Two names that dominated the meat industry in Humboldt County prior to 1930 seemed to be clearly stated as Russ and Bull. A story told, with purported authority, was that one day, some years earlier, there had been an unsigned agreement between Ralph Bull, of Arcata’s J.C. Bull Company, and an unnamed key-person of the Russ Company of Eureka. Apparently peace reigned for several years, but as time moved along, disturbances were smoldering behind the scenes.

Looking back we find that Joseph Russ came to Humboldt in 1852, along with a couple of vaqueros, driving a herd of about 100 cattle he had purchased near Placerville to be sold in Eureka. En route he followed Eel River. Upon reaching Table Bluff and looking away in the distance he liked what he saw. (His grandson, Richard T. Harville, comments, with understatement, “When he saw the hill country to the south he felt it had possibilities.”)

Joseph Russ sold the cattle and left Eureka, crossed the river and traveled by way of Centerville to the present site of Ferndale, where he spent the winter. In the spring of 1853 he filed a claim and built a log cabin on some property east of Centerville. This was to be the first of his many land acquisitions in Humboldt.

What was the background of this ambitious young man? In a biographical sketch presented to the Redwood Genealogical Society, Mr. Harville said:

Mr. Joseph Russ was born in Washington, Maine, on December 19, 1825. In 1835 his family moved to Belmont, Maine, and then following his education, he left home to go to work. It was 1842. Beginning in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, he went to Fall River and then to Appleton. His vocation had been teaming and merchandising, but in Appleton he purchased a sawmill and a grocery store that proved to be highly successful.

The California gold excitement of ‘49 caused him to sell everything and leave for California on the bark “Midas.” Directly upon arrival in San Francisco on March 15, 1850, he and six companions purchased a boat and headed for Sacramento. At nearby Oak Springs he operated a sawmill for two months before taking on contracts building summer bridges over Daly Slough, the American River and Cosumnes River. His one unsuccessful venture was a general merchandising store at Volcano. But in Placerville he bought a drove of cattle and herded them to Yuba for a good profit. It was in that area that he opened a store which turned out to be a well paying venture.

In 1851 he opened a hay and feed yard in the Sacramento Valley where he freighted between Colusa and Shasta. In the fall of the next year he left for the Humboldt County coast.

It was within a year or so of this time that he went into partnership with Barry Adams. Together they returned to Sacramento Valley, where they purchased a large drove of cattle which they brought to Humboldt and pastured in the Bear River Hills. They opened a meat market in Eureka and brought in beef as it was needed. Three years later he sold his interest to Barry. Next he purchased some merchandise, a drove of cattle and other equipment which he transported up in the hills where he opened a store at Forks of the Salmon. It was news of a gold strike that was behind the move to the Forks. Two years later he sold out. Then going to Oregon, he secured a drove of cattle which he brought down to the Bear River Hills. It was here that he preempted a cattle range on the cape ridge between Cape Town and Ocean House. At this time he came to Eureka where he opened his butcher shop and it proved to be most successful.

Joseph Russ continued to purchase ranch property and along with this, over the years, new butcher shops were started in such places as Ferndale, Fields Landing and Eureka. There were many years the the Russ Company had six butcher shops in Eureka, plus an excellent wholesale business.

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Swift & Co. installed a small plant in Eureka and other outside companies had also made inroads. Their sales representatives made regular calls on local meat markets and even though they found it unprofitable to maintain a local processing plant in Eureka, they were still interested in doing business in this county. Armour Co. also felt they could profitably maintain a salesman in Northwestern California. Contributing to the changing times in the local meat industry were highway improvements, reliable trucking, improved refrigeration and the advent of the “supermarket” concept.

The J.C. Bull Company of Arcata owned two retail butcher shops, the Humboldt on H Street, not far from Seely and Titlow and the other, the Pioneer Market, just west of the Arcata Hotel. Enos Brown ran the Humboldt Market. Porter Tufford worked for the company and Dan McGowan was the head butcher at the Pioneer. He had Leighton Woodcock working with him because there were quite a few “peddling wagons” operating out of this shop in addition to the regular retail business.

Peddling wagons were operated by butchers who drove on regular routes out of town through the country roads. Calls were made in various regions at intervals of a week or less. They would pull up in front of a house and ring a hand-bell to let the lady of the home know purchases could be made. It was usual that orders were placed for the following week, especially for fancy cuts or for a huge quantity. However, these butchers carried a wide variety of meats, butter and lard. The wagon was a miniature butcher shop complete with chopping block, saw and knife assortment, scales, wrapping paper, etc. When horse drawn wagons were being replaced by autos, light weight pickups or converted coupes were outfitted with the same type of canopy. Some may have converted their wagon canopies to the motorized vehicles or built new ones with a similar design. J.C. Bull Company had four or five peddling wagons of their own operating out of the Pioneer Market, plus several privately owned operators who purchased wholesale from that location. One wagon went to Klamath, another through Arcata Bottom, and others to Freshwater, Trinidad and other points.

