Humboldt County, California

administration
US state :	California
Administrative headquarters :	Eureka
Foundation :	1853
Made up from:	Trinity County
Demographics
Residents :	134,623  (2010)
Population density :	14.6 inhabitants / km 2
geography
Total area :	10,495 km²
Water surface :	1243 km²
map
Website : www.co.humboldt.ca.us

Humboldt County is a county on the northwestern Pacific coast of the US state of California in the United States . The county seat is Eureka , which was founded in the 19th century.

history

Alexander von Humboldt

The Humboldt Bay

View from Salmon Mountain over the surrounding mountains

Before the arrival of the Europeans, the Wiyot , a small Indian tribe, lived in the region .

The county is named after the bay of the same name, which was named after the famous German scientist and world researcher of the 18th century, Baron Alexander von Humboldt . The Humboldt Bay was only discovered in 1806 by a hunting group who wanted to catch sea otters. No whites came until 1849. In 1850 Douglas Ottinger and Hans Buhne gave the bay its current name. It was then that the Mexican-American war ended. Shortly thereafter, California became a state in the United States and the boundaries between the various counties were established. At first the area was part of eastern Trinity County before the coastal part became Humboldt County in 1853.

surface

According to the US Census Bureau , Humboldt County has a total area of ​​10,495 square kilometers, of which 1,243 square kilometers are water, which represents a share of 11.84 percent.

Places on the coast and on Highway 101

There are seven cities in the county ("City") that perform administrative tasks. All other settlements are in community-free areas (abbreviated UIC for "Unincorporated Area"). The larger of these are shown separately for statistical purposes; these are referred to as census-designated place (CDP). All population figures mentioned refer to the 2010 census.

Lost Coast

The almost uninhabited Lost Coast lies on the coast in the south of the county . This is where Cape Mendocino is located , the westernmost point of California.

Highway 101 along the South Folk Eel River

Highway 101, the closest trunk road to the coast, is up to 30 kilometers away from the coast. The following places are located on it from south to north:

• Benbow , a CDP with 321 residents, developed from the Hotel Benbow, which opened in 1926 and named after the owner family . For the Benbow Dam, which existed from 1931 to 2016, see South Fork Eel River (California) .
• Garberville (CDP, 913 inhabitants)

• Redway (CDP, 1225 residents), founded in 1923, was originally a golf course that was closed in the 1960s. The place is in a bend in the South Folk Eel River on Redwood Drive , about two kilometers from the highway. This is where the Briceland Road to the Lost Coast begins .

• California State Route 254 , known for tourist purposes as the Avenue of the Giants , begins before Phillipsville and runs parallel to Highway 101.
• Phillipsville (CDP, 140 inhabitants) was originally called Philips Flat , named after George Stump Philips , who lived here from 1865 onwards . From 1883 to 1912 there was and since 1948 there is a post office here. A renaming in Kettintelbe , after a local Native American settlement, was reversed when the post office was reopened in 1948.

• Miranda (CDP, 520 inhabitants). The origin of the name is unclear, it was first used in 1905 when the post office that still exists today opened. The South Fork High School in Miranda is the only regular high school in southern Humboldt County and is attended by 150 students.

• Myers Flat (CDP, 146 inhabitants) is named after the first settlers, the Myers family. The place is located in a bend in the South Folk Eel River and was badly damaged by a flood in 1964.

• Weott (CDP, population 288) was badly damaged in the floods of 1930, 1955 and 1964. The increased occurrence of high floods in Northern California is a consequence of the Pineapple Express . The strongest flood was that of 1964.

• In Dyerville , the South Folk Eel River flows into the Eel River . The place itself, first mentioned in the 1870s as the location of a ferry, was completely destroyed by a flood in 1955 and was not rebuilt.

Highway 101 along the Eel River

• Redcrest (CDP, 89 residents)
• Pepperwood (UIC) was almost completely destroyed in the flood of 1964 (see above under Weott ).
• California State Route 254 ( Avenue of the Giants ) ends behind Pepperwood , from here only Highway 101 runs along the Eel River .
• Stafford (UIC) was founded in 1895 or 1896. The mill of the old wood sawmill was rebuilt and successfully operated as an inn. It was destroyed in the flood of 1964.

• Scotia (CDP, 850 inhabitants), founded in 1863 as Forestville and renamed in 1888, was a settlement for workers of the Pacific Lumber Company (PALCO). This remained in the possession of the settlement until its bankruptcy in 2007.

• Rio Dell (City, 3368 inhabitants). The first post office in what was then Eagle Prairie opened in 1876, and the place was given its current name in 1890. The place was connected to Scotia by a ferry before a bridge was first built in 1914. Rio Dell has been a city since 1965.
• Fortuna is a city with 11,926 inhabitants.

The Fernbridge over the Eel River , built in 1911, was the longest reinforced concrete road bridge in the world when it was completed.

• In Fernbridge (UIC) there was a ferry across the Eel River in 1876, later a pontoon bridge built only in summer . A permanent bridge was built in 1911 and the place was named after her about two years later. From here, California State Route 211 leads into the Lost Coast to Ferndale .
• Loleta (CDP, 783 inhabitants), the name originated from "lalōekā" from the language of the Wiyot . The settlement is on Highway 101, but the community area extends to the ocean several kilometers away, including the Wiyot's Table Bluff Reservation in between .
• Beatrice (UIC) was renamed in 1884 after the first woman's name. Before that, the place was called Salmon Creek, like the stream on which it lies.

Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge

• The Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge is located between the highway and Humboldt Bay.

Coast and Highway 101 in the middle of the county

In the middle of Humboldt County, the highway passes close to the coast or the Humboldt Bay in front of it . Here are

• Fields Landing , CDP on Humboldt Bay with 276 residents
• Pine Hills is a CDP with a population of 3,131, not to be confused with neighboring Pine Hill
• Bayview , CDP with 2510 residents directly adjacent to Pine Hills and Eureka , Pine Hill is one of them
• Eureka , City with 27,027 inhabitants
• Arcata , City with 17,118 inhabitants
• The Mad River is crossed.
• McKinleyville is a CDP with 15,177 residents, but not a city despite its population.
• The Arcata-Eureka Airport is located in the northern part of McKinleyville.
• The Clam Beach is a great beach just off Highway one hundred and first

Coast and Highway 101 to the north of the county

In the north of the county, the highway leads via Trinidad (286 inhabitants), which was the administrative seat of the then county from 1850 to 1854, into an extensive national park. The largest town here is Orick with 325 inhabitants.

Tuwulat historical natural monument

An important village of the Wiyot Indians was called Tuluwat (also Tolowot ). It was located on Gunther Island (also known as Indian Island ) in Humboldt Bay. It is estimated that the village was founded around 900 AD. A rubbish pit with mussel shells, which is 24,000 m² in size and 4 m deep, is considered an archaeological feature. On the island of the Wiyot massacre of 1860 , between 60 and 200 men, women and children of the Wiyot tribe were killed on the night of February 26, 1860. The famous writer Bret Harte , who at that time lived in Arcata (next to Eureka), testified to the atrocity and recorded it. Today Tuluwat is an important archaeological site (official name " Gunther Island Site 67 ") and a national historical natural monument (" National Historic Landmark ").

53 other structures and sites in the county are on the National Register of Historic Places .

Demographics

growth of population
Census	Residents		± in%
1860	2694		-
1870	6140		127.9%
1880	15,512		152.6%
1890	23,469		51.3%
1900	27,104		15.5%
1910	33,857		24.9%
1920	37,413		10.5%
1930	43,233		15.6%
1940	45,812		6%
1950	69,241		51.1%
1960	104,892		51.5%
1970	99,692		-5%
1980	108,514		8.8%
1990	119.118		9.8%
2000	126,518		6.2%
2010	134,623		6.4%
Before 1900 1900–1990 2000 + 2010

Age pyramid of the Humboldt Counties

According to the 2000 census , there were 126,518 people in Humboldt County. Of these, 4073 people lived in collective accommodation, the other residents lived in 51,238 households. The population density was 14 inhabitants per square kilometer. 55,912 residential units were recorded. The racial the population was composed of 84.71 percent white, 0.88 percent African American, 5.72 percent Native American, 1.65 percent Asian, 0.19 percent of residents from the Pacific island area and 2.45 percent from other ethnic groups Groups; 4.39 percent said ancestry from several races. 6.49 percent of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 13.3 percent were of German descent, 10.7 percent of Irish, 10.3 percent of English, 7.4 percent of American and 5.7 percent of Italian ancestry.

Of the 51,238 households, 28.5 percent had children or young people living with them. 43.1 percent were married couples living together, 11.8 percent were single mothers, and 40.2 percent were non-families. 28.9 percent were single households and 9.2 percent had people aged 65 or over. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.95.

The population was distributed among 23.2 percent under 18 years of age, 12.4 percent from 18 to 24 years of age, 27.4 percent from 25 to 44 years of age, 24.5 percent from 45 to 64 years of age and 12.5 percent from 65 years of age or older. The mean age ( median ) was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 97.7 males and for every 100 adult females aged 18 and over there were 95.6 males.

The median income for a household (median) was 31 226  US $ , and the median income for a family $ 39,370. Males had a median income of $ 32,210 and females $ 23,942. The per capita income was $ 17,203. 12.9 percent of families and 19.5 percent of the population lived below the poverty line, including 22.5 percent of residents under the age of 18 and 7.2 percent of residents aged 65 or over.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ GNIS-ID: 1681908. Retrieved on February 22, 2011 (English). 
2. ↑ Official results of the 2010 census
3. ↑ The 'Thousand Year Flood' of 1964 . Times Standard. 18th September 2014.
4. ↑ 1964 Flood - Pepperwood and Weott Photos at www.northcoastjournal.com
5. ↑ Search mask database in the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed August 26, 2017.
6. ↑ US Census Bureau - Census of Population and Housing . Retrieved March 15, 2011
7. ↑ Extract from Census.gov . Retrieved February 28, 2011
8. ↑ Extract from census.gov (2000 + 2010). Accessed April 2, 2012
9. ^ Humboldt County, California , 2000 census data sheet at factfinder.census.gov .

Web links

Commons : Humboldt County (California)  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Coordinates: 40 ° 48 ′  N , 123 ° 48 ′  W