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California Rep. David Valadao has some explaining to do.

Nearly two-thirds of constituents in his Central Valley district — approximately 527,000 Californians — are enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state Medicaid program that provides health care coverage to low-income Americans and those with disabilities. At 64%, Valadao’s district has the highest Medicaid enrollment rate of any Republican seat in the country.

Yet last year, the Republican cast what would become the decisive vote to pass President Donald Trump’s domestic policy megabill, a law that slashed more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and other programs that help the poorest Americans to pay for tax cuts that will mostly benefit the country’s richest. One of the most drastic changes is stricter eligibility requirements for Medicaid that California officials estimate will kick two million Californians off their health care.

Republicans across the country will face an uphill battle in the midterms as they toil to defend — and sell — the record of their party’s widely unpopular and polarizing president.

But Valadao in particular has the unenviable task of justifying why he consistently supported — not just on final passage, but at each procedural step along the way — a measure that bears such dire consequences for so many of the constituents whose votes he’ll need to win reelection.

His two Democratic opponents are already arguing that Valadao’s vote in favor of the “one big beautiful bill,” which came after he suggested he wouldn’t support cutting Medicaid, amounts to a breach of trust that should cost him his job.

“He was the deciding vote. His one vote could have stopped that,” said Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, a Bakersfield physician who’s challenging Valadao.

Randy Villegas, a Visalia school board trustee and college professor who is also vying for the chance to unseat Valadao, put it more bluntly.

He “lied to our faces,” Villegas said, using an expletive for emphasis. “We have somebody in office who is willing to try and do or say whatever is politically convenient to save his own butt.”

A spokesperson for the six-term congressman declined CalMatters’ requests for an interview, saying his schedule was full.

“Congressman David Valadao has consistently fought for Central Valley families and real solutions to strengthen rural health care, not played politics for headlines,” wrote Christian Martinez, regional press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee, in a statement.

Shortly after his final vote on the megabill, Valadao stressed that even though he still had concerns with the bill, he ultimately voted for it to avoid tax hikes that would result from the expiration of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. While Valadao and other Republicans have marketed those cuts as tax relief for middle- and low-income families, economists agree that they disproportionately benefit wealthy Americans and corporations.

Can Democrats replicate 2018?

Out of seven elections, Valadao has only lost once – in 2018, as part of the decisive “blue wave” that flipped control of the House during Trump’s first midterm.

That year, Democrats leveraged the GOP’s multiple failed attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a program that since its creation has grown broadly popular with Americans across the political spectrum. Also looming then was the White House’s controversial practice of separating immigrant children from their parents and detaining them to deter border crossings.

Even casual observers of politics can draw the parallels between 2018 — a Trump midterm election defined by Republican attacks on health care and aggressive immigration enforcement — and 2026. And national Democrats for months have said they plan to run the same playbook as they push to flip the House.

Republican strategists agree this will be the most difficult reelection that incumbent House Republicans have faced since the last time Trump was in office, even for someone like Valadao who has consistently outperformed as a Republican in a Democratic-leaning district.

“I do think this is the year that Valadao is in deep trouble,” said Mike Madrid, Republican political consultant and cofounder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. “Nine times out of 10, I don’t say that. But this year is going to look a lot like 2018 — probably more.”

Since Valadao reclaimed his seat in 2020, he’s twice fended off challenges from former Democratic Assemblyman Rudy Salas, a moderate with strong backing from national Democrats. (Salas filed candidate paperwork but recently stated he has not yet decided whether he’ll enter the race.)

He has also sought to further burnish his reputation as a moderate and an independent thinker rather than a Trump acolyte. Of the 10 Republican defectors who voted with Democrats in 2021 to impeach Trump for inciting an insurrection on Jan. 6, Valadao is the only one left in Congress.

Will Medicaid vote cost Valadao his job?

After Trump won reelection in 2024 and congressional Republicans started crafting the president’s first big legislative package, Valadao repeatedly signaled that he wouldn’t support a bill that threatened Medicaid.

