Press release from the County of Humboldt:

The County of Humboldt has completed the installation of a beach access mat along the beach access corridor at the northern parking lot of Clam Beach County Park, and the mat is now open for public use.

The beach access mat allows individuals with disabilities to travel from the accessible parking lot to the high tide line of the beach. With the installation of the beach access mat, it is believed that Clam Beach County Park is now the northern most accessible beach in California.

“It is incredibly important that we as the county provide accessible public spaces, and I couldn’t be more proud that this project is ready for use,” said Fifth District Supervisor and Chair of the Board Steve Madrone. “It took years to research and install this beach mat, and seek and respond to public feedback, and I would like to thank everyone involved for their work to bring this project to fruition. The result of that work will allow all Humboldt County residents and visitors to experience Clam Beach County Park, which is such a gem within the state.”

This project is a part of the county’s continued efforts to provide recreational access for all users to the greatest extent possible and bring all county-owned and leased facilities into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Humboldt County Administrative Office’s ADA Compliance Team and the Humboldt County Department of Public Works’ Environmental Services Division coordinated these efforts with several oversight agencies, including California State Parks, the California Coastal Commission, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, to ensure natural resources in and around the coastal project area were protected while providing improved beach access to beach visitors.

About the Accessibility Mat

The mat consists of a series of removable and adjustable woven polyester segments designed in a way that allows for accumulated sand to sift through the mat surface. A removable access mat design was selected for use at Clam Beach in an effort to reduce environmental and aesthetic impacts and to provide more flexibility for adjustments in response to changing environmental conditions. The beach mat is five feet wide, and its length will vary between approximately 400 to 500 feet based on the environmental conditions at Clam Beach. The mat will require ongoing maintenance and adjustments to account for high tides and blowing sands.

The mat provides users of commonly used mobility devices, such as wheelchairs, walkers, canes, and crutches, the ability to travel from the northern parking lot at Clam Beach County Park through the established trail corridor to the high tide line. The mat is also designed to allow horses and emergency vehicles to cross and travel.

“Tri-County Independent Living (TCIL) was excited to try out the mats during a public comment and demonstration day back in February of 2022,” said TCIL Assistive Technology Coordinator Juliannah Harris, who is low vision. “The uneven terrain of typical beaches makes me fall. For the first time ever, I felt secure and safe independently walking on the beach. This unique mat system will really benefit the disability community. Tri-County Independent Living is very pleased to see this transformational project move forward to completion and look forward to future inclusive projects in Humboldt County.”

This project is an example of the County of Humboldt’s commitment toward providing equal access to all county programs, services, and activities regardless of an individual’s ability. Please visit humboldtgov.org/ADA to learn more.

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With local rivers already swollen from three weeks of above-average rainfall, Humboldt, Del Norte and Trinity Counties are all under an active flood watch this morning as continued downpours are projected to flood rivers, creeks, streams and low-lying areas.

Cue the ark jokes.

A “severe” flood warning has been issued for this region. | NOAA

As you can see in the graph above, the Eel River is forecast to reach flood stage at Fernbridge sometime tonight and continue rising through Tuesday, finally peaking at above 23 feet late Tuesday or early Wednesday. A “severe” flood warning has been issued for the Eel River Valley, lasting from 5 a.m. tomorrow to 1 p.m. Wednesday.

A Special Action Advisory is being issued to people who own livestock in all low-lying areas adjacent to the Eel River. The National Weather Service says “appropriate action” should be taken to protect livestock.

Of course, the forecast can change quickly, so keep tabs at this link to stay up-to-date.

The City of Rio Dell issued a flood warning this morning, saying portions of State Route 211 between Fernbridge and Ferndale could go underwater, along with much of the Eel River Valley, including areas northwest of Loleta and the western portion of Cannibal Island Road.

This deluge looks a lot like the conditions we saw six years ago, when the Eel crested at 23 feet, turning the Eel River Bottoms into one big lake, nearly submerging Duluwat (aka Indian Island) and turning the Arcata Bottoms into a soggy bog.

We’ll be keeping tabs on local conditions as the water levels continue to rise. 

If the latest public polling is to be believed, Republican voters in California, like party faithful across the country, are swinging rapidly toward favoring Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in next year’s presidential primary.

But if the attendees at the latest California Republican Party convention — a gathering of the GOP’s most dedicated activists, volunteers and local officials that took place over the weekend in Sacramento — are anything to go by, former President Donald Trump is still unquestionably the man to beat as he seeks his party’s nomination for a third time.

“Nobody comes up to me and says, ‘What about DeSantis?’” said Deborah Baber, a delegate from Ventura County, as she hawked MAGA Republican buttons outside a Saturday lunch banquet headlined by the new House Speaker (and Bakersfield’s favorite son) Kevin McCarthy, the weekend’s marquee event.

