettersburg, Garberville, Fort Seward, Dyerville and Bridgeville.

The first work that Mr. Christiansen did when he assumed the duties of his new office was to make a scientific test of the soil to ascertain whether or not it needed lime, and upon discovery that it did he set to work to induce the farmers to use it. Finally one man was persuaded to make the test by putting lime on one-half of an alfalfa field and when the limed portion of the field showed so great an improvement in the strength, vigor and growth of the plants, the leading farmers of the valley were brought together to witness the results. They estimated that the limed portion would produce fully four times as much as the unlimed land, and there naturally followed a series of experiments with all manners of crops on all manners of soils. The lime was, however, far too expensive for practical purposes, and even when bought at wholesale in large quantities was still almost prohibitive. Mr. Christiansen has, however, located a vast deposit of lime in the county and is now at work on the organization of a co-operative company among the farmers for the burning of this lime and its delivery to them at absolute cost, which will be the merest fraction of the ordinary retail market price, and will enable its free use.

These are only a few of the things that Mr. Christiansen has already accomplished in the county, and the work of his department has grown so rapidly that he has found it necessary to have an assistant, and M. A. W. Lee, a graduate of the class of 1914, University of California, has been appointed to fill this place. In their office in Eureka they have a fully equipped chemical laboratory for the testing of plants and for soil analysis, and the out- lines of the contemplated work are wide and far reaching.

That Humboldt county is the first in the state to take advantage of the new law, and give her farmers the advantage of scientific advice on farm problems, is a matter of pride to her citizens, and is proving of great value to the agricultural industry of the county. The plan is not a new one and has been followed in eastern states, but it has been the privilege of this county to blaze the way for the west. That the citizens have been so happy in their choice of the first incumbent of the office is also cause for con- gratulation. He is popular and is a man of the strictest integrity. He comes from one of the best families in the county, and his home life is exemplary.

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His ability, splendid judgment, force of character and natural adaptability as a leader and organizer are proving of great value, and his understanding of human nature, which enables him to meet the practical farmer on his own ground, has made it possible for him to establish a good-fellowship through- out the county that is in itself a worker of wonders in progress and co- operation.

HON. DARLINGTON J. JOHNSON .- Though Petrolia, Humboldt county, is so named because of the fact that it lies in a region manifestly rich in petroleum, the oil fields in that vicinity have never been popular or profitable for the reason that up to now no means have been found of sep- arating the product from the earth it saturates. From time to time, how- ever, capitalists and others interested in its possibilities have come here to investigate, and one of the prominent citizens of that section of the county so attracted is Hon. Darlington J. Johnson, member of the firm of Hart & Johnson. the oldest and most prominent merchants of Petrolia, and for two terms representative of his district in the state legislature, where he was influential in securing the passage of some of the measures of vital importance then before that body. It is almost fifty years since he first came to this vicinity, and with the exception of nine years' residence in Tulare county has made his home here since.

Besides the Johnsons Mr. Johnson counts among his ancestors others prominent in the Society of Friends and of old Pennsylvania stock, the Darlingtons and Jeffries notably. All three families were of English origin and resident in Pennsylvania from Provincial days-about 1711. There their descendants also lived contentedly until after 1850, when some moved west, though Darlington J. Johnson and his sister are the only members of his immediate family in California. Simon Johnson, his father, was a native of Fayette county, Pa., and married Jane Jeffries, who was born there, her father moving to that county from Chester county, Pa., among the first set- tlers. Simon Johnson and his wife lived and died in Pennsylvania, following farming. Of the twelve children born to them only four now survive, Mifflin still living in Fayette county, Pa .; Ellis Bailey residing at Charles- town, WV. Va .; and Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Plaskett in San Luis Obispo county, Cal.

Darlington J. Johnson was born August 29, 1839, near Uniontown, in Fayette county. Pa., where he grew to manhood. Like the Friends gen- erally, his parents prized education, and the boy had excellent advantages, attending Waynesburg College, in Greene county, Pa. After teaching for a time in Fayette county, Pa., he went westward to Illinois, and followed his profession in Lasalle county. While in the latter state he responded to the first call for troops in the Civil war and the day after the call was made, on April 15, 1861, he enlisted in Company H, Eleventh Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, under Col. W. H. L. Wallace, who was killed at Shiloh, and Capt. Theodore Gibson, being enlisted in the three months service at Ottawa, Ill. He served in Missouri until after the term expired, when he was honorably discharged at Cairo, Ill., and returned to Lasalle county and continued teaching. Though all were reared in the Quaker faith, besides Mr. Johnson four of his brothers served in the Civil war, as follows: Joseph served in the Eighty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry all through the war and rose to the rank of lieutenant; Bailey was in the same

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regiment and was orderly sergeant; Jesse was a mounted orderly to Gen- eral Rosecrans and his dispatch carrier, and in an engagement in West Virginia was three times wounded and was taken prisoner to Libby prison ; Samuel was also in the Eighty-fifth regiment during the entire war.

