An unsolved murder in Eureka’s Old Town on February 6, 1885, was the pretext to rid Humboldt of all Chinese residents. But were the assumptions about who likely pulled the trigger incorrect?

As Eureka celebrates its 4th annual Chinatown Festival today – 4-9 p.m. in Old Town — the truth of Eureka’s Chinatown expulsion is gaining importance.

The murder of Eureka City Council Member David Kendall

A series of seven to 12 shots pelted the crowd at 4th and E Streets in Eureka Chinatown at 6:05 p.m., Local Mean Time, on Friday, February 6, while daylight visibility was still good. But no eyewitnesses of the shooter were identified, despite many bystanders, both Chinese and white folks.

The bullets wounded several Chinese, hit a boy in the foot, killed one Chinese man and left Eureka Council Member David Kendall dead in the midst of celebrating “Little New Year” festival, also known as the Kitchen God Festival, which occurs one week before the main Chinese New Year Festival.

One week before, a similar series of shots pelted several Chinese folks at the same location, killing one and wounding several others, also in broad daylight in a crowded place, with no reported eye witness of the shooter.

“The ceremony to the kitchen god would have fallen on February 7, 1885, which would have corresponded to February 6th on the west coast of the US,” said Andrea S. Goldman, Associate Professor at the UCLA Department of History and Interim Director of the Asia Pacific Center, in an interview.

Zhang Meng, Assistant Professor at UCLA Department of History, agreed, and added that it is likely that there were publicly visible activities at the Eureka Kitchen God Festival February 6th, 1885.

Eureka Chinatown Festival interrupted for 138 years

Modern accounts of the expulsion have no mention of the fact this expulsion occurred during the Chinese Spring Festival season. Before diving into the unsolved murder and expulsion, let’s consider the Chinatown festival that was lost for 138 years before being brought back for the fourth year this weekend.

Before the expulsion, the annual Chinese New Years Festivals captivated many people in the white community who enjoyed them, but brought complaints from others.

February 14, 1877, the West Coast Signal reported on the Chinese New Year that “The fire-cracker demonstrations yesterday were worthy of mention.”

After the next year’s celebrations the local news reported, “The City Attorney has been instructed by the Common Council to draw up an ordinance, preventing the burning of firecrackers within the city limits, except on our National holiday.”

But the law didn’t succeed.

February 5, 1881, local news reported “The Chinese celebrated their new year yesterday, discharging firecrackers with a lavish hand. The boys about town took a conspicuous part as usual.”

The “Committee of 15” was formed to expel Eureka Chinatown

As dusk set in on Chinese “Little New Year” in 1885, the white town leaders conspired in Centennial Hall, a half a block away from Chinatown, to expel hundreds of Chinese from Eureka.

They quickly nominated 15 prominent community leaders to supervise the white mob in carrying out the expulsion.

The Committee of 15 was inaugurated and supported by Mayor Walsh, presiding over the meeting, Sheriff T. M. Brown, and District Attorney Geo. Hunter.

The Committee of 15 members included the following, as published by the Humboldt Times February 7, 1885:

• H.H. Buhne, Jr, son of Captain Hans Heinrich Buhne, one of the richest men in California, who owned a local general store, and was in the process of constructing a mansion and commercial building a few blocks away.
• Frank McGowan, lawyer and active anti-Chinese politician who went on to become a state senator and key member of the Asiatic Exclusion League.
• W. J. Sweasey, populist politician, born in UK, appointed secretary of the Committee of 15.
• C.G.Taylor, general store owner who went on to be a director of First National Bank.
• E.B. Murphy, Eureka City Council Member and owner of Western Hotel.

Howard Allison Libbey, “Prominent member of Lincoln Lodge, [Knights of Pythias], and No Surrender Lodge of Orangeman” according to his obituary that ran in the Humboldt Times on 23 September 1896. At Eureka’s Loyal Orange Lodge (L.O.L.) he served as “Worshipful Master” as reported in Humboldt Times 27 September 1883. Loyal Orange Lodges are a Irish-British Unionist and fraternal organization that uses similar practices to the KKK, but predates the KKK by a few hundred years, and with a structure resembling the Masons.

White citizen council and mob violence

One report documents how one of 20 Chinese arrested that night were detained by police: “The officers, after considerable difficulty, in which the Chinaman was pretty badly used by the crowd, succeeded in getting him to the lock-up.”

