Humboldt Bay (Wiyot: Wigi)Friends of the Dunes – Cultural History. is a natural bay and a multi-basin, bar-built coastal lagoon located on the rugged North Coast of California, entirely within Humboldt County, United States. It is the largest protected body of water on the West Coast between San Francisco Bay and Puget Sound, the second-largest enclosed bay in California, and the largest port between San Francisco and Coos Bay, Oregon. The largest city adjoining the bay is Eureka, the regional center and county seat of Humboldt County, followed by the city of Arcata. These primary cities, together with adjoining unincorporated communities and several small towns, make up the Humboldt Bay area with a total population of nearly 80,000 people. This comprises nearly 60% of the population of Humboldt County. The bay is home to more than 100 plant species, 300 invertebrate species, 100 fish species, and 200 bird species. In addition, the bay and its complex system of marshes and grasses support hundreds of thousands of migrating and local shore birds. Commercially, this second-largest estuary in California is the site of the largest oyster production operations on the West Coast, producing more than half of all oysters farmed in California.
The Port of Humboldt Bay (also referred to as the Port of Eureka) is a deep water port with harbor facilities, including large industrial docks at Fairhaven, Samoa, and Fields Landing designed to serve cargo and other vessels. Several marinas also located in Greater Eureka have the capacity to serve hundreds of small to mid-size boats and pleasure craft. Beginning in the 1850s, the bay was used extensively to export logs and forest products as part of the historic West coast lumber trade, but with the decline of the industry lumber now is only infrequently shipped from the port.
Geography Humboldt Bay is the only deep-water bay between the San Francisco Bay and Coos Bay, Oregon. The Port of Humboldt Bay is the only port in the region that is dredged regularly to accommodate large ocean-going vessels. Despite being the only protected harbor along nearly of coastline, the bay's location was undiscovered for centuries after the first arrival of European explorers. This is partially because the bay is difficult to see from the ocean. The harbor opens to the sea through a narrow and historically treacherous passage, which was blocked from direct view because of sandbars. Formation of such sandbars is now managed by a system of jetties. Contributing to the bay's isolation were features of the coastal mountain range, which extends from the ocean approximately inland, and the common marine layer (fog) in addition to frequent clouds or rain.
The bay is approximately long but can be from wide at the entrance to the widest point at in the North Bay. The surface area of Humboldt Bay is of which are intertidal mudflats. More than are primarily eelgrass habitat, which has been relatively constant since 1871, although more than 80% of the bay's coastal marsh habitats have been lost or fragmented by levee, railroad and highway construction. At high tide the surface area is approximately , but it is at low tide. Each tidal cycle replaces 41% of the water in Humboldt Bay, although exchange in small channels and sloughs of the bay can take up to three weeks.
Geomorphology
Humboldt Bay began to form when a river valley drowned about 10,000 to 15,000 years ago during a period of rapid sea level rise. Bay sediments also contain buried salt marsh deposits showing that areas of the bay have subsided during episodic large-magnitude subduction earthquakes.
Three rivers, the Mad, Elk, and Eel, drained into Humboldt Bay during the mid-Pleistocene. Subsequently, the Mad River cut a new outlet to the sea, and the flow of the Eel was diverted by tectonic uplift of Table Bluff at the southern end of the bay, but Elk River continues to drain into Humboldt Bay.
In the 21st century, the bay is considered to have three regions: the North Bay to the north of Samoa Bridge the Entrance Bay from Samoa Bridge to South Jetty the South Bay, which is the remainder of the bay to the south
Daby, Woodley, and Tuluwat (formerly Indian) islands are in the North Bay, and all three are within the City of Eureka. Low tides reveal two more islands: Sand Island, which was formed from dredge spoils left in the early 20th century, and Bird Island. A large eelgrass bed in the South Bay, which may be exposed at low tides, is locally known as Clam Island.
History
Indigenous people The Wiyot people were the first to inhabit the Humboldt Bay region, including the Mad River and Eel River. It is estimated that the Wiyot arrived at Humboldt Bay circa 900 A.D.
The Wiyot language is related to the Algonquian language of the Great Plains. The Wiyot Tribe is located in Loleta, California. Tribal members reside on two different reservations, the Table Bluff reservation and the old Table Bluff reservation, sometimes referred to as Indianola. The old reservation, roughly 20 acres, was originally purchased by a local church group to relocate homeless Wiyot in the early 1900s. While the old reservation is still in use, the tribe moved to the new Table Bluff reservation. The new reservation is roughly 88 acres.
Wiyot territory is divided into three different regions: lower Mad River, Humboldt Bay, and lower Eel River. Their entire territory was only around 36 miles long and roughly 15 miles wide. Although relatively small, Wiyot territory encompassed miles of old growth redwood forests, sandy dunes, wetlands and open prairies. Due to its abundance, redwood trees were often used by the Wiyot. Most notably, they made canoes and small houses out of the durable redwood. The average redwood canoe would measure a minimum of 18 feet long and 4 feet wide. To make the canoes, the Wiyot would fell a tree and hollow out the log with fire. Their houses would be made out of redwood planks, forming a rectangular shape. A pitched roof would be built on top. It is estimated that there were around 98 Wiyot villages built along Humboldt Bay and the nearby river banks
The Wiyot diet consisted mainly of acorns, berries, shellfish, salmon, deer, elk, and other small game.
