"All that portion of Humboldt county which is, so to speak, within the domain of civilization, have been thoroughly, and it is believed permanently, ridded by peaceable means of this objectionable class."
Humboldt County, California. A Pamphlet Descriptive of its Climate, Resources and Advantages: Together with a Carefully Compiled Statement of Its Lumber Output and Exports of Natural Products for the Year Ending August 1, 1887 [cover title].
Eureka: Commissioners of Humboldt County, Cal., to the State and Mechanics' Institute Fairs and the Chamber of Commerces of the City of Eureka, 1887.
First edition. 12-page pamphlet, printed by C. W. Nevin & Co. in San Francisco.
An early and scarce (OCLC records six copies) promotional pamphlet for Humboldt County, and the first to describe the forced removal of all ethnic Chinese just two years before.
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The pamphlet describes Humboldt County, located on the upper northwest coast of California as "A remarkable country! Containing an area of 2,297,600 acres. Possessed of a great variety of climate. Endowed by nature with the most bountiful resources for the wealth and comfort of mankind." It was prepared for the State and Mechanics' Institute Fairs and includes statistics of lumber and agricultural production and is illustrated with a full-page woodcut of a fully loaded train carrying just sixteen logs.
After extolling the opportunities for new homes and wool-growing, this pamphlet concludes with the following headline: No Chinese in Humboldt County. In 1885, after a Eureka City Council member was caught in a crossfire during a gun battle between rival Chinese groups, a group of vigilantes (supported by most of the populace) forced almost all the Chinese in the region to leave on steamships. A few brave souls remained, working the mines in the remote northern section of the county (an area that had been added to Humboldt County after the dissolution of Klamath County in 1874). In 1907, the manager of a lumber mill in southern Humboldt recruited Chinese laborers, only to be told in no uncertain terms that Chinese were not allowed. Once again, the workers were rounded up and loaded on the next boat to San Francisco. In the 1950s, the first permanent Chinese Americans residents arrived in Humboldt County to stay.
As far as we have been able to determine, this is the first book in include an account of the original Chinese expulsion and the anti-Asian sentiment behind it. Sadly, the zeal for vigilantism in the county (witness also the many Indian massacres), was seen as a selling point to outsiders. They might well have said, "White supremacists only need apply." According to the writers of this pamphlet, who included two of the lumbermen whose legacy is still remembered in Eureka-John Vance and William Carson: "All that portion of Humboldt county which is, so to speak, within the domain of civilization, have been thoroughly, and it is believed permanently, ridded by peaceable means of this objectionable class....To those who have experienced the misery of having this degraded and debasing element in their midst, and realize the futility of redress at the hands of United States Courts, which has been so often demonstrated, this simple fact of itself is no small recommendation when seeking a home as far removed from [this] vicious example as possible."
Other than an old dampstain at the bottom edge, the book is remarkably well preserved.
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