Some other names remembered to be connected with the work at the plant during that era are: Tony Ramos, Hershal “Buckskin” McGrew and a man named Holt. Jake Boenzli was head butcher and cattle buyer. Les Rousche worked on the killing floor, Ray Chaffey and Bill Siedel worked on the killing floor and helped in the sausage kitchen. The sausage maker was Herman Klinger. O.F. Olsen recalls when Les Stromberg was a young fellow he used to go with George Sowash, the delivery man, as he made his deliveries around Arcata. When they pulled up in front of a house Les would run to make the delivery. In theory this speeded up the work; anyway, the driver’s job was easier. It was not an uncommon practice for youngsters to get an after-school and weekend job such as this, from a variety of businesses at that time.

The J.C. Bull abattoir was located in Arcata Bottom. At that plant, an ammonia refrigeration system was installed where ice was manufactured into 300-pound blocks. These units were hauled into town to the two markets for their cold boxes. The Pioneer Market was the center of activity for the company. The main office was above the market on the second floor. Percy Lovejoy was office manager and with him was Martin Gross. Ice was sold to the public and delivered in small 25 or 30 pound blocks for ice boxes in homes, or larger quantities to cafes and stores. The ice was delivered by George Sowash for several years.

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Fred P. Hanson, an experienced meat cutter, who retired a few years ago after working in the meat industry of Humboldt County for over 40 years, contributed many details and recalled scores of names for this article. He was born in Monterey, Calif., and when a young child, moved with his parents to Watsonville, where his father, a pharmacist, had purchased a drugstore. It was during his junior year in high school that he took an interest in learning the trade of meat cutting. He had found a job at Petersen Bros. Market doing errands, making deliveries and working around the store. Ed Petersen, his boss, took an interest in him and taught him the trade. After working there some length of time he went to San Jose. After working several years, plus a couple more in Monterey County, he loaded tools and personal things in his Oakland automobile and headed north.

“Eureka looked like an interesting place,” he explained …

I thought I might find some work for a few days. My first work was with Fritz and Laurie Baumgartner. Their shop was on Fifth Street between D and E streets. Fritz said to me, ‘If you stay a year in this area, you’ll never leave.’ He was sure right, that was 1928 and I’m still here! They only had work on the weekends so they suggested I contact a man by the name of Pete Ferreira, who managed the J.C. Bull Co., at Arcata.

Mr. Ferreira offered me a job on a peddling wagon, but I declined, telling him I was trained in retail work as a counterman. He told me to leave my name and where he might contact me. It was only a couple of days until he called for me. He hired me to work at their abattoir. I enjoyed working with him and stayed until his sudden death nearly ten years later.

We manufactured ice. Each day at one o’clock George Sowash would drive up to receive a load of 20 and 30 lb. blocks of ice for a long string of customers. Our main business was supplying the lumber camps with meat and meat products, like weenies and sausage. We sold to Little River Redwood Co., California Barrel and other cookhouses, but the main sales were to the many lumber camps for these mills and several others. Also we made good sales to the Hammond Lumber Co. for their ships. Joe Nellist was head butcher at Samoa and he and Joe Murphy would come over from Hammonds to the abattoir and pick out 10 to 15 head of cattle at a time. These carcasses would be trucked over to Samoa and they would be loaded aboard the ships.

When I went to work there, we didn’t have any wholesale business. After I’d been there several years, I suggested to Pete Ferreira that we try to get some of that business. He agreed for me to take some time away from the plant so I could make calls on markets and we developed a pretty good wholesale business. After a time, we were selling to several Eureka markets; Phillip Bruce’s Independent Market on Fifth near H St.; Goff and Slingsbe, across from Baumgartner Bros.; Safeway at 7th and E sts. and other small shops such as Fred Slack’s Market at Clark and B streets.

Over the whole country there was a TB epidemic going through the dairy cows. The State was having rigid inspection of all meat sold. For several years the veterinarian assigned to inspect meat at the Bull plant was Dr. Ahr, a fine gentleman. Nothing got by his critical eye.