Clad in a stars-and-stripes “Make America Great Again” jumpsuit and flashing a red, white and blue rhinestone Trump purse, Barber’s unmissable display of support for the former president was a common motif at the convention. Trump’s name and slogan were everywhere to be seen, on signs and apparel and campaign paraphernalia; DeSantis, who it should be noted has not yet declared that he is running for president, not so much.

Outside the entrance to the convention center downtown, in a light drizzle, Ed Malik stood beside a handwritten poster declaring that “Trump is the ONLY anti-war candidate” and handing out a four-page packet warning that “Ron ‘DeSanctimonious’ is not what his manufactured persona suggests he is.”

Though not a delegate to the convention, Malik and a friend had driven up from Alameda County as volunteers for the Lyndon LaRouche Political Action Committee, to shore up support for a man that they worried might get pushed aside by party insiders after his contentious loss in the 2020 presidential election.

“It’s going to be a battleground,” Malik said.

By the only real metric we have at this point, roughly a year before Californians weigh in with their primary ballots next March, that is certainly the case.

The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies released a poll in late February that found DeSantis leading a list of 11 possible candidates among GOP voters in the state, with 37% support, ahead of Trump with 29%. That was a reversal from six months earlier, when Trump led DeSantis by nearly the same margin.

The spiked barbs that DeSantis regularly trades with California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, over policy and hair care routines, has only solidified his standing among conservatives in the Golden State over the past year. He made a brief swing through Southern California last week, including a sold-out event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library to promote his new book.

By more unscientific measures, however, it’s not even close — at least here among the most committed and hardcore Republicans in the state.

Take the grassroots straw poll that Orange County delegate Evelyn Nunez Jones and Los Angeles County delegate Rudy Melendez were organizing at the convention by handing out business cards with a QR code link to an online survey. Early results, with about 150 participants, showed Trump running away with three-quarters of the vote, they said, ahead of a field including DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley (who is running for president) and former Congress Member Liz Cheney (who has not announced a campaign).

Or consider merchandise sales. Marty Miller’s “My Campaign Wear” booth in the convention hall featured Trump 2024 flags and powder blue t-shirts with “DeSantisland” written in the Disney script above a map of the United States — a nod to the Florida governor’s star-making battle against the corporate giant — alongside “Let’s Go Brandon” baseball caps and hot pink buttons proclaiming “hot chicks vote Republican.”

Miller estimated that Trump gear was outselling the DeSantis offerings 85% to 15%. He had loaded up on DeSantis items because his supplier, who is based in Florida, “thought the DeSantis stuff would go really big out here. And it hasn’t.”

Among those shopping was Napa County Republican Party chair Doris Gentry, sporting a Trump lanyard for her convention credential and a sparkling American flag brooch. She remained loyal to the former president, she said, because “we know what he did, so we know what he will do.”

Like many other Trump supporters in attendance, she did not dislike DeSantis. But she urged him to hold off running for president and continue to build his power in Florida, which would make him an even more powerful contender four years from now.

“When he went to the bathroom” at the Reagan Library, she joked, “Reagan whispered, ‘It’s not your turn. Wait until 2028.’”

“Then in 2028,” she added, “he’ll be jet fuel.”

Heather Matsen, a volunteer for the Sacramento County GOP who was staffing a neighboring booth, agreed that Trump’s experience made him best suited to take on President Biden next year and then fix the direction of the country in a second term.

“We’re not going to have four years to find his footing,” Matsen said. “He learns from his mistakes. So where (the) house didn’t get cleaned before, he’s going to clean house right away.”

Mingling with other delegates outside committee meetings, Mark Rizk of Los Angeles County was a rare DeSantis supporter. He had purchased a t-shirt (“Ron DeSantis For President: The Courage to be Free”) earlier in the day, which he proudly pulled out his bag to show off.

DeSantis is “someone who has a lot of the same great ideas that Trump has, but not the baggage that he has,” said Rizk, who began drifting away from the former president after the Jan. 6 “fiasco” where rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to help Trump overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Rizk said he has been making a strategic case to his fellow Republicans: that DeSantis would do better among independent voters, while nominating Trump again would only alienate them and hurt down-ballot GOP candidates in 2024. It did not seem to be resonating at the convention.

“They have vested their heart in it. Their heart is so into Donald Trump,” he said. “They’re basically going to throw the party under the bus for his ego.”

But there’s still a year — and a formal campaign — left to change those hearts and minds. Rizk sees it in Biblical terms, with DeSantis as the Israelite leader Joshua.

