You have probably heard the story about the Presidential election of 1916. It was when Woodrow Wilson was elected President of the United States, the votes from California were a deciding factor.

A delay in reporting the “final votes” to make the election decisive took place in Northwestern California — especially in Humboldt County.

The election of Woodrow Wilson, and because California had swung the election to a Democrat, and that it required nearly two days for a final decision because some precincts in the redwood forested West were “lost,” were enough to make cantankerous Colonel Robert McCormick, publisher of the then noisy Chicago Tribune, dip a vitriolic pen.

He was so angry, he editorially dubbed California “The Champion ‘Boob State’.” He knew he could safely do this, since his circulation and advertising worries did not extend that far west — so, name-calling was safe.

Discovery of the Colonel’s outburst is revealed in a faded clipping from the Chicago Tribune. This provides a sequel to the story of how Humboldt County played an important role in electing President Woodrow Wilson.

Just in case you have forgotten — or you haven’t heard — this is what happened in Humboldt County.

The outcome of the race between Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic choice and Charles Evans Hughes, Republican, was uncertain from the start. When voters went to the polls on Nov. 7, 1916, they were in a nip-and-tuck race.

That evening, however, returns from New York showed the state had been carried by Hughes. In the next four hours, Hughes piled up a commanding lead in the eastern states.

Failing to recognize there was more to the United States than their immediate world, the New York World and the New York Times, both of which supported Wilson, conceded the election to Hughes. Neither the United Press nor the Associated Press declared him elected, although it seemed almost until Wednesday morning. At that time. Wilson was only two electoral votes behind. The Hughes camp was enthusiastic.

In California, all of the counting had been completed, even though the balance of the state had cast 925,000 votes. Election observers began to realize the outcome would depend on who won the state’s 13 electoral votes. By Thursday, the result had narrowed to at least a single county. That was Humboldt. It was the isolated county in the redwood area which held the history-making answer.

Morris DeHaven Tracy of United Press, San Francisco, was a former Eureka newspaperman. Taking on the problem and working on it, he traced the final results through his old friend, County Clerk Fred M. Kay.

At 7 p.m., the Humboldt County Clerk called Tracy: “I got it. I just found an error in counting. About 1,800 votes were erroneously put in the Hughes column. They are Wilson votes and he carries the county by about 1,600 votes.” At that exact moment United Press flashed to the East: “Wilson Carries California!”

Col. McCormick.

In his Chicago Tribute stronghold, publisher McCormick was extremely upset — just as though someone had pulled the rug out from under him — for on Nov. 10, he wrote an editorial: “Nobody at Home in California.” This was his angry scolding:

Several times California, in a stubborn and belligerent mood, has almost put the alternative of war or humiliation upon the rest of the Nation. Some day, when Japan is ready, a California offense will result in the seizure of the Philippines and Hawaii.

California makes the trouble and expects the rest of the country to protect it. It may make a war and drag the rest of the country into it. California is our junker state in all except willingness to strengthen the ability of the Federal Government to meet the trouble it may make and is perfectly willing to make.

California now seems to be concerned chiefly for the right to bluster. The moral conditions of some little rotten spot in the interior of the United States can be understood. But California represents a long coastline which it demands the Navy of the United States to defend. It wants a Pacific Navy. It seems to have voted for a Pacific Navy.

How a State which, when it is not scared itself, is scaring the rest of the nation to death, could have given even two votes in a precinct to the Administration which maintains Josephus Daniels as schoolmaster of the American Navy, is a question beyond normal intelligence.

But giving Wilson the vote it did, California, with its record, presented itself as the champion boob state of the American Republic.

The State which has put the Nation on the edge of war several times kept it in suspense for forty-eight hours in this election, when the issue was one which should have been decided in this outpost State in two hours.

Some day California may have a Japanese Governor — for a while. The rest of the Nation eventually will annul his commission but he may be there for a while.

The editorial closed with a quotation from one of Kipling’s characters — a chaplain, who said: “When people insist in getting in the neck they are first made from the neck up.”

Since the Colonel has been gone some time, more than likely his spirit haunts most California polls each Presidential election. And it probably sputters and shouts when it is unhappy.

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The story above was originally printed in the September-October 1980 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.

March is kicking off with a “Brr!”

The National Weather Service’s Eureka arm has been tracking this weekend’s storm and predicts snow levels could fall as low as 500 feet above sea level over Friday night.

From NWS:

A major winter storm remains on track this evening.

Though most of the area is experiencing a break in showers at the moment, the next cold front is quickly approaching shore. Snowfall so far has been heavy above 3000 feet but has been inconsistent at lower elevations. That will change tonight with snow levels expected to quickly drop as low as 1000 to 1500 feet. 1 to 2 feet is likely on high elevation passes through tomorrow.

Snow showers will linger through Sunday.

Given the current hellacious storm pounding the city — and an alert from the National Weather Service — the city of Eureka has activated its emergency warming center. People who need it will be put up at a local church tonight.

How do you get to the warming center? Be at one of these places at these times, and transportation will be provided:

• 6 p.m.: Free Meal (35 West Third Street)
• 6:30 p.m.: Sacco Amphitheater (next to the Adorni Center)
• 7 p.m.: Hope Center (720 Wood Street, in the county facility at Harris and H)
• 7:30 p.m.: Corner of 14th and Koster

Stay safe, stay warm.