In one letter to House leadership, Valadao and some Hispanic lawmakers argued that such cuts “would have serious consequences, particularly in rural and predominantly Hispanic communities where hospitals and nursing homes are already struggling to keep their doors open.”

But ultimately, he voted several times to advance Trump’s domestic policy agenda, which health care advocates and constituents lambasted.

“I do think there was really a sense of betrayal among at least some of his voters, who thought, ‘You know, this is not what I elected him to Congress to do — I thought he was a different kind of Republican who would represent the needs of the district,’” said Amanda McAllister-Wallner, executive director of Health Access. She helped lead the coalition known as “Fight for Our Health,” which lobbied Valadao and other California House Republicans to vote against the cuts.

Valadao’s vote was especially significant given that the 22nd Congressional District, which he represents, is home to a higher percentage of Medicaid enrollees than any other Republican district in the U.S.

Valadao has defended his votes and said he ultimately supported the legislation because it preserved the Medicaid program “for its intended recipients — children, pregnant women, the disabled and elderly.”

Critics say the more stringent eligibility requirements will cause patients of all ages to lose coverage, since proving eligibility can be a confusing and laborious process.

“I know how important the program is for my constituents,” Valadao wrote in a statement after he voted to approve the bill. He added that several of the most concerning policy changes that “would have devastated healthcare in my district,” were removed as a result of his “many months of meetings” with Republican leadership.

Valadao does damage control

Since the vote, Valadao has seemingly worked to insulate himself from potentially difficult questions, declining multiple interviews with CalMatters for several different stories.

In a nod to the issue that lost him the 2018 race, Valadao also joined Democrats and 16 other Republicans to buck House GOP leadership in a symbolic vote to extend the already-expired Affordable Care Act tax subsidies. More than 85,000 of his constituents on ACA plans saw their health premiums skyrocket by an average of $85 per month, according to health advocates.

When he has received questions about Medicaid funding, he has pointed repeatedly to the “Rural Health Transformation Project,” a $50 billion fund tucked into the Trump megabill designed to help some rural hospitals keep their doors open as they prepare to lose billions in Medicaid revenue. Critics have pointed out that California would only receive $230 million from the program in 2026, a fraction of the estimated $15 billion the state’s hospitals would have received in Medicaid dollars this year.

‘It felt performative.’
— Virginia Hedrick, CEO of the California Rural Indian Health Board.

Valadao co-hosted a roundtable last month with local health care industry leaders and advocates, Rep. Vince Fong and Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under Trump. The event was closed to the press, and one attendee said there was little time to address specific questions or concerns.

“I would say that it felt performative,” said Virginia Hedrick, CEO of the California Rural Indian Health Board. She said she was frustrated that the conversation was largely scripted and felt more like a sales pitch for Oz and the White House’s agenda than a genuine discussion.

“There was a great roundtable of people who would have loved to have a more robust conversation around true impacts and what solutions exist,” Hedrick said. “And those solutions would be congressional fixes.”

But as much as Valadao’s opponents hope to leverage the Medicaid cuts, political strategists warn that they should not fixate too much on health care.

“If I were running the campaign against him, I would not pin all my hopes on that,” said Madrid. He argued that Democrats should tap into Americans’ concerns about the economy and the cost of living, which consistently poll as the top issue for voters and are “politically poisonous” for Republicans given that prices have only risen since their party took control of Washington.

Rob Stutzman, a veteran Republican political strategist, posited that Medicaid wouldn’t be as strong a motivator as the Affordable Care Act was to get voters out. The people most affected by those cuts, low-income families and those with disabilities, are not the typical demographic of likely midterm voters.

“He’s as equipped to weather a Trump midterm as a lot of Republicans in similar situations across the country,” Stutzman said of Valadao. “He’s now a long-term incumbent. He’s got a lot of muscle and strength in that district.”

It is with the deepest sorrow that we have to say goodbye to our beloved mother, grandma, wife, sister, aunt, and friend. Janene Diane Morris left this world on November 24, 2025. She was loved beyond words and will never be forgotten. She lives on in her children and grandchildren, who have all inherited her loving nature and resilient spirit.