“Moses led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, but God anointed Joshua to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land,” Rizk said. “He will be our Joshua leading us into the Promised Land.”

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

For the last decade Teague O’Shea has been in and out of college. Now, at 42 years old, he is trying again. Furthering his education was important to O’Shea, who had been working as an apprentice electrician for his local water district, but the rising cost of college made him question its worth.

“California is a really expensive place to live and I’m already paying for college,” O’Shea said. “I’m paying $463 for three classes and I’m like, ‘That’s fine.’ But I can’t imagine going full time and paying more. I can’t imagine having to spend more money on books — I would not be happy.”

O’Shea is working towards his associate’s degree in the Water Systems Technology program, which prepares students for careers in wastewater management or drinking water distribution and treatment. In the program, at least one major cost is covered: O’Shea’s courses all use free non-copyrighted materials created by the college itself. That takes some of the pressure off O’Shea, he said, so he can focus on his goal of becoming a certified water plant manager.

“I feel like I’m being prepared to re-enter the industry,” he said.

California college students spend on average $938 per year on textbooks and materials, according to the California Student Aid Commission’s 2021-2022 Student Expenses and Resources Survey.

One idea under consideration by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office is to fund community colleges to produce their own textbooks. The system must decide how to spend $115 million in state funds set aside to reduce the burden of textbook costs. Every community college will receive $20,000 to design zero-textbook-cost programs and an additional $180,000 to implement them. Some colleges will also get larger, competitive grants.

Colleges could spend the money on anything from publishing their own textbooks to using free, publicly available textbooks — known as “open educational resources” — created by professors at other schools. They could also simply give some students money to buy traditional textbooks.

“So we really see textbooks as almost a symptom to a bigger issue around students’ financial stability, right? Especially the students we serve that come into our colleges, many of them are already at a deficit without sufficient financial resources,” said Rebecca Ruan-O’Shaughnessy, vice chancellor for educational services and support at the Chancellor’s Office.

Many community colleges already have some classes that use open educational resources, often marked in course catalogs as “zero textbook cost.” Yet those courses often fill up fast, Ruan-O’Shaughnessy said, and students aren’t always aware they are being offered.

“The statewide approach will help standardize and streamline the process for students to get into class with low instructional materials cost.”
— Jerry Vakshylyak, a student at Mission College in Santa Clara serving on the California Community Colleges’ newly created textbook-costs task force

Overall, open educational resources have so far failed to build the same level of traction that traditional publishers have. Even at College of the Canyons, one of the colleges most invested in the approach, only 35% of professors use open educational resources. And while many colleges give some eligible students grants for textbooks, they usually have to jump through administrative hoops to get them.

Ruan-O’Shaughnessy said the Chancellor’s Office wants to gather data about zero-textbook-cost courses across the state’s 115 community colleges, identify successes that have so far been isolated to individual campuses or regions, and create a long-term, sustainable model.

Jerry Vakshylyak, a student at Mission College in Santa Clara serving on the California Community Colleges’ newly created textbook-costs task force, still remembers having to spend $300 for a French textbook two semesters back.

“It was just absolutely insane for an online copy for that French textbook,” said Vakshylyak. He now makes sure to enroll in classes with zero-textbook-cost options. “I’m in mostly ZTC courses, primarily because of how much of a burden it could be with textbook costs,” said Vakshylyak.

Vakshylak said that kind of help should be available to all students.

“The statewide approach will help standardize and streamline the process for students to get into class with low instructional materials cost,” he said.

Students have found creative ways to access academic materials. Since 2009, the website Z-library has been a hub for free scholarly journals and full college textbooks. But last year, the federal government shut it down, alleging copyright infringement. The online library is now back up but makes users log in where they are redirected to a personal domain.

East Los Angeles College student Rene Jimenez rents his textbooks, which he said saves him hundreds of dollars each semester. “Renting makes so much sense when you’re getting your general requirements done because you rarely need the textbooks for other classes,” Jimenez said. “It’s way cheaper most of the time, so it alleviates some financial stress, which is important when everything these days is so, so expensive.”

Some advocates say the recent focus on materials cost is an opportunity for a larger shift in the textbook business, and that colleges across the system should create their own cache of materials and textbooks that best serve the students that need them.

“It’s just a different way of thinking about how we use information resources and education, thinking about it more as part of the infrastructure on which we teach and learn, as opposed to products that you purchase from a publisher,” said Nicole Allen, who as a student organized a campaign around textbook costs before becoming head of communications at the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, a nonprofit pushing for more open educational resources. “And, I think that mindset shift is a really big opportunity in California.”

A 2023 Student Public Interest Research Group report found that every dollar invested in open educational resources saves students $10 to $20. One of the benefits of investing in open educational resources is the continued use of them after the initial investment, Allen said.

