FIELD NOTES
Poetry, Music & Art in the Park. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Stewart Park, Arcata, Arcata. Celebrate life and togetherness with the Sanctuary community as they host a day of music, poetry and art making in the park. Bring your sketchbook and join in the arting. Rain brings it into the Sanctuary.
FOOD Food Not Bombs. 4 p.m. Arcata Plaza, Ninth and G streets. Free, hot food for everyone. Mostly vegan and organic and always delicious. Free.
OUTDOORS Birding & Biking the Arcata Bottoms. 8:30-11 a.m. Arcata Bottoms V Street Loop, 3711-3001 Old Samoa Road. Redwood Region Audubon Society invites you to bring bikes and binoculars to join Cal Poly Humboldt ornithology lecturer Sean Mahoney navigating the flat roads, and viewing grassland species, including blackbirds, egrets, herons, kites and hawks. Sign up via email. Free. sean. mahoney@humboldt.edu. www.rras.org/home.aspx. Lost Coast Trail Stewards Work Day - Pacific Rim Trail part 2. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. King Range National Conservation Area, 768 Shelter Cove Road, Whitethorn. Trail raking, water bars and clearing of downed trees with provided tools on Pacific Rim Trail. Meet at Pacific Rim Trailhead, on Shelter Cove Road, approximately 2/10 mile east of Chemise Mountain Road. Bring your own snacks, water and gloves. Email RSVP. Free. justin@lostcoast.org. www. lostcoast.org/event/lost-coast-trail-stewards-workday-pacific-rim-trail-part-2/.
SPORTS Ron Millsaps Memorial Race Summit Series Race #1. 9:30 a.m. Samoa Drag Strip, Lincoln Avenue and New Navy Base Road. Fourth annual race and street rod car show. $10, free for 12 and under. www.samoadragstrip. com/.
ETC English Express: An English Language Class for Adults. Ongoing. Virtual World, Online. See April 21 listing.
25 Monday ART
Lisa Carpenter Landis Art Show. Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary Interpretive Center, 569 S. G St. During March and April, pastel paintings by Lisa Carpenter Landis will be on display.
FOOD Volunteer Orientation Food for People. 3:30-4:30 p.m. See April 21 listing.
OUTDOORS Sumeg Village Tour. 2:30-3:30 p.m. Sue-meg State Park, 4150 Patrick’s Point Drive, Trinidad. Join us for a free interpretive tour of Sumeg Village within Sue-meg State Park. Rain cancels. Please check “California State Parks North Coast Redwoods” Facebook page for updates/ cancelations. Free.
ETC English Express: An English Language Class for Adults. Ongoing. Virtual World, Online. See April 21 listing. Homesharing Info Session. 9:30-10 a.m. and 9:30-10 a.m. This informational Zoom session will go over the steps and safeguards of Area 1 Agency on Aging’s matching process and the different types of homeshare partnerships. Email Julie at homeshare@a1aa.org for the link. Free. www.a1aa.org/homesharing. 442-3763. Tabata. 5:30-6:30 p.m. Virtual World, Online. See April 22 listing.
26 Tuesday MUSIC
Music on the Quad. Noon-1 p.m. Student Activities Center at Cal Poly Humboldt, 1 Harpst St., Arcata. Featuring Jazzy Jayne, rap. Free. sac@humboldt.edu. www. sles.humboldt.edu/sac/events-calendar. 826-3928.
MEETINGS Humboldt Cribbage Club Tournament. 6:15-9 p.m. Moose Lodge, 4328 Campton Road, Eureka. Weekly six-game cribbage tournament for experienced players. Inexperienced players may watch, learn and play on the side. Moose dinner available at 5:30 p.m. Contact venue for current COVID protocols. $3-$8. 31for14@ gmail.com. 599-4605.
ETC English Express: An English Language Class for Adults. Ongoing. Virtual World, Online. See April 21 listing. Restorative Movement. 10:30-11:30 a.m. & 2-3 p.m. Virtual World, Online. See April 21 listing.
27 Wednesday ART
Figure Drawing. 6-8:30 p.m. Blondies Food And Drink, 420 E. California Ave., Arcata. $5. www.blondiesfoodanddrink.com. Wellness Night at the SAC. 7-9 p.m. Student Activities Center at Cal Poly Humboldt, 1 Harpst St., Arcata. Special Bob Ross Paint Night. An instructor-led paint class featuring mocktails, Ross on the big screen and crafts. All supplies provided. Free. sac@humboldt.edu. www.sles. humboldt.edu/sac/events-calendar. 826-3928.
BOOKS On the Same Page Book Club. 5:30 p.m. Virtual World, Online. Online book club that meets on the first Wednesday of the month on Zoom. Sign up using the Google form at www.forms.gle/bAsjdQ7hKGqEgJKj7.