Janene was born on August 31, 1963 in Santa Cruz, California to Pamela Joan Holden Walsh and James Walter Morris. As a teenager, her first job was at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, which she enjoyed because she got to ride the rides for free and spend time on the beach while working. After that, at the age of 19, she moved on to her second job at Seagate in San Jose, California where she met the father of her four children, James. They connected over a shared love of music, nature, and free-spiritedness. For our mother, it was love at first sight. Our mom would later move to Humboldt County where she attended College of the Redwoods and attained an associate degree in nursing, as well as an LVN license. She went on to work as a nurse for a number of years, as well as working for IHSS later on in life. Through these jobs, she helped those in need, as well as assisted the elderly and disabled in their homes. Her career was guided by her compassionate heart and tireless drive to help others, and she made a difference in countless lives.

To her children, she was known as “Mom,” “Mommy,” “Mama,” “Mamoo,” and sometimes “Mother.” Our Mom’s greatest joy in life was being our Mom. She used to make up little songs for each of us, and never missed an opportunity to take a quick picture that we’d inevitably complain about. She’d always tell us we would appreciate them when we were older - and she was right. The picture taking saga continued into adulthood, and turned into a tradition her grandchildren would endure as well. Like Janene’s own kids, her grandkids would complain about taking “a” picture– or a million. We remember how she would tell her grandkids “picture time”, and they would respond with the same exaggerated tone - “grandma, not another one”– the same moan and groan her own kids gave her. But our mom, as the kindhearted person she is, would just carry on, not be irritated and say “you’ll appreciate it later”– and mom– we’re so glad you did, because now your kids and grandkids can look at those pictures, videos, and memories and remember the wonderful mom and grandma that we had.

Mom was always there for us– long after we were adults… to talk to, to cry to, to lean on. She showed up - rain or shine, good day or bad, she’d be there with a fresh tray of brownies, a warm hug, a cathartic singalong session in the car, or most often– just someone to talk to who understood and would listen without judgement. She would have done or given us anything and everything if she knew we needed her. We knew that with each laugh or cry, every goodnight kiss, every burrito wrap to tuck us in, every mud pie you pretended to eat, every slide and swing you gave us a gentle push on, every boo-boo you would fix with your magic mom touch– we had a mom who wanted to be a mom. Her children knew with every bad dream, every bedtime story or morning wakeup, every dance and song we shared– that we had a mother that loved us deeply. Despite every time our mom was giving us her love and one of us kids would say “MOOMMM!… come on” in an exaggerated tone of voice– we knew that we were lucky to have a mom who loved us so completely. Our mommy also never missed a chance to watch one of her kids in a performance, whether it be a recital, play, or even a school project us kids waited until the last minute to do– even though she had been repeatedly reminding us to do it. She would be there - no questions asked. We got to experience it all. Another thing our mom would do to nourish us in the make believe realm is allowing us to perform numerous plays for her at the house; she never complained, she just enjoyed watching us be happy. When we were kids, we begged for the game Tales of the Crystals– if you know, you know. The game required us to take over the entire apartment so that our imaginary land could replace reality– and our mom happily allowed us to do that… even when the “land” had to stay that way for multiple days. Even when we wanted to build forts that made parts of our house unreachable. Our mom just wanted us to be happy and feel loved. To be free and to be children. That we could always count on. Thank you for letting us explore the world with you and showing us what adventure and family really is.

Janene has always loved good music– she loved rock– especially 70s acoustic rock. She loved folk, country, and sometimes music that was on the heavier side just so she could dance to it– music like Rihanna or Pink. When her children were younger, as a family, we would listen to artists such as John Denver, Eagles, Garth Brooks, Tim Mcgraw, Tom Petty, Neil Young, and Eric Clapton, as those were some of her favorites. She also loved listening to her husband James play guitar. Our mom would love to sing along with her eldest daughter while James played guitar and joined in on the singing. Our mom loved music, singing, and dancing– and made sure her kids knew what good music was.