“There’s such a compelling case for investment in these types of resources. Because if you can build them, you can use them,” said Allen. “And others can use them, too, unlike traditional textbooks where if you buy a one-year subscription to a digital textbook, you have to buy that subscription again the next year, and the next year and the next year.”

Tyler Reed, senior director of communications at McGraw Hill, one of the largest textbook publishers in the nation, says the onus is on all involved in higher education to deliver course materials with value that students can afford.

“We believe there is room in the higher education ecosystem for all course materials options, including open educational resources. Let’s give institutions, instructors and students the broadest range of choices,” Reed said in a statement to CalMatters.

College of the Canyons has created a new department to focus on finding, adapting, authoring and publishing open educational resources. Current and former students are employed by the college to blend and splice free online texts into cohesive works to meet their needs, said James Glapa-Grossklag, the college’s dean of educational technology, learning resources and distance learning.

“So we really see textbooks as almost a symptom to a bigger issue around students’ financial stability.”
— Rebecca Ruan-O’Shaughnessy, vice chancellor for educational services and support at the Chancellor’s Office.

Additionally, if faculty members decide they need to write new material to fit the needs of their class, College of the Canyons will provide a stipend.

The campus has seen some success with this model. But adoption has been slowed by the fact that the college offers a lot of specialized disciplines, such as occupational therapy, welding and auto mechanics, for which no online educational resources currently exist, Glapa-Grossklag said.

“There is definitely a rift between the humanities and STEM majors,” said Kyra Karatsu, a College of the Canyons graduate working on the project. “There’s all these resources for majors like communications or history. But when you start to look at classes like math, or even chemistry, there’s not a lot of resources there.”

One reason is the lock that the traditional textbook industry has on the market in those disciplines, said Mark Healy, the open educational resources coordinator for the Foothill-DeAnza Community College District, another early adopter of free textbooks. Math textbook publishers often bundle together online textbooks with other resources like online testing, he said, charging students hundreds of dollars for access codes that must be renewed if they take the class again.

Healy, who is also a psychology professor, has made all his classes zero-textbook-cost. “It’s really great to tell students that they don’t have to pay anything beyond tuition to take the class,” he said.

###

Story and González are fellows with the CalMatters College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. This story and other higher education coverage are supported by the College Futures Foundation.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

I blame it on the tequila, my 80-year-old body not having the same devil-may-care response to alcohol as my 18-year-old one did. Plus, there was no email or Amazon back then.

TheCulinaryGeek, Creative Commons.

Had I not had a hearty pre-prandial “Tequila Sunrise” that sunset, I’m convinced I wouldn’t have fallen for K’s heartfelt appeal:

Barry, I need to get I need to get an Amazon E-Gift Card for a friend of mine who is diagnosed with stage 4 mesothelioma cancer, She lost her only daughter to the disease (COVID-19).it’s her birthday but I can’t do this now. I tried purchasing it online but unfortunately, I got no luck on that. Wondering if you could help me take care of this through Amazon online? and I’ll reimburse you once I get back home. Please let me know so I can provide you with her email.

Thanks,

K…

Sure! Happy to help! (And yes, I was sober enough to confirm that the return email address was indeed K’s, so of course it was legitimate). Sucker that I was, I said yes, how so I send it?

You can have it done via https://www.amazon.com/ Amazon-eGift-Card-Logo/dp/ … Total amount needed is $200 here is her address… Please make sure the delivery date is Now and I want you to write Happy Birthday in the message space. Please let me know when it’s done. So, I’ll let her know it’s from me. Please forward me the confirmation once you’re done. Thanks, K…

Having sent the $200 out of my Amazon account (and thinking I was a real mensch) I settled down, only to hear from K that her friend hadn’t received the money. Amazon says it takes less than 10 minutes to post to their Gift Card site, and this was half an hour later. That’s odd…does Amazon think I’m a grifter??? The nerve! I went to bed thinking I’d figure it out in the morning, I just needed to reassure Amazon that the whole thing was on the up and up, only to wake to this:

From: gc-account-alert@amazon.com

Hello,

We believe that an unauthorized party may have accessed your account.

To protect your information, we have:

— Disabled the password to your account.
— Reversed any modifications made by this party.
— Canceled any pending orders. You can ignore any confirmation emails that you received for these orders…

My brain works better at 6 a.m. than it does at 8 p.m., especially when not burdened down by the effects of low oxygen/high alcohol content. Well duh, of course it’s a scam! Look at the wording! Look at the odd typo! Look at…. “How could you—you the arch-skeptic, mistersciencewriter—how could you have possibly have fallen for this? It’s crying out “SCAM” in every line!” offered my not-so-sympathetic wife. “What were you thinking?” “I wasn’t,” I said. Feeling stupider by the second.

