Historical Clippings Book (HC-04) (198 pages)

Student Archaeologists Dig Up History. Sunday, January 8, 1967 Page B5 ‘At Old Ft. Humboldt On North Coast -. Special to The Bee oe 1 ee EUREKA, Humboldt Co. — A : 4 group of scientists eagerly =F } awaits spring weather so its . i . . members may exploit further ; historical discoveries made last summer at old Ft. Humboldt, located in Eureka, First built m 1853, the fort was allowed to crumble. into ree ; ruin and disappear following its ==y* RCE ; ‘ } Jabandonment around 1870, But ¢ ——<sig , a ' . with $163,000 set aside for inii and tial restoration of the old fort, “x : eS ,; . Prof. Donald P. Jewell of Amer: ican River College near Sacramento headed a research team of 13 students in an archaeological dig last August. i The students were members . . of a Sacramento State College field course in archaeology which was financed by the State Division of Beaches and Parks. ; < .! . They were interested in locat‘ ‘ ‘ ey j “* ~* jing specific features of the fort ange ts ‘ alt wey : 4 for restoration. : OY : 4 cr. With little more than a poorly defined flagpole area as a » . guide, the enthusiastic probers ; . sliced out blocks of earth in search of the original foundation lines. Despite a dismaying lack of accurate knowledge of the fort, Jewell’s research team made valuable discoveries. Exact positions were determined for the s commanding officers’ quarters { . and enlisted men’s barracks and equipment, weapons and other historically significant items were uncovered, Recent Expedition Jewell, professor of anthropology and sociology at American . River College, recently spent an additional three days at the fort. y 4 “The State Division of Beaches and Parks asked us to locate the building in which Ulysses S. Grant had lived and this we successfully did,’ Jewell said. “We found a lot of refuse but we haven’t been able to find anything we can definitely say belonged to Grant. “The plans are still tentative ' but it is quite probable that Sac~ } ra i . . jramento State will offer another : mo : field course up there in August.” The State Office of Architecture and Construction will do the { : ia TS actual reconstruction work on { a { ¢ y : the fort. Funds will come from . i q . * the parks department while the plans will be based on the findacramento State College students work at the site where they uncovered a section of the Army 2cks at old Ft. Humboldt. The 114-year-old fort will be restored by the state with plans based on foundations unearthed by diggers. . oO Sk ®» ing a ings of the research team. : . “The archaeologists are confident that much more historical material remains to be uncovered,” a spokesman for the Looking over a chart on which the finds are carefully recorded are Bruce es. S \ Joseph Dion, records the discovery of Humboldt site in Eureka. gave consideration to Grant’s)The letter of resignation from undated letter of resignation.!the Army was immediately forBuchanan held it to insure Grant’s future conduct. In April 1854, Buchanan noticed Grant staggering under a load of frontier whisky as he Sacramento State College student, hear of me yet,” Grant told the post surgeon, Jonathan Clark, before he left Eureka. Grant’s own life story, enshrined as‘a war hero and later president of the United States, included the wistful observation that he would have liked to have made his home in California. oN Left By Grant? The research team may have uncovered some of the memorabilia left behind by U. S. Grant. So far about two dozen bottles, unbroken, have been uncovered and because of inflated values of such antiques, these are estimated to be worth as much as $700. Buttons, weapons, uniform fragments and other materials Ne have been found, placed in caree fully labeled paper bags for last», . ter study and classification. ; Although funds for the search and restoration work was budgeted during 1964, there had been little restoration work done because time and decay had wiped out virtually all evidence of the exact location and position of the * . fort’s 18 structures. 4 y The Army's faded and yellowed site plan positioned all . jof the buildings in relationship , . to the fort’s flagpole, but at the _ outset no one knew where the » . flagpole stood. By peripheral research, it was discovered the pole served as a base survey marker to locate other structures in early Eureka. By using these random points and drawing map lines toward the center, the flagpole was relocated at the point where the ; . lines crossed. It was archaeological detective work at its best and the calculations were affirmed when a fragment of the original pole was found within 2 feet of the pinpointed site. With the survey stake located, redwood posts, a door sill and warded, dated to take effect onjother foundation remnants were July 21, 1854. Even before it} subsequently uncovered. Each was operative, Grant was on his/of these items will serve as way back to Ohio and civilian. guides to other buildings which life. . have now disappeared into. the “My day will come—they willjoverburden of soil. . 