In the summer of 1941 our family left the hot Sacramento Valley and came to Humboldt County to make our home. On several occasions we had traveled to this part of the country, so we became familiar with it and learned to love the climate. My husband took a job at the old California Barrel Factory, which in spite of its name, was a lumber mill. His beginning wage was 50 cents an hour, which increased somewhat as he became more familiar with his job. This wage seems small to us today but things had not been near as “good” in a recent home. There he would sometimes make $1 a day, so if he should make as much as $5 a day, which he rarely did, we felt that that was very good!

In looking for a house to rent, we managed to find one on the Samoa Peninsula which asked a rent of $7 a month. It wasn’t too good a place but sufficient for our family at this time and was just two miles from the small town of Samoa.

About this time, after we had settled in our new home, school was about to begin so we enrolled the children in the only available grammar school around, which was in Arcata. This made it a long trip by bus each day for the children but there was no other way for them to attend school.

Samoa was a different environment than we had been accustomed to. It fascinated us to hear the boom of the ocean waves just over the sand hills. The waves sounded so close it was quite disturbing at first. It seemed like the noise filled the whole house! We soon learned that when this sound came from the North, it was the sign of fair weather; when we could hear it coming from the South, it was a sure sign that we were in for a storm.

We, as a family, loved to make frequent trips to the nearby beach where we spent our time wading in the cold waters of the surf. Somehow we never minded it a bit that it was so cold. We loved to look for unusual rocks and for shells left by creatures of the sea. We often tramped over the sand hills carrying the makings of a lunch that we planned to cook over a fire on the nearby beach. We cooked wieners over the fire and roasted potatoes in the hot coals. It all tasted extra delicious, much better than if it had been cooked at home.

The cool breeze was refreshing. We also relished the continual motion of the waves as they dashed wildly upon the seashore. Far away there was nothing but water and it set us to dreaming of other countries and of other places….

This place on the peninsula seemed so isolated. True, there was one small grocery store at Samoa but its stock of groceries was small and its prices were high. Our only other source was Arcata, which was a much further distance.

As a family, we soon began to attend church at Eureka. This meant a long trip by car, around the bay. Our car was an old one and was likely to break down most any time.

We had heard about another way to go to Eureka besides by car: A ferry boat called the Madaket. The boat plied the waters of the bay from the dock at Hammond’s Lumber Company in Samoa, to the foot of F Street in Eureka. If we weren’t afraid to travel by boat, this seemed like an ideal alternative to the car. At first I couldn’t help being a bit afraid for I had never in all of my life been on the water. When our friends pointed out its advantages, I decided it was probably safe after all. After that, we began to travel by water quite often and soon I began to enjoy the process. We made trips to Eureka to attend church and to shop, as well as visit our newly acquired friends.

Aboard the Madaket there were seats on the upper deck where one might ride if he or she so wished. We loved to sit out there so that we could watch the scenery. Often we would see porpoises and sea lions playing in the waters not far off. At night it was very special, as we could see the lights of the town. On a clear night, when there was no fog about, one could see the millions of stars in all their glory. Perhaps the moon would come riding across the sky. All of these things made riding on the top deck worthwhile.

There was always the hold down below and there, especially in foul weather, the passengers would congregate to await the end of our ride to the opposite side of the bay.

There were many kinds of people who made a practice of riding the ferry boat. Among them were housewives who, of course, loved to go on shopping trips and hunt for bargains in the stores of Eureka. Mill workers, who worked at the Hammond Lumber Mill, sometimes rode on the Madaket, though rarely, for there was a special boat just for their convenience. We sometimes saw an old, dirty boat drawn up to the dock at the lumber mill, unloading the workers who came from Eureka.

As we left the boat at F Street in Eureka, there was a little newsstand— the first thing that met our eyes. This stand was run by a Mrs. Green, a woman who sold newspapers, paperback books and all kinds of candy.

The next thing to come into view was Coggeshall Towing Company. It was much like a railroad waiting room, for it was here that we purchased our tickets for the return trip to Samoa and it was here that we often had to wait for the boat.

These were wonderful times and they hold a place in my memory and, I’m sure, in the memories of each of my children. I’ve often wished that those days might return but the advent of a bridge across the bay on May 22, 1971, marked the end of an era…

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The story above was originally printed in the Spring 1994 issue of The Humboldt Historian, a journal of the Humboldt County Historical Society, and is reprinted here with permission. The Humboldt County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization devoted to archiving, preserving and sharing Humboldt County’s rich history. You can become a member and receive a year’s worth of new issues of The Humboldt Historian at this link.