The real K (of course!) knew nothing of all these shenanigans, as she told me on the phone that morning, her email account having been hacked. She assured me she’d change her address and password pronto, and Barry—word to the wise—be on the lookout for future scammers! As if I needed that advice. After all, I’m a sophisticated and smart online user, I’d never be taken in by some amateur scammer, well would I?

Note to self: Tequila and online requests don’t mix, ok? Ok, got it!

Photo: Tressler.

Four p.m. on the metro is always packed, as the evening rush hour begins. For true metropols like myself, the Marmaray is the real way to get around the city, not the ferries steaming in the Bosphorus. Hundreds of feet below the city, the train is crammed with strapholders, many on their way from work on the European side to their homes on the Asian side. While the ferries are romantic, and certainly more picturesque, for tired commuters the Marmaray is faster, more efficient.

One of the things I like about the Marmaray is that, as a people watcher, you get such a variety of interesting faces, especially as more passengers board at the central stops near Taksim and Şişhane. You hear a range of accents and languages – Turkish, English, Arabic, Russian and so on – as well as people in all manner of dress, from miniskirts to burkas.

Naturally, aboard the crowded train, along with the general fatigue city dwellers have at that hour, there can be strain and tension, as hoards on the platform and those getting off the arriving and departing trains, jockey for precious space. Everybody’s in a hurry to get home. Occasionally tempers flare.

It was in this atmosphere that such an incident occurred this past week. I’d gone to Sariyer, a neighborhood in the north part of the city up near the Third Bridge, to look at a flat that my wife and I are considering renting (Our recently purchased flat in Kadıkoy may be demolished and rebuilt to earthquake standards, as many doubtless will be as a result of last month’s tragedies). By the time I boarded the Marmaray at Yenikapı and finally homeward bound, I was exhausted.

A trio of stout middle-aged ladies managed to elbow and squeeze their way into the last breathable space just as the doors were trying to close. Their nationality was indeterminate, and would have escaped attention if not for suddenly one of them burst out in this high mocking voice.

“Par-don! Par-don!” mimicked the lady, who was evidently aiming her wit at a young covered woman, dressed all in traditional black, including the headscarf. While the other passengers looked on, rather bemused, the young traditional woman, who appeared to be Turkish, switched to English.

“What did you say to me?” she demanded, in a sharp voice, leveling her gaze at the foreign woman. “Shut your fucking mouth!”

The foreign woman, taken aback and perhaps feeling threatened, said nothing. The covered woman turned away, squeezing into a tight space. The rest of us passengers averted our eyes, or else looked at each other with embarrassed smiles.

The train passed beneath the Bosphorus, the sound of air rushing through the tunnel was all that we heard the rest of the way until presently we arrived at the stop in Kadıkoy, where I got off. The young covered woman got off behind me. She offered a parting shot to the foreign ladies. “Yeah, fuck you all!” she shouted over one shoulder.

Part of me, to be honest, wanted to turn around and say, “Real nice. Aren’t you a religious person? Is Allah listening to you right now?” But she probably would have told me to go fuck myself as well, and I probably wouldn’t have blamed her. If she was Turkish, and I’m pretty sure she was, did she really need a yabancı lecturing her on her choice of words, or train conduct? Plus, it was rush hour, and I myself have had my share of such episodes over the years.

Istanbul has always been a city filled with foreigners. “Geography is destiny,” as people here so often say. It is a crossroads city, a transit city, a city of fortune, and of refuge, not to mention an ideal holiday for those looking for a taste of the exotic. For Turks, or locals, dealing with yabancılar is a part of everyday life, and for the most part the relationship is surprisingly harmonious.

But things are getting a bit more prickly nowadays. Thanks to the war in Syria, and now the war to the north in Ukraine, the city and country are flooded with refugees. The Syrians have been here for years, and many have either long-since integrated or moved on to destinations in Europe or America. The Russians and Ukrainians have traveled to Turkey for years, to the sunny beaches of Antalya and Adana. But the war has brought many more here, many snapping up apartments and other properties in hopes of obtaining a Turkish passport through investment. According to recent figures, about 250,000 Russian nationals are living in Turkey, along with about 100,000 Ukrainians.

The number here in the city is not clear, but just a layman’s glance – or rather, listen – does tell a story. On the bus ride in my neighborhood in recent months, it has become customary to hear conversations in Russian (or Ukrainian, I can’t tell the difference, honestly), which is something you almost never heard before, at least not in our neighborhood. It should be noted that these people I have brushed past on the buses and trains show nothing more or less than the normal courtesies one expects on public transport. Also, if altercations do occur, they are more often than not between fellow Turks rather than with foreigners.