Janene loved the ocean, the mountains, and being in the trees. She always wanted to be in and with nature– that is just the environment where she felt the most herself. She loved art, photography, the beach, and enjoying coastal vibes. She would spend a lot of her time hiking, sun bathing, swimming in the ocean or river, lovingly nurturing her garden, and generally being out in nature. Due to our mom’s love of nature and water she would often refer to herself as a mermaid. When we would ask what she meant by that, she would say that she both loved the water and being a free spirit. When she briefly moved away from Humboldt, she said that the air felt too dry. When she came back, she was so happy to see the ocean and feel the sea spray again. She used to love to collect seashells, river rocks and agates, and likened herself to a myna bird because of her love of shiny things.

She also loved the forests, especially our local redwoods, and often took us all camping in our youth. She’d set up the outrageously large tent– we’d roast marshmallows, take hikes, go swimming, cook food, and just laugh and enjoy each other’s company. Our camping trips only ended in narrowly avoided disaster two times– once when we had to flee from a nearby mountain lion in the middle of the night. Still fun. On the other tiny mishap camping adventure, there was a sudden storm that involved buckets of rain entering our tent. We woke up to a flood, and retreated to our car to spend the night. Scary and uncomfortable, yes, but we all knew we were loved and safe together as a family who loved each other. Nothing made us feel more loved and protected than to know we were safe in our mother’s warm caress. Our other outdoor adventures we would have with her were dancing in the rain, building a snowman in the cold winter months, sledding and finding our family christmas tree, swimming at swimmers delight, bike riding and hiking as a family, and most of all going to the beach and looking for agates for hours, even though we barely found any. Our family was just glad we were enjoying each other’s company. We love you mom, more than one could ever know.

Janene also had a deep and profound love for animals– all animals… although her love for dogs was always the deepest. Our mom used to tell us stories of all of the stray animals she used to bring home growing up– and that continued as a tradition in our family. When she was little, she’d beg her parents to keep every little creature she found - from kittens to wild bunnies. She loved horses, and always dreamt about having a chance to ride again. Our mom used to speak of her sweet childhood dog Fifi– a dog she never forgot. When her children were young, we had a Malamute named Wima and Priss the cat. Later on we got our family dog Lily, and then when her kids grew up and became adults she adopted Yuki– who had a litter and our mom kept two of the pups– Oddie and Embry. Oddie and Embry were like her children after her children no longer lived at home. She used to say to them, “I will never hurt you, and you will never hurt me”. She was incapable of doing any creature harm, and wouldn’t even crush a spider. If she found one on the edge of her bath, she’d get out just to usher it to safety, all while gently scolding it like it was misbehaving. She considered pets to be part of the family, and treated them as such.

Her younger brother describes her as follows while they were growing up: My sister always had a strong love for animals. Our Dad lived in Texas for most of my life. I remember a time when he was coming to visit us in Santa Cruz and Janene (like many young girls), wanted a pony. So when my Dad came to visit us he actually bought her a Shetland pony. Lucky for us, we lived in a house with a backyard at the time. She was so happy that she had a real pony. She had to be around 13 or 14. She would always bring stray dogs and cats home as she got older. And my mom could never tell her no, so we had a lot of pets growing up. My favorite pet I’ve ever had was one she gave me when I was 12 or 13 years old - a Springer Spaniel dog named Bogart. I loved that dog so much. Janene had such a big heart and cared about people and animals. We used to fly together to Texas every Summer to visit our Dad. I miss those days– we had so much fun together riding horses, camping, fishing, and visiting family. There were a few times in my life when I needed a place to stay until I got back on my feet– and she always had a spot for me to stay. I can’t believe she’s gone. Time flies by so fast. But I’ll never forget her or the good memories in my heart and mind. Love you and miss you sister.