This method of orderly expulsion was quickly duplicated in other cities in Humboldt, including expelling Arcata’s Chinatown, and across the Western States. It was called the Eureka Method. The innovation came during the rise of violent white mobs in the wake of the civil war.

But while the South slid into the Jim Crow era during the rise of the first Ku Klux Klan that resisted Republican efforts to uproot the institutions of slavery, in the West the Republicans were aligned with Democratic efforts to create apartheid to deny equal rights to the Chinese. (For further detail on this disturbing history, see Kevin Waite’s article in The Nation: “The Forgotten History of the Western Klan: Whereas southern Klansmen assaulted Black Americans and their white allies, California vigilantes targeted Chinese immigrants.”)

Many of the Committee of 15 were Republicans. Several went on to become judges, bankers, and successful businessmen. They oversaw the crimes of the mob carrying out unlawful eviction, harassment and death threats.

A hangman’s noose was erected in the street to threaten the Chinese with murder if they didn’t board the first boat headed to San Francisco.

The Humboldt Times, in an article entitled “The Chinese Riot,” wrote “It was resolved that the Chinese be kept in the warehouses at the wharves and … that no Chinese escape and that all leave on the steamers in the morning.”

While technically a criminal conspiracy for unlawful detention and abduction, this vigilante justice had the blessing of the Eureka mayor, district attorney and sheriff in a blatant abuse of power.

Just before the expulsion there had been an editorial in the Times-Telephone with the caption “Wipe Out the Plague-Spots,” and the second day after the expulsion, a news headline read, “The Plague-Spots Wiped Out,” applauding the work of the Committee of 15.

An Unsolved Murder

The next day after Kendall was murdered another meeting was called. As Keith Easthouse reported in the North Coast Journal from an interview with author Jean Pfaelzer: “The sheriff, Tom Brown, stood up and told the crowd, in Pfaelzer’s words, that ‘I’ve arrested a bunch of men [20 by some reports] but I can’t tell you who shot David Kendall.’”

Chris Chu, Programming Coordinator of Humboldt Asian and Pacific Islanders (HAPI) in Solidary’s Eureka Chinatown Project told me, in an interview: “It is unsolved. Yes…There isn’t any hard evidence I can point to that says it was specific members of the community…I don’t think we have any of that information because it was pretty much whipped up into a frenzy pretty quick.”

The Chinese leaders at the time told the press they did not know who the shooter was, as the press reported on the second day after Kendall died: “So far as the tragedy of Friday night was concerned, both parties disclaimed any participation in it or any knowledge as to who the chief actor in that tragedy was.”

As the press reported at the time: “The audience was tremendously excited and if any direct clue to the culprits had been known they would have inevitably swung them to the nearest lamp-post. The utter impossibility of identifying the guilty parties proved however an unsurmountable impediment to their punishment.”

But the newspapers immediately and unanimously claimed, without hard evidence, that the shooting was the result of Chinese gang fights, and that assertion has remained largely unexamined ever since.

Chu said: “We have almost nothing from the Chinese perspective themselves, unfortunately, which makes it even harder to find the real facts of the story,”

But the historical archive does have signs that the Chinese were eager to be found innocent. An article in the Weekly Times Telephone on February 7, 1885, reported: “We were besieged most of yesterday afternoon by representatives from each faction, both anxious to ‘put em in paper’ their stories concerning the affray.”

“There is a very bitter feeling existing among the Chinamen,” the paper reported.

When the expelled Chinese arrived in San Francisco they hired a lawyer and filed suit against Eureka in Wing Hing v. City of Eureka, 1886, which ultimately failed when their attorney failed to meet filing deadlines. But the lawsuit contains dozens of names of expelled Eureka Chinatown residents, the amount of estimated damages, and the story that the local newspapers refused to tell.

The lawsuit lists the names of those expelled. Each claim asserts they were residing with their family, and doing business in Eureka with “large and valuable quantities of merchandise, clothing, provisions, furniture, fixtures, personal effects and money, belonging to him.”

Each claimant alleges “said rioters, acting together and without authority of law, riotously broke into the premises of [name of injured Chinese plaintiff] and carried away therefrom and totally destroyed his goods, merchandise, furniture, fixtures, clothing, personal effects, money and provisions, and drove him and his family from their dwelling and from said city, and caused them to be removed beyond the corporate limits thereof. The said defendant had due notice of the assembling of the mob and of the riot aforesaid, but the said defendant failed and neglected to quell said riot or to disperse said mob, or to protect the property of [name of plaintiff].”