Still, the constant influx of new arrivals, coupled with the fall out from last month’s earthquakes down south, has people on edge, I think. Along with the economy, the double-digit inflation, and the fact that like everyone else we had finally managed to feel like we were living in a post-pandemic world, the earthquakes seemed to reinforce this idea of perma-crisis, that we just can’t seem to ever catch a break in this part of the world.

“I think we should get rid of all the foreign people,” said one of my students last term, in a half-joking way, when we were discussing possible cures to Turkiye’s many woes. Evidently his classmates agreed, for his pronouncement was greeted with approving chuckles.

The student’s comment came back to me when after the metro incident, as I walked up the hill to our apartment. The trip out to Sariyer and its environs, the high green hillsides looking north toward the Black Sea, was a refreshing change of pace, and the long ride back through the city – past the towers of Maslak and Levent, places I seldom go – gave me a chance to view the city from a fresh perspective. It’s good now and again to break from your routine commute.

Again, the long ride through the belly of the city was a reminder of all of the different people, of varying ethnicities and backgrounds, who inhabit this vast city. Yet, as the incident above illustrated, minor as it was in hindsight, tempers can get short from time to time with so many people jammed into such a small space, everyone rushing to meet his or her own individual destiny. I’m reminded of another discussion I had with a Turkish manager at one of the companies I used to teach at years ago. We were talking about the famous Turkish hospitality. “We like to treat our guests well,” is a saying most Turks would heartily agree with.

“Yes,” said the manager. “But sometimes there are just too many guests!” Indeed. As for myself, with a wife and son onboard, I have over the years graduated somewhat from yabancı to enişte, or “brother-in-law.” So at least on my better days, I like to count myself as exempt. But I try to remind myself from time to time that, in public places anyway, I am and always will be a foreigner. And in these trying times, it’s best to know one’s place.

###

James Tressler, a former Lost Coast resident, is a writer and teacher living in Istanbul.

Although the Eel River can be calm and picturesque — a place for picnics and swimming like all rivers — it can also be unpredictable and dangerous. This was especially true in the late 1800s and early 1900s when crossing the water entailed a great deal more than zooming across a bridge in a car.

Though the water was a lifeline to the Eel River communities which cropped up alongside it, it was also a barrier. Before Fernbridge was built in 1911, the only way to cross the Eel was either by going straight through the water in a wagon or on a horse, crossing one of the pontoon bridges which were put in during low water in the summer, or using the ferries.

All methods had an element of danger — fording most of all. In fact most drivers wouldn’t risk fording if they had another choice. When the water was low, however, and with a good team of trustworthy horses it could be done most of the time without trouble. Still, it could be a harrowing experience.

Katherine Casanova, who grew up in Ferndale, remembers fording the Eel as a young girl in a spring wagon. She sat behind her parents in the removable children’s seat of the wagon, watching the wheels rolling in the tracks made by others’ crossings. The sound changed and she heard the grating of wagon wheels in the wet gravel of the river. She watched the water climb higher and higher up the spokes. It had reached the middle of the wheel! Katherine screamed. Fortunately, because they were crossing in summer, nothing more frightening than this happened and they came out on the other side safe and sound.

Fording the river didn’t have to be frightening — sometimes it could be downright amusing instead. It was generally windy down at the river; you literally had to hang on to your hat. Once Dora Casanova’s sunbonnet blew off in the wind. She watched, unable to do a thing, as it flew through the air, landed in the river, and was swirled away by the current.

Always there was a possibility of danger though, and ferries were generally preferred as being safer and more convenient. There were three of these “flat wooden barge-like boats” in operation on the Eel. Singley’s, East’s, and Dungan’s ferries glided quietly across the river, controlled by cables attached to both banks or by the ferrymens’ poles.

“It is a fond memory,” Andrew Genzoli once wrote of the ferries, “brought back by the quiet creaking of a block or the muffled crunch of a pole along the gravel of the bottom.”

Singley Ferry was the most important of the three. It was established in 1861 when William Bradford, a 36-year-old native of Illinois, threw his cable out across the Eel at the foot of Table Bluff opposite George A. Singley’s house. Although in the 1860 census Bradford’s listed occupation was “groom,” he did well as a ferryman until he decided to retire from ferrying in the late 1860s and hand the business over.

The ferry went through many changes in ownership throughout the next several decades, always remaining essential to the residents of the lower Eel Valley. In 1884, when it was established as a railroad shipping station, it became even more important. Farmers came from miles around to ship their produce at “Singley’s Station” on the north side of the river.