When WW II came the U.S. Government started meat grading and marking or as it was known, “rolling,” each carcass with indelible ink. This technique really set the price that could be charged for the cuts of beef from that particular animal. There were six grades of beef; Prime, Choice, Good, Commercial, Canner and Cutter. Then came shortages, rationing and food stamps. Everyone knew the war was on!

Just before this period, around 1931, the country went into a terrific depression. There were many people in need of food so the government stepped in to help and one of the things they did was to contact canning companies.

Fred Hanson tells about it:

There was a fish cannery at Klamath operated by Stacy Fisher and Chester Paul; these fellows received a contract to do canning and moved to Humboldt. They built a cannery right next to us. The year was 1932. The cans were a large flat-looking can nicely labeled holding about a pound of beef. This was the first meat cannery in northern California. It is difficult to imagine the amount of meat that was canned. We were killing and delivering thirty cattle a day to them. We paid one cent a pound dressed weight for the cattle and sold it to the cannery for three cents per pound dressed weight. They had four or five butchers working to bone the meat. The average boner at that time could bone eight cattle a day. We certainly were busy, beside the thirty cattle for them, we had our own business plus the peddling wagons. So we had the plant going at 10 or 15 times the capacity it was built to handle.

That business was originally started by J.C. Bull, Jr. When I came there it was owned by his brother, Ralph Bull. The manager was Peter Ferreira. Pete formerly had been with Swift Co., in fact he sold for them up here. After I went to work I was put in charge of the plant and later made plant manager and sales manager. Pete was general manager of the whole enterprise when he died.

I recall one day Pete explaining an idea he had of preparing meat in packages and putting them in a grocery or a good location where purchasers could make their own selection. We installed a special cutting block right at the plant so I could do the meat preparation. He purchased cellophane type wrapping material and made arrangements with the Eureka grocery firm of Messerle & Waldorf at 5th and A streets for their cooperation. He then purchased a display case and a small refrigerating system for it. We put in a display and gave it a good try, but it didn’t go over like we expected. It wasn’t just because it was a new idea for people of Humboldt. We concluded later that what it needed was to be set up in a place where there was a meat cutter or someone trained to give regular care to the meat. Anyway, it was an interesting experiment. This turned out to be the first packaged meat display in Humboldt County for sure.

Henry Calanchini, formerly of this area, had one or two shops in Vallejo, but wanted to get back to Humboldt County. When previously here he had been a partner in the Ferndale Meat Co. with Louis Gist, Art Dedini and Emery Brightman. When Mr. Bull contacted him he accepted the offer. I agreed to stay until he got on the job. Pete Ferreira was like a father to me. I worked with him nearly ten years and missed him and just wanted to make a change. Even though the Bulls and Henry Calanchini urged me and made a real good offer, I left because I had other things in mind. As a matter of fact, I had been talking with Walter Kretner about an idea I had.

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Looking elsewhere in the county we find that Art Dedini and his wife, Tillie, opened the Fernbridge Locker Storage Plant in 1936. This was the first Locker Storage plant in Northern California. Later ,when the Russ Company closed, their former manager, Leonard Carlson, and Henry Calanchini opened a Locker Plant in the Russ Building at Third and G streets in Eureka. Among those working in the meat industry in Eureka were Carl Lundgren and Fritz Wollper operating the City Market on Third Street.

And there was a little abattoir called the Redwood Meat Co. Wally Kay was their bookkeeper at that time. This plant is still operated under the same name but is now owned by Nylander Brothers.

Also there was the Humboldt Market on Myrtle Ave. near Sixth street, not to be confused with the market of the same name in Arcata. Langer and Kretner were owners and operators of this fine market and abattoir. The founders, John Langer, Sr., and John Kretner, Sr., were both born in Germany and came to America near the beginning of this century. They met in 1912 after working for others in various places, John Langer, Jr., in the central part of the state and John Kretner, Jr., in lumber camps such as The Pacific Lumber Co. This was near the time that John Langer, Sr., started his butcher shop in Eureka. The men quickly found they had real partnership capabilities.

John Kretner, Sr., took over the butchering and primary meat preparation. He was a master sausage maker and he produced many kinds of sausage including wieners, bologna, pork sausage, salami, blood sausage, head cheese and other specialities, as well as bacon. They were off and running in a partnership that would last for over two generations. Public response was good.

