Thomas Bair was born in Madison County, Arkansas on September 26, 1844. His father, Hugh F. Bair, died when Thomas was nine years old and his mother died a few months later. In 1855, when Thomas was eleven years old, he decided to accompany his uncle across the plains to the west. His uncle stopped in Shasta County, but Thomas continued on without him.

From 1855 to 1863 Tom rode the Bell horse in a small mule pack train engaged in freighting in the Trinity River mining district. He managed to save enough money from his wages to buy the pack train. For three years he operated his train in Montana and Idaho and then, selling out, he came to Humboldt County and became head packer in trains running from Arcata to the small towns of northern Humboldt.

Thomas Bair. Photo from “A History of the New California: Its Resources and People,” edited by Leigh Hadley Irvine. Lewis Publishing, 1903.

After five years Tom purchased this train. He bought the stock of goods in the Fort Gaston (Hoopa) Indian Reservation store and at the same time he secured the appointment as sutler from the government (a sutler is a person who sells provisions to soldiers). For sixteen years he continued as sutler and merchant at Hoopa, owning 200 mules, which he used in transporting his goods from Arcata to the reservation. He also packed the government’s supplies over the mountain trail by contract and it was not until the soldiers were withdrawn from Hoopa with the close of the Indian Wars that Tom disposed of his interests at Fort Gaston.

One of my great-grandmother’s and grandmother’s, Lillian Melanson and Marie Bair, favorite stories is about Tom Bair when he first started his pack trains in Humboldt County. He would sleep in the middle of the narrow pack train trails at night so that rival trains could not pass him and make it to the reservation first.

After leaving Hoopa, Tom purchased the old Minor Ranch on Redwood Creek, using it first as a cattle ranch and later as a sheep range. A number of small ranches on Redwood Creek were added to his holdings and later he acquired extensive cattle and sheep ranges on the Mad River, including Madrone and Rock ranches. Tom also owned a ranch on Maple Creek that was inherited by Fred Bair after Tom’s death, and was later sold to the Wiggins in about 1929. These ranches constituted over 70,000 acres. Valuable timber lands in both northern and southern Humboldt were also held by Tom Bair.

In 1886 Tom became interested in the organization of the Bank of Arcata and he was elected its first president, a position which he held for some time. In 1913 the Savings Bank of Arcata was organized and Tom was elected president of this institution also. In 1902 he organized the Eureka Water Company and purchased the Water Works and water rights of the Ricks Water Company, conducting the business until 1914 when the system was sold to the City of Eureka. The purchase price was $270,000 which was raised by bonding the city, Tom Bair purchasing almost the entire issue.

In 1907 when the Eureka Herald was sold to the Eureka Herald Company, Tom became interested in the new company and was elected president, an office he held until the sale of the Herald to the Humboldt Standard in 1913.

He was a large shareholder and president of the Redwood Land and Investment Company, which took a prominent part in the sale and development of Humboldt lands.

Another of Tom’s big enterprises was the building of the jetties at the entrance to Humboldt Bay completed in 1899. Tom and J.C. Bull Jr. were associated in doing this work under a government contract.

Tom started the first street car system in Eureka, beginning with horse drawn cars and later going to electric trolleys.

He purchased most of the land on which the San Francisco Airport is now situated. He moved a building from the 1906 World’s Fair in San Francisco to the site for a reason unknown to anyone. It stood alone for many years. Also included in this purchase was a low sandy island just south east of the airport which is still on maps and charts of San Francisco Bay as “Bair Island.” At one time the island was farmed and a complete dike surrounded it. The roads were made from oyster shells which had been dumped there from harvests of oysters in the bay. Later “Bair Island” was used by a duck hunting club.

Tom was a charter member of North Star Lodge No. 39, Knights of Pythias of Arcata and he was also a member of Eureka Lodge No. 652 B.P.O. Elks. In 1876 he married Alice Boyae, who was born January 1, 1854. They had three sons, Hugh, Thomas Bair II and Fred. Hugh died when he was an infant. There is little history known about Thomas Bair II. He graduated from grammar school in Arcata, later attending an academy at San Rafael. He was in charge of the Bair ranches at Redwood Creek, where he lived. He married Beatrice Carr in 1904. The Carr family migrated from Ireland to Ferndale.

Tom and Beatrice had one son, Thomas Bair III. Tom Bair II and Beatrice became ill with tuberculosis and moved to Arizona, hoping that the desert air would help. Beatrice Carr Bair died on April 8,1913, at the age of 28. My great-grandmother, Lillian Melanson, remembers her as being an accomplished pianist. Thomas Bair II died a few weeks after his wife on May 31, 1913.

Fred Bair was a graduate of Mount Tamalpais Military Academy in 1901 and worked with his father on the family ranches until 1929. At that time he sold the ranches and moved to Eureka where he owned and operated the Stump House, a famed redwood novelty manufacturing plant. He retired in 1942.

Fred was one of the original investors in the Western Condensing Company. He was a trap shooter and held the California-Nevada area championship for singles in 1918 and for the doubles in 1921 and 1922.

He was a member of Rotary, Elks and a charter member of the California Indians, a trap shooting organization. He was married twice and had no children.

Alice Boyce Bair, mother of Tom II and Fred, died in 1886. Later, her husband, Tom Bair I, married Mary Stone. She was the niece of his partner in the bank.

Tom I purchased a beautiful home in Arcata, now known as the Tom Bair Home. He and his wife lived there until they died. He had one of the largest funeral processions ever seen in Humboldt Gounty. He died in June of 1916. Pallbearers were L.F. Puter, J.M. Carson, G.S. Carson, L. Everding, Paul Brizard and F.H. Tooby. Mrs. Mary Bair remained in the Tom Bair Home until her death many years later.

My great-grandmother, Lillian Melanson, remembers Tom Bair I as a perfect gentleman. She remembers a broad shouldered man, very stocky, always immaculately dressed and sporting a gold chain across his vest.

My grandfather, Tom Bair III, says that rumor has it that Tom Bair I was rather hard to get along with. He recalls hearing about the time when a couple of bandits tried to hold up the mule train on which he was taking the payroll to Fort Gaston. There was some violence and it ended very badly for the bandits. When Tom started the street car system in Eureka, he named the first two mules to pull cars after the bandits.

Another favorite family story, familiar to many Humboldters, is about Charlie Moon, a friend and ranch hand of Tom Bair. When the Chinese were run out of Humboldt County, a group of Eureka citizens came up to the Redwood Creek Ranch to take Charlie Moon. Tom Bair was very uncooperative and stood in the road with a gun. He told the group that they would have to take him first if they wanted Charlie. The group turned around and left. Charlie Moon was one of the few Chinese left in Humboldt County for many years.

Tom Bair III was born in 1910. His father, Tom Bair II, and his mother died when he was three years old. Tom went to live with his grandmother Carr. He graduated from Montezuma School for Boys in Santa Clara County, where he won many honors, particularly in athletics. He attended the University of California at Berkeley. In 1930 Tom Bair III married Marie Melanson of Eureka. They have four children: Tom Bair IV of San Francisco, Mary Paita of Arcata, Rebecca Myers of Eureka and Martha Steinhock of Portland. They also have twelve grandchildren.

Tom Bair III has been a screen writer, horse trainer, rancher, politician and manager of the California State Fair, Cal Expo. He is a writer of poetry, novels and short stories. During World War II he attained the rank of major in the Army and has been awarded medals of honor for bravery in action. Presently, Tom Bair III is an executive with the State of California, Department of Food and Agriculture, Division of Fairs and Expositions.

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The piece above was printed in the May-June 1985 issue 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.