Trains Into Humboldt
Trains were also used for logging, as in this undated photo.
Today when we say that Humboldt County is “behind the redwood curtain” it’s usually in a figurative, joking sort of way. True, there’s a six-hour drive to the San Francisco Bay Area, but it is an easy, very scenic drive. In the past, however, ours was a very real isolation.
Traveling here along trails or rough dirt roads meant a long and often dangerous trip. Most early settlers came instead by ship. But sea voyages were also uncomfortable and fraught with danger, as the many wrecks along our coast attest.
However early on, Humboldt did have trains. In fact, California’s very first train appeared here. With the discovery of gold in the mountains to our east and then with the quick advent of a lucrative timber industry, Arcata became a busy port. But, the large mudflats at low tide meant that larger ships could not easily reach the wharf.
The solution was the Union Wharf and Plank Company. Built in 1855, the trolley ran on wooden tracks and was pulled by a horse, but was considered a railway none the less. The best remembered locomotive horse was named Spanking Fury.
After a few years, the service for cargo and passengers was expanded, connecting Arcata and Eureka. As the loads increased, steam engines replaced horses, and the name changed to the Arcata and Mad River Railroad – soon nicknamed the Annie and Mary Line. It began to serve a number of nearby mills and reached as far east as Blue Lake.
As available timber moved further back from the bay, many timber companies built their own lines into the woods. Soon a network of rail lines transported goods, lumber and passengers around Humboldt Bay and the nearby valleys. But as far as rail goes, we were still isolated from the outside world. However, the growing economic importance of our timber and trade changed things.
In 1914, rail breached the redwood curtain with completion of the North West Pacific Railroad connecting the San Francisco and Humboldt Bay areas. It was a demanding route involving completion of trestles and a tunnel. But on October 23, 1914 many dignitaries and excited citizens converged at Cain Rock on the Eel River to witness driving of the Golden Spike connecting the north and south stretches of the new track. That spike, which was real gold, is now in the care of the Clarke Museum, and the tie it was driven into was brought from Marin County and was decorated with silver.
The banner bedecked train that steamed toward the streets of celebratory Eureka was delayed for hours by a slide on the line. This perhaps was an omen for the future, but for many years the NWP Railroad was the economic lifeline for Humboldt County.
Over the decades, highway access to our county improved while rail lines regularly suffered from landslides, floods and earthquakes – as well as some spectacular wrecks. In the 1980s, rail access to Humboldt County was considered too costly to maintain and came to an end.
Periodic efforts to revive the line or establish new lines continue, but our railroad past is still preserved at the Humboldt County Historical Society. There, railroad buffs and those interested in all aspects of our history are invited to come and learn about all that has happened behind our redwood curtain.