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    Crescent City and Del Norte County
    Crescent City and Del Norte County
    Crescent City and Del Norte County
    Ebook181 pages47 minutes

    Crescent City and Del Norte County

    By Del Norte County Historical Society

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    About this ebook

    The rugged coastline and wild rivers of Del Norte County were once home to the Yurok and Tolowa Indians, who built their dwellings with planks cut from virgin redwood. The Klamath River was an early supply route to the gold mines, but its treacherous waters were soon abandoned in favor of the ocean port at Crescent City. Although its lighthouse guided many heavily laden ships to safe harbor, famous shipwrecks still lie off Del Norte’s rocky coast. Pack mule teams streamed east, bound for mining camps, and ranches in the Smith River and Elk Valleys developed to supply them. River salmon became a major industry, and later the ocean’s bounty supported fishermen. Redwood groves fed a thriving timber industry for over a century. Never lacking in drama, Del Norte’s history includes a U.S. oil tanker sunk by a Japanese submarine in 1941 and, in 1964, a tsunami that swept through Crescent City, destroying almost all of its downtown.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateMar 15, 2006
    ISBN9781439614518
    Crescent City and Del Norte County
    Author

    Del Norte County Historical Society

    The Del Norte County Historical Society, led by David Gray, has selected the best images from the county museum archives. With informative text, they guide readers on this fascinating pictorial voyage from the once wild frontier to the popular recreation destination that is Del Norte County today.

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      Book preview

      Crescent City and Del Norte County - Del Norte County Historical Society

      INTRODUCTION

      The 1848 discovery of gold in the Trinity Mountains drew hordes of prospectors to Northern California. By 1850, when California gained statehood, mining communities were springing up along the rivers and streams. The Klamath River and its tributaries proved to be fairly rich in gold, but there was little access and the main route was from the ocean. Exploration of the coast began in an attempt to find good harbors to develop.

      Meanwhile, Klamath City was settled a short distance from the mouth of the river in April 1850 where the channel was adequate to allow larger ships to enter the river. By the end of the summer, 20 houses had been built. By January 1851, Klamath City was booming and 20 to 30 more houses and businesses were under construction. Unfortunately, the winter rains of December and January caused an additional sandbar to form across the mouth of the river, access was cut off, and the town was abandoned.

      In 1850, an expedition was organized by Maj. J. F. Wendell to explore the area to the north of Klamath River. A group of trappers reported finding a good bay that could be developed into a harbor, and once located Wendell felt it had great promise. In February 1853, the land along this harbor was surveyed into town lots. The new community, named Crescent City after the shape of its harbor, was incorporated in April 1854, and by June there were nearly 300 homes and businesses with between 800 and 1,000 inhabitants. Crescent City became a starting point for miners heading for the interior gold fields and was a major shipper of supplies and merchandise for the inland miners and mining communities as well as a port for ships from San Francisco.

      In 1854, local merchants pushed for development of roads considered vital for continued growth of the area. On June 10, 1854, the Crescent City and Yreka Plank Road and Turnpike Company was formed to build a road from Crescent City to the Illinois Valley. An engineer was hired to survey a route, which was completed in October. However, several San Francisco business houses failed in early 1855 and liquid assets in Crescent City disappeared, so the project was abandoned. Then gold was discovered on Elk Creek, which caused a healthy improvement in local business. By December 1856, the defunct Plank Road and Turnpike Company was revived and construction went ahead. The road was completed in May 1858.

      The earliest farming activity was in the fertile Smith River Valley. Most of the land rose rapidly into the mountains, so farmland was limited mainly to the Smith River and the Elk Valleys. By the summer of 1854, there were nearly 75 farms, mostly dairies, located in various parts of the county. Smith River Corners was becoming a major community, and its dairy farms produced top-quality butter that was in great demand in San Francisco.

      As settlers poured into the area, the Tolowa Indians were forced off their land by settlers who claimed it for themselves. The Native Americans lost access to food sources, and state laws were passed that took away all of their rights. When they resisted, the Tolowa were slaughtered and their villages were burned. Ultimately they were forced onto a series of reservations, and when those lands became desirable for settlement, the Tolowa were relocated to other areas. Many of them were virtual slaves.

      In 1857, Horace Gasquet purchased 320 acres of land along the Middle Fork of the Smith River, the mouth of the North Fork, and the flat on the south side. It was here, on the road to Oregon that had become a popular stopping place, where he developed Gasquet Village. He constructed several buildings to lodge guests, including a store, saloon, dance hall, butcher shop, and winery. It became a renowned and popular summer resort.

      The railroad between Redding, California, and Roseburg, Oregon, was completed in 1865. Crescent City was no longer the hub supplier of goods to miners and mining towns, as it was easier to ship by rail. Obviously this had a profoundly negative effect on Crescent City’s economy.

      Jacob Wenger Sr. organized a stock company to establish the first commercial sawmill in Del Norte County in 1869, and the Wenger Mill was constructed on the southern shore of Lake Earl. The vast timber resources of the area had been virtually untouched, but this was the beginning of the county’s great timber era.

      In 1886, John Bomhoff obtained permission from the Indian agent on the Klamath River to build a cannery. This was the beginning of the salmon industry and the development of the town of Requa, California. Requa was also the site of the only ferry crossing on the Klamath on the coast.

      In 1926, the Douglas Memorial Bridge was completed over the Klamath River and thus the town of Klamath was born. Highway 101 bypassed Requa and the end of commercial fishing on the Klamath in 1933 meant the end it as a commercial center while the town of Klamath grew and flourished.

      Over the years, Crescent City and Del Norte County witnessed many disasters—from shipwrecks, to floods, to tsunamis. In March 1964, a tsunami struck Crescent City and destroyed

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