LECTURE Cal Poly Humboldt Cannabis Studies Speaker Series: Prohibited Commoning: Lessons for an Emancipatory Legalization.. 5:30-7 p.m. Michael Polson reflects on the commoning practices that farmers innovated under prohibition and what lessons they may have in considering an emancipatory legalization. Free. soc@humboldt.edu. humboldtstate.zoom.us/j/83235585916?pwd=d2tMbVVoWTU4K0YxV3JNVkw1SFc4UT09.826-3142.
MUSIC Bayside Ballads and Blues. 6-8 p.m. Clam Beach Tavern, 4611 Central Ave., McKinleyville. Every Wednesday. Contact venue for current COVID protocols. Chicano Batman with Divino Niño. 8 p.m. Arcata Theatre Lounge, 1036 G St. Doors open at 7 p.m. All ages. Contact venue for current COVID protocol. $29. www. arcatatheatre.com.
SPOKEN WORD Word Humboldt Slam Team Finals. 6-10 p.m. The Miniplex, 900 Samoa Blvd., Arcata. Presented by Word Humboldt and Redwood Reworded. Free. richardsgoat@gmail.com. www.facebook.com/ events/546253753457185/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22search_results%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22search%22%7D]%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3Anull%7D.630-5000. Continued on next page »
Josiah Gregg: Prairie Years By Barry Evans
Title page of Josiah Gregg’s Commerce of the Prairies, 1844. Public domain
fieldnotes@northcoastjournal.com “[In 1839] An unconquerable propensity to return to prairie life inclined me to embark in a fresh enterprise.” — Commerce of the Prairies, Josiah Gregg, published in 1844
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large brass plaque outside Eureka City Hall celebrates the Josiah Gregg overland expedition, which “discovered” Humboldt Bay in late December of 1849. Two months later, 43-year-old Gregg — doctor, explorer, naturalist, merchant, surveyor, cartographer, photographer, author — died near Clear Lake after falling from his horse, having been weakened by starvation. Sadly, he and his party are barely acknowledged here in Humboldt. Lewis Keysor Wood gave his name to a boulevard in Arcata, James Van Duzen to a tributary of the Eel, David Buck to Bucksport in south Eureka and J.B. Truesdale to Truesdale Street, south of the Bayshore Mall. In addition to Truesdale, the original plat map of that area includes the names of Thomas Seabring, Charles Southard and — finally! — Gregg himself. Gregg lived what most people would consider several rich and fulfilling lifetimes, despite suffering from chronic dyspepsia (indigestion) and, probably, tuberculosis. Born in Tennessee in 1806, he grew up in Illinois and Missouri. In 1830, while living in Independence, Missouri, his doctor recommended he spend time in the great outdoors, specifically the southern prairies. He writes, “The Prairies have, in fact, become very celebrated for their sanative effects. …Most chronic diseases, particularly liver complaints, dyspepsias, and similar affections, are often radically cured; owing, no doubt, to the peculiarities of diet, and the regular exercise incident to prairie life, as well as to the purity of the atmosphere of those elevated unembarrassed regions. … An invalid myself; I can answer for the efficacy of the remedy.”
Between 1830 and 1849, Gregg established himself as the most experienced “caravan master” of the Santa Fe Trail, leading huge wagon trains between Independence and Santa Fe. He also pioneered other routes across the prairies, including spearheading a supply line south to Chihuahua, Mexico, at a time when the French navy was blockading Mexican ports. In addition to successful business ventures, he pursued his love of geology, cultures of Native tribes and, in particular, botany; 47 species of plants bear his patronym greggii. Love of the prairies led to Gregg’s bestseller, Commerce of the Prairies (it’s in the Humboldt County Library, great read!), published simultaneously in New York and London in 1844. The subtitle reads: “… or the Journal of a Santa Fe Trader during Eight Expeditions across the Great Western Prairies, and a Residence of Nearly Nine Years in Northern Mexico.” It went through six editions within the next few years, not including translations into French and German. In 1845, at age 39, he enrolled in the University of Louisville medical school for two semesters before joining another wagon train out of Independence. Apparently, he couldn’t get enough of the prairies. When the Mexican War broke out in 1846, he joined the Arkansas Volunteers as an interpreter — he spoke Spanish fluently — and unofficial correspondent. In February of 1847, he sent his eyewitness account of the ambiguous battle of Buena Vista (near Monterrey, Coahuila), in which both sides claimed victory, to newspapers in the U.S. In what would turn out to be the last chapter of his rich life, Gregg’s days in California began shortly after discovery of gold at John Sutter’s mill in January of 1848. That’s a story for next week. l Barry Evans (barryevans9@yahoo.com) finds it enough of a challenge to live just one life well.
northcoastjournal.com • Thursday, April 21, 2022 • NORTH COAST JOURNAL
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