In the fall of 1864 D. J. Johnson was one of a party of thirty-five which started across the plains for California, with fourteen ox teams of four yoke each. They arrived at Salt Lake City too late to cross the Sierras, owing to the frequency and violence of snowstorms and snowslides, and remained there until spring. Meantime a copy of the Humboldt County Times (1864), of Eureka, happened to fall into Mr. Johnson's hands, and the account it contained of the oil lands at Petrolia determined his location when he arrived in California, reaching the region of his choice in the fall of 1865. For nine years he taught school in Humboldt county. In 1889 he became a member of the firm of Hart & Johnson, general merchants at Petrolia, with which he has been connected continuously since. In all his relations to his fellow citizens, whether as educator, business man or public servant, he has been markedly progressive, a leader of thought and action, and thoroughly trusted on the record he has made by his conscientious, upright life.

Mr. Johnson's ability and qualities of leadership have been demon- strated in the various responsibilities he has undertaken. In 1892 he was elected to the legislature on the Republican ticket, and reelected in 1894, and during his two terms had the privilege of obtaining and supporting some particularly good laws for the benefit of public education. As an experi- enced educator he was appointed chairman of the committee on education. A great many bills relating to schools and educational features of all sorts were introduced by various members, and the committee condensed them, using the best points of each, into the bill called the educational bill, passed in 1895. This celebrated measure has proved a wise piece of legislation in the test of two decades, and the authors deserve the thanks and praise of the state for their care in framing its provisions and in eliminating undesir- able clauses. Mr. Johnson also introduced the high school bill, which was brought up and passed as a separate measure. The joint bill known as the butter bill was introduced in the state senate by Senator Frank McGowan and Mr. Johnson had charge of it in the lower house, the bill passing in 1895. It has been a material help to the dairy industry in California, a great protection to one of the important interests in Humboldt county, where Mr. Johnson was warmly applauded for his efforts.

Mr. Johnson has his home about two miles north of Petrolia, on a ranch of ten acres which he purchased in 1886 and which he has put under excel- lent cultivation, having a fine orchard, fruits and flowers in profusion and all the accessories of a delightful home. He was married, near Petrolia, November 21, 1872, to Miss Rosina M. Wright, who was born April 7, 1852, near Lake Geneva, Wis., daughter of Lucian and Lucy A. (Farnsworth) Wright, late of Petrolia; they were among the earliest permanent white settlers in the Mattole district, settling here in the spring of 1860. The father was born in Quebec, Canada, his parents having migrated there fron Massachusetts. He was married near Lake Geneva and brought the family with horse teams and wagons across the plains to California in 1859, and in 1860 they settled in Mattole valley, locating on a farm two miles north

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of Petrolia, a part of the place now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. The father died in 1886 and the mother in 1913. Of their seven children five are living, all in Humboldt county. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are leading members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Petrolia, and . he was a member of the building committee which had charge of its new house of worship, just completed. They are highly esteemed in church, social and educational circles generally, being recognized as hearty supporters of the best influences which have affected the life of this community, and as able advocates of any cause which they consider worthy of espousal. Mr. John- son's unquestioned integrity in all his transactions has made him especially valuable in the many positions of trust to which his ability has made him eligible.

Petrolia is an inland town, without railway connections at present. Oil was discovered here in the early '60s, but the field remains undeveloped, though some wells have been struck which have yielded as much as ten barrels a day, of a very fine grade of paraffin base oil. Though oil seeps through the ground in innumerable places, no large pockets have ever been struck in drilling, all the free oil being in small finds. Gas has been struck in many places. When some method of extracting it not too expensive to eat the profits is found there should be fortunes for many in the vicinity.

DR. HARRY THORNTON HINMAN .- One of the most prominent and promising of the young professional men of Eureka is Dr. Harry Thornton Hinman, whose dental parlors, located in the Jones building, are well known to the best people of the city, among whom he numbers many patients. He comes from an excellent family of California pioneers, and has received a splendid education. This, coupled with a natural adaptability for his chosen profession and an especially bright and capable mind, is conducing to make him one of the most popular dentists in the city and one of the leading men in the municipality.

Dr. Hinman is a native son of the Golden West, having been born in Sacramento, September 29, 1880. His father, James W. Hinman, was a native of Oswego county, N. Y., and after coming to California ran for many years as a locomotive engineer between Sacramento and Truckee, Nev., later run- ning out of Wadsworth, Nev., and finally out of Dunsmuir, Cal. He is now living retired in the Sacramento valley. The doctor's mother was Alice Briggs, a native of California and a daughter of Cyrus Briggs, the latter also a native of New York state. He came to California as early as 1850 and became a pioneer miner in the Sierras. Young Hinman received his early education in the public schools of the state, and it was while he was a student in the San Jose high school, at the age of eighteen, that he determined upon the career of a dentist as his life work. After completing his high school course he went to San Francisco, where he matriculated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, entering the dental department. He was graduated in 1902 with the degree of D. D. S. after a three years' course, and immediately took the state board examination, as required by law, and passed with high honors, receiving his license to practice dentistry. Going at once to Fort Bragg, he conducted a dental office in connection with Dr. McCormick's hospital, and during the year that he remained there was very successful. From there he came up to Eureka in June, 1903, and was associated with

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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 32

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