Her eldest daughter would like to say the following:

My mom is my best friend. No one can ever replace her and I am so grateful that I got to know what it feels like to be truly understood and loved for all of me. My mama is the most loving person I have ever known and she has taught me how to love. My mom is the reason I am kind, loving, forgiving, and deeply loyal to my family. My life has not been an easy one and I honestly cannot imagine how I would have made it through without my mom. She never gave up on me and always made me feel like I was perfectly loved and always forgiven– without question. I have never felt love without regard or judgement like my mama gave me. Everything about my mom reflected love and kindness– she used to tell me that “everyone’s fancy, everyone’s fine” – something she learned from my grandma that was meant to mean– be kind and loving to everyone, even when they are different from yourself. I truly believe that I am who I am because of my mom. I am so much like her and I am grateful for that beyond words. I do not know if I will ever heal from losing you mom– but you have taught me so much and I know you are always with me. I can feel you and your love in me when I think of you and when I am near my siblings. We will try to do what we know you would want us to do– to love each other and not give up. I hope you are at peace mommy– swimming with the mermaids. Trunkateers for always- your Bumbo sure will miss you. You know how much I love you- forever and a day.

Her second eldest daughter would like to say the following:

As the second oldest daughter, I got to experience the undying love our mother had for each of her children. Our mom was our security blanket, our friend, our mother, our mentor and teacher, our companion in life and we were hers. Our mom taught us how dangerous people in this world can be, but she also taught us to respect them, and to know they’re acting a certain way based on hardships or disasters in their own life. Thanks to our mother I have a love of life, a love of animals and nature, a love for photography and a loving spirit, yet a spirit to never give up no matter what life throws at you. We are resilient because of her. She had the most nurturing, kind hearted soul I ever met. She taught all of her kids to be strong and confident human beings. But most of all, she taught me that being unique is not a bad thing but a trait everyone wishes they have. My momma’s other greatest joy in life and proudest moment was getting to be a grandmother to her five grandchildren. She would not interact with her grandchildren as a whole but interact with them as the individual person they are, supporting them through whatever they needed at that time, whether it would be playing, talking with them, or just being there to offer a hug and kiss, she would be there just like she was there for us. No one could ever take that love and joy away from her. Our mama was sadly taken from us too soon. But mom, we want you to know you’ll always be a part of us. Your legacy lives on in your children and grandchildren. Thank you for always tucking us in at night, checking our room for monsters, letting us entertain you with our recitals, styling our hair when we were having a bad hair day, always believing in us, and waking us up in the morning with your warm wake up and smiling embrace.

From her son:

Grief is not a series of boxes to check off. It is not something that can be outrun. It is a sign that someone existed, and continues to exist. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to write anything because I’m still so sad, and so angry, and there are no words to express any of it. My mom was a beautiful, kind, flawed person, who left us far too soon. I will remember her for her smile, for her gentle singsong voice, for the way she carried herself, and the way she made me feel loved. She cherished peace, and she never once made me feel like I didn’t belong. So I grieve her. And I will carry my grief, just as she carried me, and nurture it. I will always love you, Mom, and I hope to join you again one day. Until then, you will be in the beautiful gardens, as my journey continues in your memory.

Her youngest daughter would like to say the following:

As the youngest daughter, I was always her baby, and she was always my mommy - even when I was very much an adult. When I was little, she used to call her arm a wing when she was snuggling me, and me her baby owlet. She always made me feel safe. I always knew she loved me - that was a constant in my life that I never had to question. She gave me her love of video games - she had a particular fondness for horror games like fatal frame and silent hill. She also gave me her love of reading; she especially loved mysteries and Steven King novels. And, of course, she gave me her love of animals. I vividly recall the time we thought it was a good idea to try to ride a couple of random horses that we found bareback. She insisted that she go first - as was her responsibility as the mom, naturally. It ended as one would expect. But I’ll never forget that side of her - the wildness, the zest for adventure, the unwavering trust in animals and the humor to laugh about being thrown from one that weighed about 1,000 pounds. She taught me to see the good in everyone, to never wish anything harm, and to never give up. And even though the world wasn’t always kind to her, she was always kind to the world. I’m who I am today because of her, and I’m infinitely better for it. I just want to tell her thank you - for chasing away every bad dream, never complaining when I “borrowed” your makeup, teaching me what kind of mom I wanted to be, and showing me how to look for the light in the darkest of places. I love you, mommy. Sweet dreams.

