Communicating With Humboldt

             In the 21st century, communication is something we all take for granted. Pull a device from your pocket, and you can instantly talk with someone in New York or Argentina or Mongolia. Order a product from the other side of the world, and it can be on your doorstep in a few days. But at one time, living in Humboldt County meant that communicating with anyone further away than a few blocks was not an easy matter.

            When settlers first came here in the 1850s, they instantly became even more isolated than the average 19th century American. Every few weeks a ship from San Francisco might brave the perils of fog and high seas to bring letters from the outside. These arrivals were greeted by large expectant crowds. Communications from the east coast could take much longer as ships traveled around the Horn or transferred cargos through the jungles of Panama.

            But sketchy, rough roads penetrating the Redwood Curtain could also be dicey. Early express companies such as Wells Fargo, as well as stage coaches and pack trains were subject to hostile weather and banditry. The first post offices here were established in the 1850s, but mail, when it arrived, could be weeks late. The fabled Pony Express never reached here.

            But big changes were coming.

            In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell introduced the world to his remarkable new invention, the telephone. In less than a decade, some appeared in Humboldt, installed by businessmen and lumber companies for prestige and to facilitate communication in their facilities. Then in April of 1874, the first public telephone exchange opened in an upstairs back room on 2nd Street in Eureka. It operated only during the daytime except for emergency or medical calls when an overnight operator would be awakened by a bell and put the call through. At first there were only twelve subscribers, but rapidly the device caught on, and community after community established their own exchanges. After extensive line-stringing, the first long distance call was made to San Francisco in 1895.

            Initially calls were connected through switchboard operators (always women), but by the 1940s and ‘50s direct dialing was established. Party lines, the great joy of community gossip mongers, eventually phased out.

            The telegraph, though established earlier elsewhere, made its local appearance about the same time as the telephone. However, the copper wires connecting Humboldt to the outside were subject to damage from weather, corrosion and occasional earthquakes. The great quake of 1906 cut off our telephone and telegraph links for about a week.

            However, in the 20th century, the outside world was reaching Humboldt in other ways. Before and during World War One, military wireless stations were established at Fort Humboldt and Table Bluff. By the 1920s, several commercial radio stations began bringing news and entertainment to Humboldters eagerly gathered around their radio sets. Operating ham radios became a popular hobby after the Second World War and a club was organized for enthusiasts.

            Then, of course, came television with the first commercial station opening in 1953 and public TV in 1969. This media too kept moving on – from black and white to color, from boxy sets to flat screens, from three networks to infinite cable choices.

Today, it seems, all these channels of communication – mail, telephone, television, etc. –   almost seem to blend. We can carry in a pocket, more communication possibilities than any Humboldter has in history.

            And, of course, this story doesn’t end here. History is always moving on, and as it does, rest assured, that the Humboldt County Historical Society will keep archiving and sharing that history. Visit us (when health conditions permit) at 703 8th Street in Eureka or, in keeping up with communication technology, at www.humboldthistory.com.