Field Notes

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. (707) 599-4605. Monthly Meeting VFW Post 1872. First Tuesday of every month, 6-7 p.m. Redwood Empire VFW Post 1872, 1018 H Street, Eureka. Calling all combat veterans and all veterans eligible for membership in Veterans of Foreign Wars to meet comrades and learn about events in the renovated Memorial Building. Free. PearceHansen999@outlook.com. (707) 443-5331.

OUTDOORS

Tim McKay Birdathon. Various Humboldt County locations. See April 29 listing.

ETC

English Express: An English Language Class for Adults.

Ongoing. Virtual World, Online. See April 28 listing. Restorative Movement. 10:30-11:30 a.m. & 2-3 p.m. Virtual World, Online. See April 28 listing.

4 Wednesday

Figure Drawing. 6-8:30 p.m. Blondies Food And Drink, 420 E. California Ave., Arcata. $5. www.blondiesfoodanddrink.com.

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

Cannabis Studies Speaker Series Webinar. 5:30-6:30 p.m. Sue Sisley presents Sue ‘n the DEA: Breaking the 50-year NIDA Cannabis Research Monopoly. Sisley will discuss her lawsuits against the DOJ/DEA to remove barriers to cannabis/botanical research. Free. avs1@humboldt.edu. humboldtstate.zoom.us/j/83235585916?pwd=d2tMbVVoWTU4K0YxV3JNVkw1SFc4UT09. 707-826-3142.

MOVIES

The Bartow Project. See May 1 listing.

MUSIC

Bayside Ballads and Blues. 6-8 p.m. Clam Beach Tavern, 4611 Central Ave., McKinleyville. Every Wednesday. Contact venue for current COVID protocols. Cocktail Piano. 6-8 p.m. Palm Lounge, Eureka Inn, 518 Seventh St. See April 28 listing.

EVENTS

Fortuna Mother’s Day Charm Walk. Fortuna Main Street, Main Street. See April 29 listing. May the Fourth Be With You. 3:30-5:30 & 6-8:30 p.m. Sequoia Park Zoo, 3414 W St., Eureka. Costumes encouraged for an all-ages event with an obstacle course, space-themed temporary tattoos and a crafts table. Meet and greet photo opportunity with Ewok actor, stuntman and author Kevin Thompson. An after-hours event with cantina-themed cocktails and DJ music in the zoo for those 21 or older from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Free. www.sequoiaparkzoo.net.

GARDEN

Sea Goat Farm Garden Volunteer Opportunities. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Abbey of the Redwoods, 1450 Hiller Road, McKinleyville. See April 29 listing.

OUTDOORS

Tim McKay Birdathon. Various, Humboldt County, Many. See April 29 listing.

ETC

English Express: An English Language Class for Adults.

Ongoing. Virtual World, Online. See April 28 listing. Tabata. 5:30-6:30 p.m. Virtual World, Online. See April 29 listing. Trivia Night. Every other Wednesday, 6-8 p.m. The

5 Thursday

ART

Art Night at the Sanctuary. First Thursday of every month, 4-7 p.m. The Sanctuary, 1301 J St., Arcata. Create with others freely or work on a guided project. Bring your own supplies or use what’s around to collage, paint, draw, make an art book, etc. $5-$20 suggested, no one turned away for lack of funds. www.sanctuaryarcata.org.

BOOKS

Equity Series Book Discussion Group. 3:45-4:45 p.m. Virtual World, Online. See April 28 listing.

COMEDY

Comedy Humboldt Open Mic. First Thursday of every month, 8-10 p.m. Clam Beach Tavern, 4611 Central Ave., McKinleyville. Every Thursday night. Contact venue for current COVID protocols.

MOVIES

The Bartow Project. See May 1 listing.

MUSIC

Americana Music. 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Grind Cafe, 734 Fifth St., Eureka. See April 28 listing. Cocktail Piano. 6-8 p.m. Palm Lounge, Eureka Inn, 518 Seventh St. See April 28 listing. The Color of Jazz. 7-10 p.m. Palm Lounge, Eureka Inn, 518 Seventh St. See April 28 listing. Grupo Nueva Illusion. 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Bear River Casino and Resort Ballroom, 11 Bear Paws Way, Loleta. A special Cinco de Mayo Banda in the Tish non Ballroom. Check with venue for current COVID protocols. $10. www. fb.me/e/3i5yeSdIn. Particle Kid w/the Starhoppers. 7:30 p.m. The Old Steeple, 246 Berding St., Ferndale. Experimental future-folk project from Los Angeles-based musician and visual artist Micah Nelson, son of Willie Nelson. Local space-surf band The Starhoppers, featuring Paul Beatie, open. Vaccination and masks are strongly encouraged. $30, $25 advance.