Janene is preceded in death by her mother and father, her brothers David, Mark, and Larry, and her sister Star. She is preceded in death by her dogs Fifi, Wima, Lily and Yuki, and her cats Momo, Haru, and Tibbleton. She is survived by her four children– Darrah, Breanna, Jesse, and Juliet. She is survived by her husband, James. She is also survived by her grandchildren– Clover, Luna, Thea, Korra, and Leo. She is survived by her brothers Jimi and Michael and her sister Pamela. She is survived by her many nieces and nephews– Shay, Sara, Danny, Justin, Adam, Malia, John, Allen, Ariel, Gabriel, Elijah, and Jake– as well as their children. She is survived by her two dogs Oddie and Embry and her cat, Katie. Those that remain wish they never had to say goodbye.

To that we say we love you mommie, to the moon and back, forever and a day, always and back again. Although you are no longer with us, you are not gone. You’re in the ways that we love each other. You’re in the smiles of your grandchildren. You’re in the smell of falling rain, and the sound of cresting waves. You’re in every deep sigh and even deeper laugh. You’re in lessons you’ve taught us and how much we know how to love. You’re why we know that we will always be accepted for whoever we are. You’re in the little acts of kindness, every bug we can’t bring ourselves to squish, the late night snacks and early morning coffees, and the way we hold each other just that little bit tighter now. You’re in the way that we know we will be ok someday. You’re not gone– you’re everywhere. And we love you, always. Thank you for teaching us how.

Press release from the Arcata Police Department

On the morning of January 30, 2026, officers with the Arcata Police Department were dispatched to the area of Trail 5 in the Arcata Community Forest, between Diamond Drive and California Avenue, for a report of an adult male with facial injuries.

Responding officers located a 75-year-old, male, an Arcata resident, with severe head injuries on Trail 5. Emergency medical personnel responded, and the victim was transported to St. Joseph Hospital before being flown out of the area for treatment of life-threatening injuries.

Due to the severity of the injuries and the circumstances surrounding the incident, the Arcata Police Department’s Investigations Unit assumed responsibility for the case.

Through the course of the investigation, detectives determined the incident was an intentional assault and identified 51-year-old Shawn Kolpak as a suspect.

In the early morning of January 31, 2026, Arcata Police officers located Kolpak in his vehicle on the 700 block of 13th St. in Arcata. He was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of attempted murder (Penal Code 664/187(a)).

This incident is believed to be isolated, and there is no ongoing threat to the public. Redwood Park remains open to the public.

The Arcata Police Department would like to thank community members who assisted in the investigation and helped ensure the safety of the community.

Anyone with information related to this incident is encouraged to contact Arcata Police Department Detective Sergeant Victoria Johnson at 707-822-2424.

Local medical professionals, along with other members of the community, held a candlelight vigil for Alex Pretti, the man killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis last week. Austin Allison, a nurse surgical technologist and a former member of the Eureka City Council, took the video above.

A bit earlier in the evening, students walked out of Eureka High to join a demonstration at the Humboldt County Courthouse. EHS student Candance Biane took a ton of pictures, and was kind enough to share them with us. You can find a selection of them below.

As a reminder: There’s another, 50501-led demonstration at the courthouse scheduled for noon today.

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A structure fire consumed the long-vacant apartment building at 833 H Street in Eureka last night. Emergency personnel were called to the scene after 1 a.m. 

This place had a troubled history. Long owned and managed by local slumlords Floyd and Betty Squires, the building was condemned by the city in 2018. The most recent Google Street View image shows its dilapidated state in October 2024. 

However, Facebookers note that contractors had been working on the structure recently, with more improvements scheduled to begin soon. 

The Outpost will update readers if and when more details are available. 

