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| Location | 330 Railroad Avenue Blue Lake, California |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°52′51.66″N123°59′25.37″W / 40.8810167°N 123.9903806°W |
| Type | History |
| Website | bluelakemuseum |
The Blue Lake Museum, located in the former Arcata and Mad River Railroad depot at Railroad and G Streets, Blue Lake, California, has photos and artifacts of Blue Lake pioneer, local Indian, logging and railroad history. [1]
In 1883 the Korbel brothers, Francis, Anton and Joseph, founded the Arcata & Mad River Railroad. The railroad was intended to extend an existing line in north Humboldt Bay, through Blue Lake and to their Humboldt Lumber Mill Co. This Northern Fork could carry 425,000 board-feet of Mad River redwood per sailing to the San Francisco and southern California markets. It provided daily freight and passenger service to Arcata, and the world beyond. The railroad is said to be the key to Blue Lake's early commercial and cultural success, and is a Registered California State Historic Landmark. The structure that houses the Blue Lake Museum was a depot for the railroad, and also served as the town's post office.
The Arcata & Mad River Railroad Depot now functions as The Blue Lake Museum, a free public museum devoted to railroading, logging, and living in the Mad River Valley. The museum displays artifacts from the booming days of Redwood Country, featuring the Ruth Everding Libbey collection of Native American basketry, the Korbel and Northern Redwood Lumber Company room, and extensive research resources. The museum is maintained and staffed by local volunteers, and is funded solely by memberships, donations, and fundraisers. The museum is open to the public April through September and by appointment in the winter. [2]
Seven antique Indian Yurok and Hoopa basket hats from the Ruth Everding Libby basket collection were stolen in January 2012 after a breaking and entering at the museum but recovered by authorities after a Eureka shop owner recognized the hats and alerted police. [3]
Arcata is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, Arcata's population was 18,857. Arcata was first colonized in 1850 as Union, was officially established in 1858, and was renamed Arcata in 1860. It is located 280 miles (450 km) north of San Francisco, and is home to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. Arcata is also the location of the Arcata Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Land Management, which is responsible for the administration of natural resources, lands and mineral programs, including the Headwaters Forest, on approximately 200,000 acres (810 km2) of public land in Northwestern California.
Eureka is a city and the county seat of Humboldt County, located on the North Coast of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt Bay, 270 miles (435 km) north of San Francisco and 100 miles (161 km) south of the Oregon border. At the 2010 census, the population of the city was 27,191, and the population of Greater Eureka was 45,034.
Humboldt Bay is a natural bay and a multi-basin, bar-built coastal lagoon located on the rugged North Coast of California, entirely within Humboldt County, United States. It is the largest protected body of water on the West Coast between San Francisco Bay and Puget Sound, the second-largest enclosed bay in California, and the largest port between San Francisco and Coos Bay, Oregon. The largest city adjoining the bay is Eureka, the regional center and county seat of Humboldt County, followed by the city of Arcata. These primary cities, together with adjoining unincorporated communities and several small towns, comprise a Humboldt Bay Area with a total population of nearly 80,000 people. This comprises nearly 60% of the population of Humboldt County. The bay is home to more than 100 plant species, 300 invertebrate species, 100 fish species, and 200 bird species. In addition, the bay and its complex system of marshes and grasses support hundreds of thousands of migrating and local shore birds. Commercially, this second-largest estuary in California is the site of the largest oyster production operations on the West Coast, producing more than half of all oysters farmed in California.
Fort Humboldt State Historic Park is a California state park, located in Eureka, California, United States. Its displays interpret the former U.S. Army fort, which was staffed from 1853–1870, the interactions between European Americans and Native Americans in roughly the same period, logging equipment and local narrow gauge railroad history of the region. Within the collection, there are trains, logging equipment, including a fully functional Steam Donkey engine, and an authentic Native American dug-out canoe. The Fort overlooks Humboldt Bay from atop a bluff. The North Coast regional headquarters of the California State Parks system is located onsite.
The Northwestern Pacific Railroad is a 271-mile (436 km) mainline railroad from the ferry connections in Sausalito north to Eureka with a connection to the national railroad system at Schellville. The railroad has gone through a history of different ownership and operators but has maintained a generic name of reference as The Northwestern Pacific Railroad, despite no longer being officially named that. Currently, only a 62-mile (100 km) stretch of mainline from Larkspur to the Sonoma County Airport in Windsor and east to Schellville on the “south end” is operated by Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART), which operates both commuter and freight trains with plans for future extension north to Cloverdale. The “north end” from Willits to Eureka is currently out of service, but saved by 2018 legislation to be converted into the Great Redwood Trail.
The Arcata and Mad River Railroad, founded in 1854, was the oldest working railroad in California. It operated on a unique narrow gauge until the 1940s when standard gauge rails were laid. Service ceased in 1983 due to landslides. It is California Historical Landmark #842.
The Mad River is a river in upper Northern California. It flows for 113 miles (182 km) in a roughly northwest direction through Trinity County and then Humboldt County, draining a 497-square-mile (1,290 km2) watershed into the Pacific Ocean north of the town of Arcata near [California Redwood Coast-Humboldt County Airport] in McKinleyville. The river's headwaters are in the Coast Range near South Kelsey Ridge.
Fieldbrook is a census-designated place in Humboldt County, California. It is located 7 miles (11 km) north-northeast of Arcata, at an elevation of 203 feet (62 m). The population was 860 following the 2010 census.
Samoa is a census-designated place in Humboldt County, California. It is located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northwest of Eureka, at an elevation of 23 feet. Samoa is located in the northern peninsula of Humboldt Bay and is the site of the Samoa Cookhouse, one of the last remaining original, lumber-camp style cookhouses. The name Samoa is used interchangeably with the peninsula it occupies. The population was 258 at the 2010 census.
San Francisco and Northwestern Railway (SF&NW) was an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway subsidiary formed in 1903 to connect Humboldt Bay to the Santa Fe rail system.
Bucksport was a town in Humboldt County, California. The original location was 2.5 miles (4 km) southwest of downtown Eureka, on Humboldt Bay about 5 miles (8 km) northeast of entrance. at an elevation of 16 feet (4.9 m). Prior to American settlement a Wiyot village named Kucuwalik stood here.
The Simpson Investment Company is a company based in McCleary, Washington in the US Pacific Northwest that specializes in manufacture of forest products. Founded as a logging company in 1890 by Sol Simpson, the company now functions as a holding company for the Simpson Door Company, a manufacturer of wood doors.
Southern Pacific Transportation Company formed the Oregon and Eureka Railroad Company in 1903 in an agreement to use logging railroads as part of a line connecting Humboldt County (California) sawmills with the national rail network. Northwestern Pacific Railroad offered service over the route from 1911 through 1933. The northern 6-mile (9.7 km) of the line remained in use as a Hammond Lumber Company logging branch until 1948.
The Eel River and Eureka Railroad company was organized on November 14, 1882, by a group of Eureka businessmen led by John M. Vance. One of the other founders of the line was William Carson.
Hammond Lumber Company was a logging and resource extraction company operating in Humboldt County, CA.