THEATER

Fool’s Delight. 8 p.m. Dell’Arte’s Carlo Theatre, 131 H St., Blue Lake. The annual Dell’Arte PTP Clown Showcase. Get tickets at https://dellarte.com/product/ptpclown-show2022. $10 and up. dellarte.com/product/ ptp-clown-show2022.

EVENTS

Cinco De Mayo/Five-Year Anniversary Celebration.

7-10 p.m. The Historic Eagle House, 139 Second St., Eureka. The Historic Eagle House and the Inn at 2nd and C celebrate with music by Object Heavy. Call to reserve a table. (707) 407-0634. Fortuna Mother’s Day Charm Walk. Fortuna Main Street, Main Street. See April 29 listing.

FOOD

Volunteer Orientation Food for People. 3-4 p.m. See April 28 listing.

MEETINGS

Ujima Parent Peer Support. 6:30-7:30 p.m. Virtual World, Online. See April 28 listing. Virtual Whiteness Accountability Space. 12-1 p.m. Virtual World, Online. See April 28 listing.

OUTDOORS

Tim McKay Birdathon. Various Humboldt County locations. See April 29 listing.

ETC

English Express: An English Language Class for Adults.

Ongoing. Virtual World, Online. See April 28 listing. Restorative Movement. 10:30-11:30 a.m. & 2-3 p.m. Virtual World, Online. See April 28 listing. l

Josiah Gregg in California

By Barry Evans

fieldnotes@northcoastjournal.com

“Here commenced an expedition, the marked and prominent features of which were constant and unmitigated toil, hardship, privation, and suffering.” — From the journal of Lewis Keysor

Wood, published in the Humboldt Times, April, 1856

Picking up where we left off last week (“Josiah Gregg: Prairie Years,” April 21): After two decades of prairie living in the southwest, both in the U.S. and Mexico, Josiah Gregg was captivated by the lure of Californian gold. For a man who claimed his health improved markedly on the plains while breathing “the purity of the atmosphere of those elevated unembarrassed regions,” it surely was a risky move to head into the wilds of Northern California. But Gregg’s life had been full of risks thus far, so when he sailed from Mazatlán for San Francisco in the summer of 1849, I imagine he was looking forward to another great adventure.

Upon his arrival, he would have heard the latest “gold fever” news: Maj. Pierson Reading had found gold on a sandbar on the Trinity River, just six months after the original Sutter Mill strike hundreds of miles south. Soon Gregg, accompanied as always by his sextant, compass and botanical gear, was checking out placer mines on the Trinity. In late October of 1849, he was at Rich Bar mining camp, 3 miles north of Helena (just off present-day State Route 299), proposing an expedition to the coast. Local Native people had described a sheltered bay on the Pacific eight days walk west of the camp. The idea of finding an east-west route to service miners on the Trinity and perhaps laying claim to property on the coast must have looked appealing at first blush.

So it was that on Nov. 5, 1849, Gregg and seven others, with provisions for 10 days, headed westward into unknown territory. Two Native guides quit after an early snowfall covered any existing trails, so the ill-equipped party was forced to find its own route. They negotiated ridge after ridge of mountains after attempting, unsuccessfully, to follow the Trinity to the sea. Six harrowing weeks later, they reached the Pacific at the mouth of Little River. (Although historians know that L.K. Wood wasn’t a 100 percent reliable source, his account of the expedition is the only one we have, as told several years later to the editor of the Humboldt Times.)

Heading south, the group borrowed Native canoes to cross a river. However, Gregg first wanted to establish the latitude of the river mouth, to the irritation of the other tired and hungry men. They crossed without him and when he finally caught up, Gregg “opened upon us a perfect battery of the most withering and violent abuse,” according to Wood. The water body thus acquired its present settler name, Mad River.

Having “discovered” Qual-a-wa-loo, aka Humboldt Bay, they were eager to return to “civilization” to report this potential shortcut to the Trinity mining camps, but dissension resulted in the group splitting. Four men, led by Wood, headed down the South Fork of the Eel, thence to the Sonoma Valley; the other four, under Gregg, originally stayed close to the coast but, finding this too difficult in winter, went east to emerge into the Sacramento Valley. Gregg, the “old gentleman” of the group (he was 43), didn’t make it. Weak from starvation, he died hours after falling off his horse near Clear Lake, though accounts vary and he may have survived briefly in a Native village.

Within weeks of the return of the remaining expedition members, ships headed north out of San Francisco to the newly “found” bay. On April 9, 1850, the first of these, the Laura Virginia, entered it. Her captain Douglas Ottinger named the bay after Alexander von Humboldt, the Prussian naturalist-explorer who would, had he met him, have found much in common with Josiah Gregg. l

Josiah Gregg in 1830, age about 24.

Photographer unknown, public domain

Barry Evans (he/him, barryevans9@ yahoo.com), who drives to Helena along State Route 299 in about three hours, just can’t imagine walking it. In winter. With no road or trail.