Eureka’s response was that these businesses never existed and none of the businesses’ goods existed. They claim there never was a white mob and “denies that there was then, or at any other time, any riot at all in said city.”

What the lawsuit does not deny is driving them, or their family, from their homes and removing them beyond the city limits.

No reported witnesses of shooter on the crowded downtown street during daylight

There are no known reports of witnesses seeing a gunman, or a suspect fleeing the scene, even though as many as 20 Chinese were arrested and questioned by Sheriff Brown.

The shooting took place almost exactly at civil dusk, which is good visibility, when the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon, 25 to 30 minutes after sunset. That evening the sun set at 5:38 p.m. Local Mean Time, used by the Humboldt Times for local events until the early 1890s – 8 minutes ahead of Pacific Standard Time.

The shooter may have been a clandestine assassin, considering there were no known eyewitnesses of the shooter during daylight hours in a crowded place, despite a mob frantically searching for the shooter immediately afterward.

Shooter may have been clandestined

The shooter was not seen despite firing into a crowd while it was still daylight.

One possible explanation for this is that the shooter had selected a clandestine location so that they would not be seen by the crowd they were firing at.

Common strategies of clandestine gunman at the time included taking an elevated position and selecting to fire at dusk, while still daylight, for reducing risk of detection by reducing visibility of smoke from the gunshot, and muzzle flash.

There were multiple locations in the vicinity where a shooter could have taken a shot undetected such as in an elevated position, such as on a second floor, a roof, or a church tower. There were certainly plenty of elevated positions in the area that a gunman could have used within the 300 yard average limit for rifles of that era, including the Congregational Church bell tower, which was in full view of the reported victims on February 6, as well as the victims of a similar unsolved murder a week before that left one Chinese person dead and a few others injured.

Also, the number of shots, 7-12, is consistent with the number of shots in a standard rifle of that era.

Other pieces of circumstantial evidence don’t prove the shooter was clandestined, but would be made more likely if the shooter was. For example, the likelihood of hitting a child in the foot, as happened here, is greater if the shooter had chosen an elevated position.

There is precedent: The Los Angeles Chinatown Massacre in 1871, when 19 Chinese were murdered by unreported gunmen, some on rooftops firing down into crowds. There many white community leaders were involved in the brutal attacks on Chinese in broad daylight, but the prosecution struggled to get any eyewitness accounts to testify on the record. Just like Eureka, the media claimed the violence started with rival Chinese gangs shooting at each other.

Certainly the historical record is filled with many people calling to get rid of Eureka Chinatown. Chinatown massacres had already swept across the West in the previous years. The year 1885 was the second mass expulsion of Chinese from the area. The first was in the early gold rush days when an estimated one or two thousand Chinese were run off their successful gold mines near Grizzly Creek in the Trinity National Forest.

Politicians, ‘Committee of 15,’ and fraternal societies had been plotting expulsion and were members of groups with a violent racist past

The months and weeks ahead of the expulsion the newspapers were filled with people calling to get rid of Chinatown.

Chu, the from Eureka Chinatown Project said economic factors pressurized the white male workforce. Also, he said, “Humboldt had a lot of fraternities – male social and labor organizations that were tied to a lot of violence going back 25 years before the expulsion. The Wiyot Massacre was in many ways organized and carried out by these fraternity organizations.”

The ad hoc secretary for the meeting that formed the Committee of 15, W. J. Sweasey, was a populist politician, a former Republican born in Britain, and an owner of one of the steamers that transported the expelled Chinese to San Francisco.

Over five years before, Captain Sweasey was the first chairman, and elected the first president, of the Tax Payer’s Party, which issued a list of resolutions including that ‘All legal means should be used to halt the immigration of the Chinese “and other inferior races who cannot amalgamate with us.’”

Many researches have addressed the prevalence of fraternal societies and racist calls to expel the Chinese in the lead up to the expulsion, but significance of Committee of 15 member Howard Libbey’s prominence in the local Orangemen movement has received little, if any, consideration.

‘Prominent’ Orangeman was on the Committee of 15

Committee of 15 member Howard Allison Libbey was the head, “Worshipful Master”, of the Eureka Loyal Orange Lodge (LOL), located on Forth and G Streets, one block from Chinatown, as described in the Humboldt Times on September 17, 1883.