Although it was such a popular crossing, not everyone used the ferry. In fact, until 1891 when a steam winch was installed, a pontoon bridge was used whenever low water made it possible.

The year 1891 was an eventful one for Singley Ferry. The Humboldt Times reported the destruction of the faithful ferry “Black Maria,” stating: “The ‘Black Maria’ is no more. [The ferrymen] are in mourning, for the staunch old dug-out has done great service…and in times of high water could always be relied on. …The current was never too strong for the ‘Black Maria’ to stem. … Apparently a pile of floating driftwood had hit the moored ferry at night ‘demolishing her beyond repair.’ “

Despite this small disaster, Singley’s continued to carry passengers and freight across the Eel. In 1910 it was still doing a phenomenal business. Viola McBride, who spent her childhood in Ferndale, remembers going to the Singley Ferry in 1910. Her four-year-old eyes were impressed with the size of it; in addition to her family’s car (an old model with big drum brass headlights) the ferry carried a four-horse stage, more than one horse and buggy, several saddle horses, and a couple of cows.

The crowded state of the ferry, along with the increasing number of automobiles, could be dangerous for people with horses. Drivers would often get out to soothe their team, holding the horses’ heads and talking to them softly to calm them down. And the ferry itself was not the only danger. Singley’s hill on the north side of the river was extremely steep. Horses were always bolting and acting up.

In 1877 the notorious hill caused what the Humboldt Times called an accident of “a somewhat serious nature.” Charley Stone had been heading up the hill in his buggy, driving a pair of “fine horses.” Suddenly, the horses spooked. They wheeled around, overturned the buggy and spilled the startled Stone onto the ground. He watched, helpless, as they flew down the bank, and “plunged into the river.”

Stone watched, but the horses had disappeared beneath the waters of the Eel. Nothing was seen of horses or buggy but a single cushion “that went floating down with the current.” It was assumed that the team had stumbled into a hole and gotten stuck.

In all instances, a good, calm horse a driver could trust was invaluable — especially when that driver had to cross the unpredictable river on the crowded ferry.

Singley’s, though quite popular, was not the only ferry along the Eel. The East brothers’ ferry, which was farther upriver than Singley’s and near Alton, was also commonly used. Generally it was frequented by people from Grizzly Bluff and Alton, but in certain circumstances other travelers used the East’s Ferry. The Eureka newspaper reported: “Several teams were compelled to drive through Fortuna last evening and cross at East’s Ferry in order to get to the Ferndale side. The ferry house at Singley’s is so far from the river on the Ferndale side that travelers on the other bank were unable to raise the ferryman.”

Fortunately for the “several teams,” the ferryman at East’s heard them ringing the bell and they were able to cross the river.

Although it was known as the “East’s Ferry” at this time, it had originally been established by a man named Barnett in 1880. Six years later, John East had purchased it; the community approved. In 1891 the Ferndale Enterprise stated: “Mr. East has [the ferry] in good shape, and will accommodate the public as well as the best of [strangers].”

Throughout the 27 or 28 years that the East brothers owned the ferry, the operation generally went smoothly, although there was at least one mishap. In 1896 the river rose, tore the ferry from its cable, and sent it swirling down to Centerville where it was found smashed beyond repair. A new ferry was built with lumber that the East brothers purchased from San Francisco. According to the Ferndale Enterprise, this was “the finest ferry ever operated.”

Between this “fine” ferry and the ferry at Singley’s, almost everything and everybody got across the water. However, there was another ferry, west of Singley’s, called Dungan’s Ferry. It was established in 1861 and ran, as the other ferries did, until the building of the bridge in 1911.

The idea of building a bridge across the Eel had been around officially since 1898. The Ferndale Enterprise wrote an article about a petition supporting the idea of a bridge. This petition had been “industriously circulated in the Eel River Valley.” The Enterprise predicted that the bridge would cost $60,000 — “perhaps more” — which could be easily raised in four or five years. They saw no problem getting the money. It was finding the site, they predicted, that would be difficult. They foresaw the bridge somewhere near the Singley Ferry section.

The people living in Grizzly Bluff near the East’s Ferry, however, had different ideas. In May of 1894, 25 Grizzly Bluff citizens met and declared that they wanted the bridge to be built at the East’s crossing. They elected a committee to “agitate the aroused interest” in this issue. Unfortunately for the Grizzly Bluffers, no one else in the county wanted the bridge at East’s, and the idea was soon dropped. The Ferndale Enterprise had made an accurate prediction. The bridge would indeed be built at Singley’s crossing.

Though this prediction had come true, their estimate of $60,000 did not; the bridge actually cost $245,967. Fortunately this sum, which seemed extravagant at the time, was provided by funds raised by taxation. Consequently the bridge was paid for by the time it was finished.

