Artifact Spotlight: Roadtrip! The Orick Peanut

For the month of July, we will be featuring items and stories from our new exhibit, The Redwoods Provide(d). This week's artifact spotlight is taking a road trip to Orick. Sometimes known as the gateway to the redwoods, Orick holds an interesting piece of the National Park story, which I discovered while working on research for our new exhibit, which opens this weekend. Enjoy! -Katie Buesch

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​Driving into the small town of Orick, you’ll see several interesting pieces of redwood-from roots, to burls, to animals and people-shaped woodcarvings. However, there is one notable piece of redwood that is often overlooked. As you’re driving into town from the south, it is in the parking lot of the Shoreline Market: a mossy, nine-ton piece of redwood that has seen better days. This is the Orick Peanut.

Dubbed the ‘largest peanut in the world,’ the Peanut’s story begins with discussions about expanding Redwood National Park in the mid-1970s. The expansion bill, like the Redwood National Park establishment bill which passed in 1968, was fought heavily by lumber companies and workers. During the Parks original establishment however, much of the concern was about the unprecedented purchase of privately owned timber land from local companies by the federal government. During the Park expansion discussions, concerns were more oriented around the impact the expanding Park would have on the local logging-based economy. Slogans like “Jobs Grow with Trees” and “Don’t Park Our Jobs” were very popular in opposition of the park expansion. Workers wanted the government to “work for the general welfare [by not expanding the park], don't put us on welfare”.

In 1977, a nationwide protest called the Talk to America Convoy occurred. 25 semi-trucks loaded with redwood logs, timber products, signs, and equipment drove from Eureka, California to Washington DC, a trip that took 9 days. Leading the protest parade was a red semi-truck with a flatbed trailer carrying the crown jewel of the parade: a piece of roughly hewn and de-barked redwood roughly shaped with a chainsaw and sandblaster to resemble a peanut, which was then named Mr. Peanut. A small sign was attached which read “it may be Peanuts to you, but it’s Jobs to us!” above a larger sign that read “How Much is Enough?”

The President at the time was Jimmy Carter, known at the Peanut Farmer. Some say the Peanut was meant to be a sarcastic gift to the President, however, one statement from a protestor states the plan for the Peanut was for it to be taken down to the President’s peanut farm in Georgia and displayed with a plaque alongside. One of Carter’s aides refused the gift on behalf of the President, stating that the Peanut an inappropriate use of a redwood. The Peanut was driven back across the country to Orick, where the president of the Chamber of Commerce had agreed to display Mr. Peanut, representing the towns opposition to the expansion of the parks , which was largely viewed as a government takeover. One newspaper however, stated that the state and federal government should pay to build a cover to protect it from the elements. Nowadays, Mr. Peanut resides outside the Shoreline Market out in the open.

So the next time you're in Orick, stop by to say hi to this lowly legume in the Shoreline Market parking lot. It's humble appearance beguiles a fascinating piece of local history!

The screenshots featured in this post were taken from the Associated California Loggers documentary "Enough is Enough", which can be viewed online for free here. It's worth a watch! Present day photos of the Orick Peanut were taken by Katie Buesch and Jen Griffin.
I'm a big fan of this story and it's one I'm always looking for more information on. Contact me at [email protected] if you know anything more about it!

Don't forget to stop by to see the new exhibit and like our Facebook page to see the rest of this month's Redwood National and State Parks posts!

Information for this article is attributed to:
Enough is Enough, 1977 Documentary, freely viewable here.
​Andrew Lord
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