There is a traffic safety crisis on 4th and 5th Streets in Eureka. These streets are extremely dangerous for people walking, biking and rolling. While Caltrans has made some improvements to crosswalks, there are currently no plans for major safety improvements to 4th and 5th Streets.

Colin Fiske of the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities (CRTP) joins the program to discuss how street design increases car crashes and pedestrian strikes and how Caltrans could immediately improve safety in Eureka.

Want to take action? CRTP is petitioning Caltrans to better prioritize road safety improvements on 4th and 5th Streets.

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John Morris never lived in Humboldt County. Two of his sisters, Harriet Tracy and Lucy Bartholomew, did. His first wife, Melissa Harmon, was a Eureka girl. John Morris was a traveling book agent for A. L. Bancroft. Humboldt County was part of his territory in 1871 and again in 1874.

Book selling was a lucrative job for a man willing to work hard and travel through unknown territory. Profits were high and expenses negligible, since he traveled on foot and frequently availed himself of the hospitality of settlers for his food and lodgings.

In the spring of 1871 he received word that Humboldt County was a fertile field for book sellers. His sisters, Lucy and Harriet, had joined Lucy’s husband, Mitchell Bartholomew, in Hydesville. This seemed like a good time to undertake a trip through the northern part of the state.

Times were not too good in the lumber industry that summer; his sales were limited to 20 books in Eureka. The cattle and dairy industries, however, were both on the rise, which meant good business for him in the Mattole region and the Eel River Valley.

As he traveled about Humboldt County he noted that the farmers had invested heavily and well in potatoes that year, putting as high as 400 acres in that crop. He was impressed by the diversity of the people of the county — the lumbermen from Maine and Canada, the Danes in the dairylands, the stockmen from the midwest and south, and the southern Europeans along the seacoast. He was impressed by the fact that all over the county he met rich and influential men — Judge Huestis, William Carson, George Williams, Jos. Russ and Captain Wasgatt.

He was warned that in the Mattole region most of the men had married Indian women and that neither the men nor their women could read. He tried anyway and came triumphantly back to Eureka with an order from every family in the Mattole. One man, he said was a graduate of Harvard and bought two books. Another, who could not read, bought a book when his hired man promised to read it to him.

Rohnerville was the most lucrative city in the county. There he sold 42 books in one day, the largest day’s sales he had ever achieved.

For the return trip to San Francisco he bought a horse and a revolver, loaded the horse with books, and started out from Hydesville overland.

He arrived at Garber’s on election day and found that little settlement crowded with ranchers in from the surrounding mountains to cast their votes. He listened to election speeches and sold most of his books to the men gathered there.

The next day he rode with the stockmen back to their mountain homes east of the Eel River. He described the Coyle place: “A small shanty, sides, roof and all of the roughest shakes I had ever seen. A nicely dressed, good looking young lady came out of the shake shanty. Mr. Coyle introduced me to his wife, asked me to get down and eat dinner with them. In 30 minutes we sat down to a sumptuous dinner cooked by this young wife: meats, fruits, preserves, everything good.”

That night it was on to the Beaumont Ranch, where he “found intelligent people. The Beaumont brothers were highly educated Frenchmen who could read the dead languages, and who had a fine library.” The next day he stopped at Armstrongs, where he sold three books.

All in all John Morris was very satisfied with his first visit to Humboldt County. He was impressed by the intelligence and resourcefulness of the settlers. He remarked, “Though like Coyle’s, the outside might look woeful rough, inside the house might be carpeted and have all the latest improved furniture, if only a man had money and pack-mules to get these improvements out to the ranches.”

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In October of 1874, John Morris returned to Humboldt for another book canvass. This time he particularly had Eureka in mind, the city where he felt he had failed to gain the confidence of his customers in 1871.

On this trip to Humboldt he sailed on the steamer Humboldt, which he felt offered better accommodations then the old Pelican.

