The year was 1938. The Mendocino Mill had been shut down due to the Depression, and nobody expected it to ever reopen its doors. Spring freshets no longer supplied the mill with logs. And suddenly - bingo! A huge windfall of logs headed UP the river from the open sea, and the ensuing weeks found the mill busier than ever. “BIG RAFT BREAKS IN TWO OFF [...]
September 20, 1918 - Miss Ardell Nichols was injured in an auto collision in San Francisco. Ardell, the daughter of Joseph H. and Mary (Nelson) Nichols of Mendocino, was born in San Francisco in 1892. Joseph’s family had moved from Maine to Mendocino when he was a child, and Mary had been born in Mendocino County. Following their marriage, they moved to San Francisco, where they [...]
September 18, 1912 - The barkentine J. M. Griffith left Noyo Harbor for Mendocino, which was her last stop on the way to Hawaii. Ties and shingles had been loaded in Fort Bragg, and at Mendocino she took on a cargo of lumber. Barkentine J. M. Griffith, 1912. The J. M. Griffith moored at Big River in Mendocino. The Mendocino Mill can be seen in the [...]
September 16, 1942 - Henry Nystrom died of a heart attack at the age of 57, while in charge of a crew fighting a fire in the hills near the Mountain House on the road to Cloverdale. Soon after arriving at the fire, Henry sent his men to different locations and struck out for another spot himself. He was found deceased by a member of his [...]
September 13, 1913 - Joseph Granskog held a public auction to sell “a lot running from Main street to Albion street, on which is situated a building of two stories and an attic, and a dwelling.” This property was located west of Kasten Street, where Mendocino Jewelry Studio is in 2022. Granskog's Eagle Saloon, c. 1909. Joseph Granskog, with mustache, is standing at the door. Joseph [...]
Ox Team at The Point, 1873 - 1878. View toward the northeast of two yoked oxen at the Mendocino Shipping Point. The animals were used to move lumber along a narrow railway that ran from the Incline at the top of the bluffs above the Mendocino Lumber Company's sawmill, out to the lumber yard at The Point for shipment. Lumber is stacked nearby. A man in [...]
September 9, 1949 - The Pacific Enterprise, a British tramp steamer, ran aground on treacherous rocks about a mile offshore of the Point Arena lighthouse in a heavy coastal fog. The ship was traveling from Vancouver, B. C. to Glasgow, Scotland, and its cargo of lumber, wheat, canned salmon, and zinc and lead ingots was estimated to be worth $4 million. The Pacific Enterprise at Point [...]
September 6, 1914 - Albert Brown, secretary of the Farmers & Apple Growers Association, began a trip across Mendocino County to promote the upcoming Mendocino Apple Fair. Albert was the founder of the apple show and the driving force behind the construction of Apple Hall, which was built in 1912 for produce exhibits including the fair. Albert’s first stop was the south coast where he met [...]
September 4, 1930 - A big crowd turned out for the first night of roller skating at the skating rink on the southwest corner of Lansing and Ukiah Streets. The Beacon reported that “The opening night was well attended and there were a large number of skaters on the floor most of the evening.” The skating sessions, managed by Joseph Scheper, would operate on Wednesday, Thursday, [...]
Saint Anthony's Catholic Church, 1906-1930. The first Saint Anthony's in Mendocino with the monastery in the rear. September 2, 1906 - Very Reverend Father Anthony Brennan, Provincial Superior of the Capuchin Franciscans, dedicated the order’s newly completed monastery adjacent to St. Anthony’s Catholic Church on Lansing Street. He also unveiled the Statue of St. Anthony of Lisbon, a gift from A. L. Gonsalves of Melburne. Builder [...]