2 =~ a buried post at the Ft. made his way to the pay table. Imswiller, left, geologist at American River College in Sacramento, and Donald P. Jewell, professor of anthropology and sociology at ARJC, who is in charge of the dig. parks department declared, . “and they hope to complete) their search of each building site) before construction covers these . materials for all time.” Grant’s Post Pn GET, ; A great deal of interest in the y a / . fort has been generated because Grant served there as a captain during the 1850s. Grant was the commanding officer of Company F, 4th U.S. Infantry. He was a West Pointer with his valor proven in the war with Mexico. The fort was requested by Gov, John Bigler in 1853 and the first contingent of troops came from the arsenal in Benicia. A high bluff near what is now Bucksport was the site of the fort. It was a lonely station. The troops were assigned there to jprotect peaceful Indians from unruly whites and occasionally guard the whites from irritable Indians. The disturbances on both sides jseemed to stem from the liquor] . readily obtainable in the area. {Company F had been on duty. Jat Ft. Humboldt since Janujary of 1853 and liquor along with . jmonotony had loosened the . thongs of military discipline for jofficers and enlisted men alike. Moody and unhappy with the} ‘ assignment because he had been) i ‘ 3 . : . forced to leave his wife, Julla,. : } } land small family in Ohio, for. . the Jonely California post, Grant; . frequently hit the bottle, a prac-. jtice which did not improve eith-. jer his ragged disposition or dis\cipline among the men of his ;command. The image which he carved among the redwoods was one which would follow Grant, then 32, for the rest of his life. By The Barrel It was natural that Grant became fast friends with Jimmy Ryan, a shrewd Irish lumberman who operated a general store. Grant’s interest in Ryan ed only by attention cy barrel stowed behind the counter. Grant spent his leisure and some ity time there, trying to forget & 06 sssing loneliness and he parrison. light to overcome his n, Grant hitched three of buggies in tandem and ced back to the fort. Lt . Robert C. Buc i relic from the Ft. Humboldt ruins is catawork are, from left, David Balistreri, Joseph most of rst of idered g as a military] ooned Grant for) conduct and].

Student Archaeologists Dig Up History. Sunday, January 8, 1967 Page B5 ‘At Old Ft. Humboldt On North Coast -. Special to The Bee oe 1 ee EUREKA, Humboldt Co. — A : 4 group of scientists eagerly =F } awaits spring weather so its . i . . members may exploit further ; historical discoveries made last summer at old Ft. Humboldt, located in Eureka, First built m 1853, the fort was allowed to crumble. into ree ; ruin and disappear following its ==y* RCE ; ‘ } Jabandonment around 1870, But ¢ ——<sig , a ' . with $163,000 set aside for inii and tial restoration of the old fort, “x : eS ,; . Prof. Donald P. Jewell of Amer: ican River College near Sacramento headed a research team of 13 students in an archaeological dig last August. i The students were members . . of a Sacramento State College field course in archaeology which was financed by the State Division of Beaches and Parks. ; < .! . They were interested in locat‘ ‘ ‘ ey j “* ~* jing specific features of the fort ange ts ‘ alt wey : 4 for restoration. : OY : 4 cr. With little more than a poorly defined flagpole area as a » . guide, the enthusiastic probers ; . sliced out blocks of earth in search of the original foundation lines. Despite a dismaying lack of accurate knowledge of the fort, Jewell’s research team made valuable discoveries. Exact positions were determined for the s commanding officers’ quarters { . and enlisted men’s barracks and equipment, weapons and other historically significant items were uncovered, Recent Expedition Jewell, professor of anthropology and sociology at American . River College, recently spent an additional three days at the fort. y 4 “The State Division of Beaches and Parks asked us to locate the building in which Ulysses S. Grant had lived and this we successfully did,’ Jewell said. “We found a lot of refuse but we haven’t been able to find anything we can definitely say belonged to Grant. “The plans are still tentative ' but it is quite probable that Sac~ } ra i . . jramento State will offer another : mo : field course up there in August.” The State Office of Architecture and Construction will do the { : ia TS actual reconstruction work on { a { ¢ y : the fort. Funds will come from . i q . * the parks department while the plans will be based on the findacramento State College students work at the site where they uncovered a section of the Army 2cks at old Ft. Humboldt. The 114-year-old fort will be restored by the state with