Orangemen, as they are called, are an Irish-British Unionist and fraternal organization that use similar practices to the KKK, but predate the KKK by a few hundred years, and with a structure resembling the Masons.

They were active in the US at the time of the Eureka Chinatown expulsion.

In 1871 they created one of the deadliest riots in New York City history. As the New York Irish History Roundtable reported in their sixth volume, the “Orangemen,” who are British and Irish Protestants, attacked Catholics in New York killing almost 80 people. The year before on their national day of rallying, July 12th, their riots killed eight in New York City.

The fact Orangemen were both heavily involved with the violence sweeping the country and represented in Eureka’s Chinese expulsion by a prominent local member of Orangemen on the Committee of 15 may have more significance than previous researches have explored.

Libbey’s obituary from the Humboldt Times (Sept 23, 1896) said: “Deceased was a prominent member of Lincoln Lodge, K of P, and No Surrender Lodge of Orangemen, having been secretary of the latter lodge for several years.”

The involvement on the Committee of 15 of characters like Libbey, McGowan and Sweasey, combined with the full support of the local media and politicians, raises serious doubts on the trustworthiness of their assertion that Kendall was shot by a Chinese gangster when there is no reported eyewitness of the shooter.

####

Shawn Leon is a Humboldt County resident and a Cal Poly Humboldt graduate.

Arlene Rose Muller Mock was born on November 27, 1944, in Abington, Pennsylvania, to Oskar Muller and Elizabeth Reigelmayer Muller.

Arlene’s father immigrated to this country from Germany in the late 1920s. Arlene’s mother was born in Pennsylvania and returned to the U.S. from Austria-Hungary at the age of 16 alone with two female cousins of the same age in order to maintain her American citizenship. Her parents met when both were employed by the Prince family in Philadelphia. Arlene was proud of her German and Austrian-Hungarian heritage and how hard her parents worked to be good American citizens. She spent countless hours researching her family’s ancestry and collecting documents and photographs to support her research.

When Arlene was eight years old, she moved with her parents to Whittier, California, where Arlene’s older sister, Helen, was already living. During her time living in southern California, she made many friends at school and at various beaches. She even knew how to surf. One of her favorite stories was how she met The Beach Boys before they became super famous. She graduated from California High School (Cal High) 1962.

It was in southern California that she met John Mock when they were both at Skateland with friends. She asked him to skate with her because she was impressed with how he “danced on roller skates.” John and Arlene were married at the Rio Dell Pentecostal Church of God in Rio Dell, California, on April 4, 1964. Except for a short time living in southern California after their first child was born, Arlene and John have lived in Humboldt County for all 61 years of their marriage.

Arlene is known by many in the Eel River Valley for her time working at a variety of jobs. Upon first moving to the area, she worked as a beautician in a variety of local beauty salons. She was also known for making wedding cakes, working as a teacher’s aide for Alice Thrap at Rio Dell Elementary School, working for Herb Colby at Hoby’s, working as a cashier and bookkeeper at Coast-to-Coast in Scotia before the 1992 earthquake and fire, working at Sprouse Reitz in Fortuna in the fabric department, and finishing her working career as a fiscal assistant for Humboldt County’s Department of Public Health.

When Arlene and John attended Rio Dell Pentecostal Church of God, she was involved in both their youth program and their women’s organization. When she and John and their children began attending Rio Dell Baptist Church, she became volunteered with their women’s missionary organization.

All of this though, does not tell you what an amazing woman or Mom or Grammy Arlene was. She always put others ahead of herself. She always made sure we had a warm bed and plenty of food. Being involved in the school and sports activities for her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren was one of her greatest joys. Family was everything to her. She sewed many of our clothes when we were growing up and continued the tradition for as long as she was able, making clothes for her granddaughters. There were countless Easter’s where she stayed up late sewing a dress to match the one she had sewn her daughters and matching shirts for her son and husband. There were many Christmas Eves she didn’t go to bed at all because she was busy finishing making Christmas gifts by hand and then wrapping everything. Her family and their happiness was extremely important to her.

Some of Arlene‘s favorite activities were eating Chinese food, and when her sisters-in-law were all alive, they liked to meet at Shanghai Low in Eureka for lunch. She also loved going to JoAnn Fabrics and buying fabric to make aprons (some of which she actually finished). Other favorite activities were reading and camping with her family when the kids were all younger.