Landing in Eureka, he immediately sought out his old friends of Nebraska days, James Gardner and his wife and their two daughters. Prudence (Mrs. John) Dodge and Elizabeth (Mrs. Franklin) Ellis. These families had known each other not only during the days in the midwest, but also in the Trinity mines, where the Morris family owned the hotel at Minerville. Mr. Morris says that John Dodge at one time owned the “big ditch built by Lt. Governor Chellis in Trinity Co.” It was John Dodge who owned an extensive tract of land in Eureka in the area of J Street, where he employed both his brother-in-law. Franklin Ellis and his father-in-law, James Gardner.

Will Dodge, whom many old timers will remember in the old home on J Street, was a baby at this time. The story goes that old Mrs. Gardner often cared for Will, and to amuse him would hold him up to the window to watch his grandfather working in the garden. “Look, Willie,” she would say, “Watch Grandpa dig, dig.” And so the boy grew up calling his Grandfather, “Grandpa Dig-Dig.”

John Morris took a room at the Dodge’s for $5.00 a week, with board thrown in. “Prudence was a good cook,” he said. This time he found Eureka a booming community — lumber mills were running at capacity. Shipbuilding and shipping were in full swing, and a number of shingle mills were running. There were sidewalks made of thick redwood boards, which were a boon to walkers and made it easy to travel about town. He found churches thriving, naming the Congregational, Methodist, Episcopal and United Brethren.

The day he spent selling at Carson’s Mill was one of the highlights of his stay in Eureka. He tells the story this way:

Carson’s Mill at Eureka was the most desirable mill to sell books, but I could never sell a book to William Carson.

One day, on going to Carson’s Mill, I found the crew idle. The mill had stopped. When the owner came round I made a friendly remark, “You have a fine mill, Mr. Carson.”

“Sometimes I think so, sometimes I think not.” This was one of the days he thought not, no doubt, for after all hands who wished had signed for a book and I was sitting on a big log outside the mill, I heard a voice over my shoulder that nearly bounced me from my seat.

“I have one request of you,” he said, “That you don’t talk books to my men during mill hours.”

John Morris assured Mr. Carson that he would never bother the men while they were working, and Mr. Carson wandered off, satisfied.

It was during this three months’ canvass of Eureka that John Morris met and married the lovely Melissa Harmon. John described his first meeting with Melissa: “As I watched Melissa sewing that evening, stitch by stitch she wove the web of her beauty vividly into my mind’s eye. To see her was but to admire, to know her but to adore.”

They were married three months later, on January 27, 1875. There were 25 people crowded into the Harmon house for the occasion, but the man who stood out in John’s memory was the minister, Mr. Ed. I. Jones. Of him he said, “I did not like the preacher who officiated. He was so smart, having studied law, and had the swell-head terribly.”

John and Melissa lived for two months at he brother, Charles, home while John finished his work in Eureka and Humboldt County.

The farmers were not doing as well this year, so business feil off some. But out at Ferndale he felt pretty successful with the Russ family. The ladies of the Russ family, he said, had become interested in church affairs, and they eagerly looked through his list of religious books, purchasing one called “Our Father’s House.” Two more books of importance he sold to J. J. DeHaven.

Rohnerville, Hydesville and the Island were all quiet this year and not too remunerative. At Table Bluff he met Mr. Howard, who, he claimed, owned the bedstead upon which General Grant slept at Fort Humboldt, and also Seth Kinman, maker of chairs for presidents.

Despite the fact that business was slow in the farming communities, John Morris cleared $800 that winter, “beside the value of my wife,” he added.

A sad postscript to John Morris’s marriage awaited him when he returned to Eureka to take his bride to his parent’s home in Napa County. While he was gone she had consulted Dr. Schenk and Dr. Hostetter. Both confirmed that she was a victim of consumption and had only a few years to live.

Sadly, he took her south, where she bore him a son, Vincent, and five years later she died.

Mr. Morris continued selling books up and down California for several years before buying a ranch on Howell Mountain near St. Helena and turning to full time truck farming. He visited Humboldt occasionally in the years to follow and later Vincent was a frequent visitor at the home of his aunt and uncle, Joseph and Harriet Tracy.

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