plans based on foundations unearthed by diggers. . oO Sk ®» ing a ings of the research team. : . “The archaeologists are confident that much more historical material remains to be uncovered,” a spokesman for the Looking over a chart on which the finds are carefully recorded are Bruce es. S \ Joseph Dion, records the discovery of Humboldt site in Eureka. gave consideration to Grant’s)The letter of resignation from undated letter of resignation.!the Army was immediately forBuchanan held it to insure Grant’s future conduct. In April 1854, Buchanan noticed Grant staggering under a load of frontier whisky as he Sacramento State College student, hear of me yet,” Grant told the post surgeon, Jonathan Clark, before he left Eureka. Grant’s own life story, enshrined as‘a war hero and later president of the United States, included the wistful observation that he would have liked to have made his home in California. oN Left By Grant? The research team may have uncovered some of the memorabilia left behind by U. S. Grant. So far about two dozen bottles, unbroken, have been uncovered and because of inflated values of such antiques, these are estimated to be worth as much as $700. Buttons, weapons, uniform fragments and other materials Ne have been found, placed in caree fully labeled paper bags for last», . ter study and classification. ; Although funds for the search

and restoration work was budgeted during 1964, there had been little restoration work done because time and decay had wiped out virtually all evidence of the exact location and position of the * . fort’s 18 structures. 4 y The Army's faded and yellowed site plan positioned all . jof the buildings in relationship , . to the fort’s flagpole, but at the _ outset no one knew where the » . flagpole stood. By peripheral research, it was discovered the pole served as a base survey marker to locate other structures in early Eureka. By using these random points and drawing map lines toward the center, the flagpole was relocated at the point where the ; . lines crossed. It was archaeological detective work at its best and the calculations were affirmed when a fragment of the original pole was found within 2 feet of the pinpointed site. With the survey stake located, redwood posts, a door sill and warded, dated to take effect onjother foundation remnants were July 21, 1854. Even before it} subsequently uncovered. Each was operative, Grant was on his/of these items will serve as way back to Ohio and civilian. guides to other buildings which life. . have now disappeared into. the “My day will come—they willjoverburden of soil. . 2 =~ a buried post at the Ft. made his way to the pay table. Imswiller, left, geologist at American River College in Sacramento, and Donald P. Jewell, professor of anthropology and sociology at ARJC, who is in charge of the dig. parks department declared, . “and they hope to complete) their search of each building site) before construction covers these . materials for all time.” Grant’s Post Pn GET, ; A great deal of interest in the y a / . fort has been generated because Grant served there as a captain during the 1850s. Grant was the commanding officer of Company F, 4th U.S. Infantry. He was a West Pointer with his valor proven in the war with Mexico. The fort was requested by Gov, John Bigler in 1853 and the first contingent of troops came from the arsenal in Benicia. A high bluff near what is now Bucksport was the site of the fort. It was a lonely station. The troops were assigned there to jprotect peaceful Indians from unruly whites and occasionally guard the whites from irritable Indians. The disturbances on both sides jseemed to stem from the liquor] . readily obtainable in the area. {Company F had been on duty. Jat Ft. Humboldt since Janujary of 1853 and liquor along with . jmonotony had loosened the . thongs of military discipline for jofficers and enlisted men alike. Moody and unhappy with the} ‘ assignment because he had been) i ‘ 3 . : . forced to leave his wife, Julla,. : } } land small family in Ohio, for. . the Jonely California post, Grant; . frequently hit the bottle, a prac-. jtice which did not improve eith-. jer his ragged disposition or dis\cipline among the men of his ;command. The image which he carved among the redwoods was one which would follow Grant, then 32, for the rest of his life. By The Barrel It was natural that Grant became fast friends with Jimmy Ryan, a shrewd Irish lumberman who operated a general store. Grant’s interest in Ryan ed only by attention cy barrel stowed behind the counter. Grant spent his leisure and some ity time there, trying to forget & 06 sssing loneliness and he parrison. light to overcome his n, Grant hitched three of buggies in tandem and ced back to the fort. Lt . Robert C. Buc i relic from the Ft. Humboldt ruins is catawork are, from left, David Balistreri, Joseph most of rst of idered g as a military] ooned Grant for) conduct and].