Arlene recently spent a week in Medford, Oregon with her son and daughter-in-law and some of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. It was one of her favorite vacations away from the rest of us crazies. While she was there she received medical treatment from Dr. Williams at Providence Sports Medicine. Dr. Williams went above and beyond to try to find out what was going on with Arlene’s health. Shortly after that trip, Arlene entered St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka and was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer. Arlene chose not to fight a battle that was not meant for her to win and chose to go peacefully to meet her Savior and loved ones waiting for her in Heaven. She was at peace and assured of her eternity. One of Arlene‘s last requests was to let everyone know that she appreciated the care she had received in Medford from Dr. Williams. She also wanted it known that the level of care she received at St. Joe’s was excellent. From her ER nurses and doctors to the Palliative Care team to the nursing staff in both the PNU wing and the MedSurg wing, Arlene‘s needs were top priority. Their kindness and level of knowledge and expertise cannot be praised enough. The family would also like to thank everyone that was able to call or visit Arlene, especially her former coworkers from Humboldt County’s Department of Public Health. We would also like to thank the countless friends and family, who prayed for Arlene and her transition to her heavenly home. Arlene died with her daughter, Cindi and her daughter-in-law, Ruth, by her bedside at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.

Arlene was preceded in death by her parents Oskar & Elizabeth Reigelmayer Muller; her in-laws Henry & Leola DeWitt Mock; her sister & brother-in-law Helen Muller Radde & Ron Radde; her brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law Edward & Margaret Mock Hall, Melvin & Mary Ann Mock Calkins, Pete & Jeannette Mock Bulaga, Henrietta Mock, and Bill Diffin; son-in-law Ken Rose; nieces Cathy Jones Olsen and Tina Bulaga Richardson; and nephews Billy Diffin and Warren Richardson.

Arlene is survived by her husband, John Mock; daughters Cindi Mock Rose and Ammi Mock (Mark Grimes), and son and daughter-in-law, Aaron and Ruth Mock; grandchildren Molly Buck (Felix Cisneros), Callie Buck, Levi Buck, Tory & Jen Mock, Victor & Violet Mock Fernandez, Tanner & Ileana Mock, Ethan Mock, Haley & G Jakabosky, Emma & Nick Houston; great-grandchildren Natalia & Lily (Molly), Emerson (Tory), Atticus & Aspen (Tanner), Lily (Emma), Gabriel (Haley). She is also survived by her sister-in-law Clara Mock Diffin; Lonnie Buck, the father of Cindi’s children, and Heather Finley Bennett, the mother of Aaron’s children; numerous nieces and nephews, her special friend, Joy Blake; and her dog, Trixie.

Arrangements are under the care of Ayres Family Cremation. A Celebration of Arlene’s life will take place on Thursday, May 15, at 4 p.m. at Fortuna Church of the Nazarene, 1355 Ross Hill Rd., Fortuna. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to your local 4H or Future Farmers of America chapter.

###

The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Arlene Mock’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

In late April 2025, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) was alerted to a report of ongoing sexual assault of a minor having occurred at an undisclosed location on Indianola Reservation Rd., Loleta. HCSO’s Major Crimes Division (MCD) was assigned to the case given the severity of the allegation(s).

Based upon MCD’s extensive investigation, sufficient probable cause was established to seek a Ramey Warrant for the arrest of the suspect, Jarred Vaughan (age 22 of Loleta).

On the morning of May 2, 2025, MCD, assisted by HCSO Patrol, HCSO Special Services, HCSO Animal Control, and Humboldt County Child Welfare Services served a Search Warrant at the Indianola Reservation Rd. property. Evidence relating to the alleged sexual assault was located on scene and collected.

Vaughan was later booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility for the following charges: 

• Rape by Force or Fear – PC 261(a)(2)
  
• Unlawful Sex with a Minor more than three years younger – PC 261.5(c)
  
• Oral Copulation by Force or Fear of a Minor who is 14 or older – PC 287(c)(2)(c)
• Sex Trafficking a Minor – PC 236.1(c)
  

Special appreciation is extended to the Multi-Disciplinary Forensic Interview team at C.A.S.T., Advocates with North Coast Rape Crisis and Victim/Witness, and Social Workers with Child Welfare Services for their professionalism and collaboration during this sensitive investigation.