John (Fritz) Kretner, Jr., who came from Germany with his parents, John, Sr., and Sophia, was quite knowledgeable about the things in which his father was so proficient. In spite of being a youth he was of real help to his father. Later, his brother Walter grew up receiving instruction in various phases of the business. Before going into full-time work here he went to the San Francisco Bay area, where he worked gathering some modern techniques he was able to bring back to Eureka. John Langer, Jr., and Charles Langer were also zeroing in to find phases of the business that appealed to them. John, Jr., was a good meat cutter and a fine manager and Charles enjoyed working with the books and managing the office. Charles, for a short time, went to work for the railroad and his brother, John, Jr., went into military service. It was WW I but these interruptions proved to be just that, as another generation found its niche in life.

As time progressed, John F. Langer, Jr., took charge of the Humboldt Market, their retail outlet, located at 531 Myrtle Ave. After WW I he purchased his mother’s interest in the firm. It was upon his return from the service that he became a charter member of Fort Humboldt Post American Legion and began an active roll in community life. He served on the City Council and was Mayor of Eureka from 1947-51.

Charles Langer’s business office was also located at the market location. Berta Langer, wife of John, Jr., began helping with the books part-time and aa business improved she worked fulltime. Following the death of Charles Langer in 1952, his wife. Ruby, assisted Alberta until they retired in 1966.

Mrs. Anne Gustafson and her sister, Mrs. Louise Walund, daughters of John Kretner, Sr., one of the founders, both recall how Thanksgiving and Christmas time was ushered in at their home. For a period of many years the entire family was involved with turkeys on these holidays. Hundreds of turkeys were delivered to the Kretner home where they were fed and cared for until needed. Mrs. Kretner and the children all participated. Today they can tell you how the feathers were plucked and why it was done in a certain manner. (If it was not done correctly, giving signs of carelessness, the price of the bird would be much less.) Of course the above procedure was practiced before the organization had reached maturity. 

The main plant and abattoir was located on Arbutus street in Cutten. From its very modest beginning it was expanded several times over the years. In August, 1948, Langer & Kretner’s Humboldt Market was sold to Jim Worthen, Sr. From that time on bookkeeping and business details were all conducted from the main plant. Fred Hanson had joined the organization as he had hoped to when leaving the J.C. Bull Co. His experience in dealing with wholesale accounts was put to good use.

Concentrating on the wholesale business proved to be a wise move for the firm. The tremendous growth over the years was the result of a number of things, but there is agreement that their quality of product and service were of paramount importance and was recognized by the customers. There were two labels associated with the Langer & Kretner sausage kitchen. Both Gold Star and Rockin R brand meats proved to be winners. Their kitchen had a large wood burning boiler for cooking and smoking. Fantastic as it may sound, they were producing over a ton of sausage each day. (This plant was taken over by the Moxon family of Arcata following the retirement of the Langer & Kretner operation.)

Near the abattoir, there was ample space for 50 or more head of cattle to be held for a short period of time and a place for storage of trucks and other equipment. For years “Fritz” and Walter Kretner shared the duty of animal buying. “Fritz” bought cattle, sheep and hogs from local farmers and at nearby auctions. The majority of his purchases were for the sausage kitchen. Walter was mainly interested in the prime beef buying. He would talk with ranchers, visit feed lots and attend auctions, many located miles from Eureka. Arrangements were made for large cattle trucks to transport the animals to the plant, generally this was accomplished within 36 hours of a purchase.

Thad Smith had a meat market at Blue Lake many years ago (late 20s and 30s). Murray Harvey was a cutter for him and drove the meat wagon around the Korbel/Blue Lake area.

Around that period of time, the City Meat Market operated in Eureka (first on Third Street near E Street). The owners were Fritz Wollper and Carl Lundgren. They moved up to a new location on Fifth Street between E and F streets on the north side of the street in 1934. Wally Kay was bookkeeper and did some outside selling for the firm. Later Uno and Allen Nylander and Ray Hutchins were with that firm. Hutchins became a key figure among the meat cutters of Humboldt County. He was the first union member to retire and take advantage of some of the benefits.

Eber “Slim” Winchester had been working with markets in the Sacramento Valley. He had worked several years as manager or meat cutter for markets in Westwood, Susanville, Dunsmuir and Redding. In 1942 he was asked to come to Eureka for Purity Stores where he worked at Sixth and G and Sixth and E, then for Cannam’s Markets for many years. Upon his retirement from Food Mart, where he was last employed, he had completed over forty years working with meat marketing.

Many farmers, ranchers, auction workers, customers and employees who worked closely with Russ Co., Langer & Kretner and J.C. Bull Co., over the years could contribute some interesting experiences and anecdotes — but that would be another slice of our meat history!

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The story above is excerpted from the January-February 1988 and March-April 1988 issues of the Humboldt Historian, a journal of the Humboldt County Historical Society. It 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.