The high cost was due to the special new structure planned for the bridge-to-be. The engineering and design plans of John D. Leonard included a bridge of reinforced concrete. He’d already had experience with this material, as he had used it to construct several buildings in San Francisco. At first, the city didn’t like the buildings. Who’d ever heard of building something out of concrete? They also thought the structures were very ugly. However, after the buildings had withstood the San Francisco earthquake intact, the citizens began to look on them more tolerantly.

The residents of the Eel River Valley looked forward to their new bridge not with tolerance, but with pride. “The length of the individual spans of the new bridge surpass any other reinforced concrete bridge in the world in size…” bragged the Humboldt Standard. Everyone was impressed with the size of the magnificent future bridge. The Humboldt Times carefully pointed out the details: “The bridge had a length of approximately 2,500 feet, 1,025 being devoted to the approaches. …The roadway across the bridge is 24 feet wide, the cement bulwarks on each side being about one foot in thickness.”

A great deal of man-power and material went into constructing such a “queen of bridges.” Some 19,500 barrels of cement were poured and reinforced with miles of steel cable. Tons of gravel from the Eel River bed itself were also used.

All these raw supplies were molded into the form of a bridge by “men, donkey-engines, Sonoma graders, Fresno scrapers, wagons, and man-pushed and horse-drawn gear.” There was no heavy machinery available.

With so much going on, the construction of the bridge was a big event in itself, although it only took one year. People flocked to see the wooden skeleton slowly filling out and taking shape.

Evelyn Whitney’s father was one of those who knew a big event when he saw one. He brought Evelyn, who was only six, and her aunt, who was about three years older, to walk along the catwalk. This wooden “sidewalk” along the side of the bridge was for the workmen and was only one or two boards wide. Evelyn’s aunt was frightened and clung to Evelyn’s father. He had to help her across, but told his daughter, “Go ahead, Evelyn, I know you can do it.” With this, the six-year-old marched across the bridge unaided. When she got to the other side, there was nothing to do but march right back — and so she did.

But if a lot of people came to see the bridge in the making, everyone came to see the finished product. The paper reported that “as far as the Valley towns are concerned, a starving man will not be able to buy five cents worth of onions in Ferndale and Fortuna. Those towns will move bag and baggage to the new bridge.”

A “Celebration of Fernbridge” was planned for Thursday, Nov. 17, 1911. The courthouse in Eureka closed down, and the Board of Trustees declared a holiday. Schoolgirls released from classes were put to work slicing hundreds of loaves of bread. Tons of fresh beef sizzled in the barbecue pits. There were speakers in abundance, and even a brass band. Trains from Eureka to the bridge ran at a special $1 per-round-trip rate. People poured in on buses from Ferndale.

Not even the fact that it was raining fazed the celebrators. In fact it is said that, being Humboldters after all, “the rain was accepted as a part of the observances — a sort of christening.”

At the end of the celebration. Chairman Coonan called for three cheers. Someone from the crowd remembers that “the chorus of voices echoed through the wet air, bouncing from span to span and out into the hills.”

The building of the bridge inspired pride because of what it brought to the residents of the valley. People began to move around more and contact with “the outside” expanded. The variety of goods and the ease with which they were transported also increased.

But though the bridge aroused such gratitude and pride in most, in some it also inspired mischief. In its early days, the approaches were much steeper than they are today. One day Viola McBride was driving with a friend and her friend’s “fellow.” As Viola neared the steep approach to the bridge, she noticed, much to her irritation, that they were kissing in the back seat. She decided to put a quick stop to this. Coming up to the sharp bend between the steep approach and the flat part of the bridge, she slammed her foot on the gas pedal. The car flew up into the air and landed with a thump. The girl was very surprised — and quite annoyed — but Viola was satisfied.

Such stories about the bridge abound in the Eel River Valley. The bridge is truly a landmark for the community. Fernbridge is, as everyone is quick to point out, a “sturdy” bridge that has survived a great deal. It is not only a “monumental” structure, as the California Division of Highways notes, but is also unique and beautiful. It represents home to those who live near it. As Andrew Genzoli, historian and long-time resident of Ferndale, said, “For the person who has made his or her home in Ferndale or the Eel River Valley, the sudden appearance of the long graceful arches of the old bridge, be it from the east or the west, fills one with warmth.”

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Original editor’s note: “Tamara Smith, author of this manuscript, received the first place award in this year’s Humboldt County Historical Society Scholarship Contest. Smith, a student at Fortuna Union High School, received her award of $250 during the May general meeting of the Society.”

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The story above was originally printed in the July-August 1992 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.