Humboldt County CA Archives History - Books .....Humboldt County Demographics 1890 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com December 6, 2005, 8:27 pm Book Title: History And Business Directory Of Humboldt County HUMBOLDT COUNTY. POPULATION. POSSESSING only communication with the outside world by steamship or the stage, the growth of the county has necessarily been retarded. Unless the iron rail binds communities with the centers of trade and commerce, the prospective immigrant feels as if he were about to locate in a wilderness, but as two railroads are bent on having their terminus at Eureka, population is being attracted. The San Francisco and Northern Pacific Railway and the Santa Rosa and Carquinez Railroad are heading in this direction, and it will be but a matter of a short period of time when Humboldt county will be as favored in point of railroads as it is by great natural resources. This has been the great stumbling block in the county's advance, for, while other counties with but few advantages to offer have "boomed," so to speak, Humboldt, with its great resources and wealth, has progressed, comparatively, but slowly. The present population of the county may be set down at 30,000. TELEPHONE LINES. Mr. John Vance has in full operation about thirty miles of telephone line. The Sunset Telephone Co., Mr. A. E. McLaren, manager, have about forty miles of telephone line. These two lines are being daily improved and extended. Z. Russ & Sons control a telephone line of about forty miles. These combined lines are of great importance and convenience to the commercial and general public. REAL ESTATE. "What does land cost?" is an inquiry that will undoubtedly be asked by the prospective settler, and is one that is most difficult to answer. If we were to say that it ranges from the Government price of $1.25 to $300 per acre, it would indeed be considered a great range, and unsatisfactory. But we will lay the situation before the reader, so that an idea may be formed of the value of real estate in this county. We will, for convenience sake, class land under three heads—grazing, timber and farming. LANDS OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY. To the person in search of a home for himself and family, where the comforts of life are easily to be had, and with the certainty of a liberal return for his industry, the county of Humboldt surely offers advantages possessed by few other districts in the State of California. Hundreds of thousands of acres are still open to pre-emption or purchase at very low rates, adapted to farming, grazing, mining or agricultural purposes. The history of the land office at Eureka dates back to 1856, in which year the Legislature passed a resolution that an additional land district be established in the northern part of the State, with a land office in Humboldt county. In accordance with an Act of Congress, an office was opened in 1858 at "Humboldt Point," Mr. Wm. McDaniels and Major Hook being the first Register and Receiver respectively. Their instructions were to open the office at this place, where there was reason to expect the coming city was to be located. It was found unsuited to the purpose, and in October, 1858, the office was removed to Bucksport, and subsequently to Eureka, a petition to the Government to that effect having been previously forwarded, as it had become evident that by nature and surrounding circumstances Eureka was to be the chief city of Humboldt Bay. According to the report of U. S. Register Roberts, made in 1882, there were at that time approximately a million and a quarter acres of unsold Government land in Humboldt county. On these lands the timber area is practically unlimited, while there can be no doubt of the mineral wealth contained in the earth awaiting the development of industry and enterprise. Land preeminently adapted to the purposes of agriculture and horticulture are to be had at figures which insure to the industrious settler a liberal return for the investment of money and energy. With the filling in and development of the county of late years the value of valley lands especially has naturally increased, and as much as from $100 to $300 per acre is placed upon some. There has, of course, been much money made by the advance in values, and there is no doubt that great opportunities are offered at the present writing for profitable investment. As the lumbering business advances and denudes the land of trees, it becomes available for cultivation, it being of course necessary to remove the stumps, which may themselves be made a source of income. It is not too much to say that the resources of Humboldt county, agricultural, forest, grazing and mining, are but in the first stages of development, and that as this district advances towards its "manifest destiny" the appreciation in the value of land must be correspondingly rapid. The best farming land is valued at $100 to $300, grazing at $6 to $20 per acre, according to quality, while timber land is worth from $15 to several hundred dollars per acre. But few acres are required to make a living, and a very comfortable one at that. A rapid change of opinion has taken place in this State. Where it was formerly thought necessary that success in agriculture depended upon the thousands of acres under cultivation, it has been demonstrated that ten or twenty acres well attended to will produce more and consequently net more than hundreds of acres but carelessly tilled. In fact, there are many farmers having but ten, twenty or forty acres of land in this State who are receiving larger profits than some of the lords of a thousand acres who are in the condition of poverty known as "land poor," and eke out a miserable existence, and are in the end foreclosed upon by some capitalist or bank who holds the mortgage upon their vast estates. Taking it at the most, 40 acres, well tilled and intelligently planted, will not only afford a good living to an economical family, but will also create a surplus to begin an account at the bank, and we advise those who contemplate coming to this county to locate, if they intend to embark in farming, to buy small farms in good localities and they will on a small amount of capital and a good amount of work, find themselves well off in the course of a very few years. COUNTY WEALTH. An examination of the County Assessor's returns reveals the following for the year ending July 30, 1890 : Real estate $10,701,867 Improvements on the same 1,215,915 City and town lots 1,810,476 Improvements in same 1,406,520 Telegraph and telephone lines 5,525 Mining claims 30,000 Improvements in same 15,560 PERSONAL. Money 146,095 Solvent credits 164,208 Other 2,189,209 __________ Total all property 17,685,375 This of course is the Assessor's valuation, which is based on the valuation of property as sold under the hammer—about one-half its actual worth. HUMBOLDT COUNTY FINANCIALLY. From the records of the County Auditor we find that the bonded indebtedness of the county is just $100,000. The county property is valued at $240,000, and it is itemized as follows: Old Court House property, $10,000; County Hospital property, $7,500; block on which new Court House stands, $40,000; new Court House, $170,000; furniture in same, $12,500. Additional Comments: Extracted from: History and Business Directory of HUMBOLDT COUNTY DESCRIPTIVE OF THE NATURAL RESOURCES DELIGHTFUL CLIMATE PICTURESQUE SCENERY BEAUTIFUL HOMES THE ONLY COUNTY IN THE STATE CONTAINING NO CHINAMEN LILLIE E. HAMM, PUBLISHER (COPYRIGHTED) EUREKA, CALA. DAILY HUMBOLDT STANDARD NOVEMBER, 1890. 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