The Wiyot name for Humboldt Bay is Wigi. Later encounters between settlers and the Wiyot people turned violent, as the settlers encroached on traditional territories. A small group of settlers perpetrated what is known as the 1860 Wiyot Massacre. Every year, around the month of February, the Wiyot people would gather for their World Renewal Ceremony on Indian Island, which lasted 7 to 10 days. During this ceremony, the men would leave each night to replenish supplies, leaving women, children, and elders on the island to rest. In the early morning hours of February 26, 1860, local settlers from the nearby town of Eureka descended onto Indian Island armed with firearms, clubs, knives, and hatchets. For over an hour, the group of settlers killed and mutilated every single Wiyot they could find. The majority of those murdered were women, children, and elders. The remaining survivors, including those on and off the island, were rounded up and then imprisoned at Fort Humboldt.
Through grassroots fundraising, and with the help of the community and individual donors, the Wiyot Tribe was able to purchase back 1.5 acres of the historic village site of Tuluwat on Indian Island in 2000, and in 2004, the Eureka City Council made history as they unanimously approved a resolution to return approximately 45 acres, comprising the northeastern tip of Indian Island, to the Wiyot Tribe.
Discovery and settlement
In the early 1800s Americans were drawn to Russian-Alaska by the maritime fur trade. They were searching for the fur of the sea-otter which could be sold for an enormous profit. The trade had been so intense that the number of Alaskan otters had greatly diminished. Captain Jonathan Winship of the Boston ship O'Cain contracted with Alexander Baranov, governor of the Russian-American Company, to hunt for otters along the coast of California. In preparation for the voyage the crew took on provisions for nearly 100 Aleut hunters, 12 native women, and three Russian supervisors. Also stowed aboard were 70 baidarkas, termed "canoes" in Winship's journal. From New Archangel, presently Sitka, the ship sailed south and closed with the coast at Cape Foulweather in Oregon. Several canoes were sent in. For the next week the ship followed the coast while canoes explored inshore. On June 10, 1806, canoes returned to the ship reporting plenty of otters. The scouts had gone ashore and after walking inland, Winship wrote, "they discovered a very spacious Sound."Giesecke 1997, p. 15. Five canoes went to find the entrance. They returned unsuccessful. O'Cain anchored in nearby Trinidad Bay. The Russians and hunters went ashore to trade for otter skins. Further exploration by small boat located the entrance and revealed the bifurcated nature of the Sound. On June 15 the chief mate and the Russian commander set out with fifty canoes for a "grand inspection." The natives reacted by threatening those who camped overnight. As the number of hostile natives increased, the hunters retreated to the ship. All of the canoes were taken aboard, and on June 21 O'Cain left Trinidad Bay and resumed its voyage to the south. Russians named the discovery the Bay of Rezanov after Nikolai Rezanov, a founder of the Russian-American Company.
Nothing came of the Winship discovery. Decades later, California experienced the Gold Rush. Exploring from his ranch in the Sacramento Valley, Pierson B. Reading found gold on the Trinity River. News of the event drew a wave of prospectors to northern California. With winter approaching, it was apparent that their provisions would be inadequate. A group of eight men led by Josiah Gregg set off in early November to find a route to the ocean. They crossed a succession of mountains. Progress was slow and they ran out of supplies making it necessary to stop and hunt. In places, game was scarce, and they spent days without food. Having crossed the mountains, they arrived at the redwood forest where they found a great mass of fallen timber. Two axemen had to precede the others to cut a way through. Eventually they reached the coast at the mouth of a stream now known as Little River. They headed north until they found their way blocked at Big Lagoon. They returned to what is now Trinidad where they camped. Continuing south, they crossed and named the Mad River. At their next camp, a search for drinking water led to the rediscovery of what is now called Humboldt Bay, December 20, 1849.
At San Francisco there was great interest in finding a sea route to the northern mines. During the first three months of 1850 many vessels sailed to explore the coast. The schooner Laura Virginia, captained by Douglass Ottinger, was chartered by an association. It put to sea with fifty passengers and a cargo of general merchandise. Sailing north well in shore, they observed what appeared to be a large bay, but had to put a landing party ashore at Trinidad to find the bay's entrance. Once the opening was located, Ottinger sent in a boat piloted by second mate Hans Henry Buhne. They managed to cross the bar, enter the bay, and land on the point across from the entrance. Later they headed back out to sea, Buhne sounding the channel. Aboard the schooner they decided to send in two boats loaded with passengers, tents and supplies. They landed on the north spit, then the following morning moved to the point. Days later, Buhne met the schooner at sea, and on April 14, 1850, he piloted the Laura Virginia into the bay and anchored off the point. The members of the Laura Virginia Association named the bay and their settlement in honor of Alexander von Humboldt, a noted German naturalist.