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

###

12:30 P.M. UPDATE: Locals are circulating an online petition — linked here — to save the Mad River Fish Hatchery, which has gained 650 signatures as of this writing.

“For decades, the hatchery has played a vital role in the conservation of local fish species, bolstered the local economy, and provided an educational resource for our children and future stewards of the environment,” the petition states. “Its closure would not only disrupt these crucial activities but would also significantly impact recreational fishing and local traditions linked to our river heritage.”

###

Original post: After nearly 55 years of rearing federally listed steelhead, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is closing the Mad River Fish Hatchery at the end of next month.

CDFW spokesperson Peter Tira told the Outpost that the aging facility needs more than $30 million in infrastructure upgrades and repairs to remain open, which, given the state’s ongoing budget crisis, just isn’t feasible for the department. 

“We own this facility here and are responsible for maintaining the physical plant, but we’re looking at at least $10 million in immediate repairs … and an additional $30 million to modernize the facility,” Tira said. “It’s really a combination of aging infrastructure and federal constraints on production, which is capped at 150,000 steelhead per year. … It’s just not a viable hatchery operation anymore.”

The Mad River Fish Hatchery, which stocks local lakes and lagoons, produces “just a tiny fraction” of steelhead compared to the Trinity River Hatchery, Tira said, which produces 450,000 steelhead and 4.6 million salmon per year. 

“It’s just not enough fish to really meet the goals of a hatchery, which are to support species conservation and to provide recreational sport fishing opportunities,” he continued. “Fishing will remain open on the Mad River, but it just doesn’t make sense to maintain this facility.”

CDFW will keep up the buildings and surrounding grounds after the hatchery closes in June or early July. “We’re going to maintain the same public access to the Mad River that is currently available,” Tira said. “We know it’s a very popular spot locally for fishing, mountain biking, hiking and all that good stuff. That isn’t going to change.”

The Mad River Fish Hatchery was forced to close in 2004, also due to a state budget crisis, but the community rallied and the facility reopened in 2005. When asked whether there was any chance the facility could reopen again with enough community support, Tira said that this time the hatchery closure would be permanent.

“It’s really not sustainable,” he continued. “Even if you put all this money into it, we’re limited by the federal government on what we can produce, so it’s not like we could just ramp up production. There’s lots of constraints on this particular species, so it doesn’t make fiscal sense or conservation sense at this point.”

More information can be found in the CDFW press release below.

###

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has made the difficult decision to cease hatchery operations at the Mad River Fish Hatchery in Humboldt County.

A combination of increased regulatory burden and a lack of flexibility, aging infrastructure, significant and necessary costly repairs and maintenance, modernization needs, and low fish production and returns forced the decision to close the steelhead trout hatchery just east of Arcata.

“Quite simply, the steelhead program is no longer viable,” said Jason Roberts, Inland Fisheries Program Manager for CDFW’s Northern Region. “The Mad River Fish Hatchery is no longer providing much if any conservation benefit to the species nor the intended recreation or sport fishing benefits in the Mad River. The careful review of these resources indicated they could be better used elsewhere. Our focus now is implementing a transition plan for employees, equipment and resources, repurposing the buildings and making sure the property remains open and accessible for the public to access the Mad River.”

The Mad River Fish Hatchery has been beset by challenges for two decades. In 2004, a state budget crisis forced its closure. The hatchery was able to reopen in 2005 due to community support, but its operations have diminished over time as regulatory demands, operational expenses and infrastructure maintenance needs have increased.

Opened in 1971, the hatchery once raised Chinook salmon, inland salmon and rainbow trout for recreational fishing and steelhead trout to support the native run within the Mad River itself. Over time, all but the steelhead and trout programs have been phased out of hatchery operations.

Today, the Mad River Fish Hatchery is CDFW’s smallest hatchery with three full-time employees, a $730,000 annual budget and a maximum annual steelhead production goal capped by federal fish agencies at 150,000 fish. CDFW’s Trinity River Hatchery by comparison, which also operates a steelhead program to support species conservation and a destination sport fishery, raises and releases about 450,000 steelhead and 4.6 million salmon annually.

CDFW estimates it would need another $1 million annually to continue Mad River Fish Hatchery operations at current levels and likely tens of millions of additional dollars to make needed repairs, modernize the facility for the future and meet federal requirements.

