Summer Job, 1943
Deborah Meador
At age sixteen Harriet Willard got her first pair of denim pants and a job at Chicago Bridge and Iron.
Brock Creek Ranch
Naida Olsen Gipson
It may have been the Depression, but what could have been better than these summer days at Brock Creek Ranch?
Irene Junell Knudsen’s Beloved Humboldt
Suzanna Forsyth
A bright girl with few material assets in turn-of-the-century Eureka is determined to gain an education and a career.
Memories of a Whaling Plant Union Member
Noel Harris, with Lisa Coleman
The former union secretary takes us back to the first days and decisions in the establishment of the Fields Landing Whaling Station, 1940.
To Sea on the Lynn Ann Whaler
Shirley South Shoup, as told to Pat Dunham
Twelve-year-old Shirley accepts a once-in-a-lifetime invitation to go to sea on a whaling expedition.
A Life’s Work in Humboldt: Highlights from an Oral History Interview with Jesse Sanders, Part II
Jan Werren
A look back at Jesse’s life as a saw-filer, husband, and father.
“It is the Fourth of July in Eureka, in about 1915, and Eureka’s Deputy County Clerk, Irene Olivia Junell, at left, and an unidentified friend have been chosen to ride on a special floral float in the parade. (See “Irene Junell Knudsen’s Beloved Humboldt” on page 11.) Early Independence Day celebrations in Eureka were three-day extravaganzas, attended by celebrants from all over. The July 4th celebration of 1914, as described in that year’s Humboldt Times, is typical of the era. Festivities began on July 3rd with a parade, a band concert, a children’s parade of “decorated carriages, go carts, and other juvenile vehicles,” and an afternoon baseball game pitting Eureka players against a San Francisco team (Eureka won). At 8:00 P.M. is the “confetti carnival and illuminated parade,” and then a Grand Ball at the Armory.The day of the Fourth starts with a sunrise salute and then the fire department hose races down F Street (see Answers to Quiz #10 on page 45), followed by a band concert. Next comes a picnic at Sequoia Park with free BBQ, “patriotic exercises,” and sports for the youngsters. A complete duplicate of this program also takes place downtown—with the addition of firecrackers, which are prohibited in the park. With nightfall comes a fireworks display from a barge in the bay, a “water carnival” of illuminated craft presented by the Yacht Club, and then the second Grand Ball, this time at the Pavilion. One more day to go! July 5th brings the Lumberman’s Picnic at New Era Park, horse races at South Bay Park, and a band concert at Sequoia Park.”