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For the first time in nearly 10 years, the Cal Poly Humboldt Logging Sports Team will host the American Western Forestry Clubs (AWFC) Conclave, one of the largest collegiate logging sports competitions in the nation. 

More than 170 chainsaw-wielding students from 10 western colleges and universities are expected to compete in the 84th annual rotating event, which will take place at Redwood Acres Fairgrounds in Eureka from March 13-16 in conjunction with the Redwood Region Logging Conference. Participants will show off their birling skills and compete in axe-throwing, log climbing, chopping, bucking, and more.

“We’ve been working really hard to put this event together, and I’m just really excited for the public to come watch us,” Cal Poly Humboldt engineering student and Logging Sports Club outreach coordinator Franziska Daumberger told the Outpost. “These events are really fun to watch. I mean, everybody’s yelling, there’s chainsaw dust everywhere, and the smell of gasoline and smoke is in the air. The excitement is almost tangible, you know? It’s an incredible thing to witness.”

Daumberger, affectionately known by her teammates as “Frank the Tank,” participated in her first AWFC Conclave in Missoula, Mont. in 2022, the same year Cal Poly Humboldt took first place overall in the competition. Thirty local students are expected to participate in this year’s competition, she said, though there are nearly 80 students currently enrolled in the Logging Sports Club. 

The scoring for each event is similar to the track and field scoring system, Daumberger said. Individuals earn points in each event, which are tallied up for a total team score. The team with the highest points wins, and the men and women with the highest individual points are named “Belle and Bull of the Woods.”

Asked to choose her favorite event in the competition, Daumberger let out a big sigh and offered her top three: single bucks, underhand speed chop and obstacle pole. “In the obstacle pole competition, you have to, like, run up onto a slanted log and you saw the end off of it with a chainsaw and then run back down for time,” she explained. “It’s really fun.”

Many AWFC Conclave participants will also attend the John Iversen Invitational Lumberjack Competition, which will be held on the last day of the contest.

“This is the second annual competition held in John Iverson’s name,” Daumberger said. “He’s a really beloved member of this community. Many of our team members knew him and his family personally. His wife and children come to watch us compete, which is really special for us. That competition is separate from the conclave, but it’s another neat competition.”

The AWFC Conclave will take place March 13-16 at Redwood Acres Fairgrounds in Eureka. Check out the flyer below for more information.

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PREVIOUSLY: 

• A Black Business Owner’s Work Truck Was Firebombed and Spray-Painted With the N-Word in Eureka, Owner Says

Eureka Police Department release:

On Thursday, Feb 20, 2024 at approximately 2:15 am, Eureka Police Department Officers responded to a call of a vehicle fire on the 200 block of Harris Ave. Humboldt Bay Fire also responded and extinguished the fire. The investigation has revealed this fire was a result of arson. The interior of the vehicle was completely destroyed, which led to the belief that the fire was started in the cab and spread to the outside of the vehicle. While examining the vehicle with the owner, a racial slur was located spray painted on one side of the truck.

EPD is actively investigating this as a hate crime. Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Cory Crnich at 707-441-4318.

The Eureka Police Department takes reports of hate crimes very seriously and works to investigate them swiftly. Hate and hate crimes have no place in our community and we will do all we can to hold those who are committing these acts of violence accountable.

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Press release from the Bureau of Land Management:

The Bureau of Land Management and its partners are celebrating 25 years since the establishment of the Headwaters Forest Reserve on California’s North Coast and are planning public events and announcements celebrating the conservation achievements since the 7,400-acre Reserve came into public ownership on March 1, 1999.

“We have been posting regular features on our social media platforms to share interesting facts about the reserve and its importance,” said Collin Ewing, manager of the BLM Arcata Field Office, which oversees the reserve. “We are producing commemorative posters to be released at the Arcata Field Office beginning March 1, and planning guided hikes and presentations. There will be excellent opportunities to get out and enjoy the reserve and learn why it is so important to North Coast natural resource conservation efforts.”

The BLM will announce hikes, speaker panels and availability of commemorative items in the coming weeks. The reserve contains some of the last unharvested groves of redwoods on the West Coast with ancient trees more than 1,000 years old. It provides forest habitat for northern spotted owls and marbled murrelets (Pacific seabirds), and stream habitat for coho and Chinook salmon and steelhead trout, all threatened species. Headwaters is the ancestral home of the Wiyot people, who lived in the forest for thousands of years, and remains an important part of their culture.

In the years since acquisition by the federal government and state of California, the BLM has completed projects to accelerate the pace of recovery from historic logging and to improve habitat for wildlife. Miles of former logging roads have been replanted, sediment-producing stream crossings have been removed and tree thinning in formerly logged areas is improving health of the forest. The BLM collaborates with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife on these efforts.

With partners, the BLM has brought Headwaters history to life, completing an interpretive trail segment, restoring a logging era locomotive barn for use as an education center, and winning placement of the Falk town site on the National Register of Historic Places. Public visitors experience the forest and discover its importance on the Elk River, South Side and Salmon Pass recreation trails and thorough presentations and hikes led by Friends of Headwaters, a volunteer support group.

The Headwaters Forest Reserve came into public ownership after a decade of activism that called attention to the importance of conserving these forest resources, including some the last remaining ancient redwoods in the world.More information on the Reserve is available online here.