The northern California steelhead found in the Mad River is a federally listed threatened species. As such, the federal government has considerable regulatory authority and oversight of Mad River Fish Hatchery operations, including operational standards that cap production limits in multiple ways and require biological monitoring of impacts to wild populations.

Remaining steelhead in the hatchery will be released into the Mad River in the spring with hatchery operations expected to cease in June.
CDFW plans to maintain a presence at the hatchery facility, repurposing the buildings into offices and continuing to use the workshop. The property will continue to be open from sunrise to sunset to allow public access to the river. The public’s current use of the premises to park and access fishing, hiking, birding and swimming along the Mad River will remain.

The closure of Mad River Fish Hatchery operations will not impact the local stocking of rainbow trout in inland waters for recreational fishing in Humboldt County.

Apart from Mad River, CDFW operates 20 other hatcheries across the state producing millions of fish for conservation and recreation every year. For more information about California’s hatcheries, head to CDFW Fish Hatcheries web page.

###

Humboldt County’s newest still-alive movie theater is the next to go.

This morning, on its Facebook page, McKinleyville’s Mill Creek Cinema — owned, like the Broadway, by Coming Attractions Theaters Inc. — announced that it will close its doors on the first of next month.

Anyone with gift cards left over can cash them in at the Broadway, according to the announcement.

And … scene.

Press release from the Arcata Police Department:

On 5/1/25 at approximately 1:33pm, an Arcata Police Officer attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle in the 5000 block of Valley West Blvd. The vehicle failed to yield and a pursuit was initiated. The vehicle fled into a field in the 1200 block of Mad River Rd. and the occupants fled on foot. A search of the vehicle revealed firearms and ammunition in the vehicle as well as property that was recently reported stolen.

 The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office responded to assist. As officers checked the area multiple calls from community members came in, reporting two suspects running through fields and private property.

The two suspects were subsequently located at the edge of the dunes along Mad River Beach and safely arrested with the assistance of an HCSO Drone Unit and K9 Unit.  

The driver was identified as 26-year-old William Adams and was arrested for VC 2800.2(a)- Evading a Peace Officer, PC 25850(a)- Carrying a Loaded Firearm in a Vehicle and PC 496(a)- Possession of Stolen Property and PC 148(a)(1)- Obstruct/Resist a Peace Officer.

The passenger was identified as 27-year-old Richard Bloomhuff and was arrested for PC 29800(a)(1)- Felon in Possession of a Firearm, PC 30305(a)(1)- Prohibited Person in Possession of Ammunition, PC 148(a)(1)- Obstruct/Resist a Peace Officer, PC 496(a)- Possession of Stolen Property and PC 1203.2(a)- Probation Violation. Bloomhuff is on Formal Probation out of Shasta County for PC 496d(a)- Possession of Stolen Vehicle and PC 148(a)(1). Bloomhuff also had a warrant out of Shasta County for failure to appear.

The Arcata Police Department would like to thank the community members and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance.

If you have any information regarding this case, please call the Arcata Police Department at (707)822-2424.

More extremely low-income residents in Humboldt County spend more than half of their income on housing than in any other county in California north of Sonoma, according to new statistics released by the California Housing Partnership.

85% of extremely low-income (ELI) households here are spending more than half of their income on housing. Though other counties in the “North State” area, as the CHP defines Butte, Colusa, Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Nevada, Sierra, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama and Trinity counties, also spend a disproportionate amount of money on housing costs, Humboldt’s ELI residents are the hardest-hit. 

Butte County is second, with 82% of their ELI population paying more than half of their income on housing costs. Sierra County is last; only 43% of their ELI households spend that much.

Additionally, 94% of Humboldt’s very low-income households are spending more than 30% of their income on paying for housing — a higher percentage than the ELI households, at 88%. Seven other counties in the North State follow this pattern. 

California’s department of Housing and Community Development defines an ELI household as one that makes between 15-30% of the Area Median Income, though that percentage changes with how many people live in the household. A very-low income household earns between 30-50% of an area’s median. Humboldt’s median household income is $93,900, but a single person living alone making between $19,750 and $32,900 a year would be considered extremely low-income. 

Humboldt’s median rent of $1,272 per month isn’t the most expensive, although it comes close. Sierra and Nevada counties’ monthly rent of $1,350 is the highest in the region.

Check out data from other counties here.