Originally, this post was going to only be on the arrival of streetlights to Eureka- however, once I started looking, there were some fascinating stories that came up about the arrival of the electric light and electricity to Eureka. Check out these four stories about the illumination and electrification of Eureka!
“Electric Fever”: Streetlights Come to Eureka
Electricity and the arrival of the electric streetlight proved to be revolutionary developments across the country, and the electric light in Eureka was no exception to that.
“Last evening about 6 o’clock, everything being in readiness, the electric machine in Vance’s mill was started up and immediately Second Street, in the vicinity of the Vance House, was lit up almost as bright as if Old Sol had not yet gone to rest below the horizon… large crowds turned out to view the illumination, the main point of attraction being Vance’s mill, where three lights were burning, completely lighting up the whole upper floor of that structure, and showing up everything almost as plain as daylight” Oct 24, 1885
 A log to be milled at Vance Mill | Humboldt County has its fair share of mills burning down due to equipment malfunctions and oil lamps breaking, which would catch the rampant sawdust, oil, and other materials present in the mill on fire. In Humboldt County at this time, the lumber companies were the ones with enough money and more than adequate reason to invest in the infrastructure for bringing electricity to town- the electric light would hopefully reduce the likelihood of a mill burning down, having to be rebuilt, and the loss of productivity while the mill was being reconstructed. |
The electric machine in Vance’s mill was a steam turbine that burned scraps and sawdust from the mill to heat water into steam, which powered a turbine and generate electricity. The Vance Mill had founded the Humboldt Light and Power Company on the waterfront at G Street, where the turbine was located and with time, the number of electric lights being powered in the mill and around town began to grow as ‘electric fever’ caught on.
Additionally, streetlights were also new to the US. The first electric streetlights were installed in Wabash, Indiana, in 1880, only five years before Eureka got their lights. It was an exciting event to view the illumination of nighttime streets, generally something we don’t notice nowadays.
From Steve Lazar's Jesse A. Meiser Scanned Postcard collection. Once the first lights were lit, and plans were made to add lights out F Street. Photographer Jesse A. Meiser took a photo of strings of early string lights illuminating F Street like a carnival scene.
F Street looking towards the Bay. Note the electrical lines on both sides of the street.
The newspaper report on the illumination of Vance Mill ends its celebration of the electric light with an interesting quote: “The movement [of adding electricity throughout Eureka] should guarantee a perpetual light on the monument of sawdust and slabs which Mr. Vance once said, in a public speech, he hoped would be erected to his memory.”
We’ll Leave a Light on For You: Electricity in the Homes of Eureka Residents
Oil lamps hung from the ceilings of many a Eureka home, and they carried similar risks to the usage of oil lamps in industrial settings- they could malfunction, break, and burn a house down. Mrs. Harriet Tracy, a Eureka resident, was a quick convert to installing electric lights in her home as soon as the option was available.
In the fall of 1893, 14 year old Joe Tracy recorded in his diary that electric power lines had reached the Tracy family home at the corner of 13th and J In Eureka. The power came from a power plant at 1st and C streets called the Eureka Steamlight Plant (which accidentally burned down some years later). He notes that the early wires in the house “suspends the light and consists of about 20 fine copper wires insulated with a very thin covering of gutta percha. This (is) covered with cloth woven around it. Two strands of this are twisted together.” The family could afford the expensive lights in multiple rooms in their house: the kitchen, parlor, dining room, sitting room, and hall. Each light was 16 candle power and the whole setup cost between $0.25 and $0.60 cents per month to operate (between $20 and $30 per month in today’s money).
Once the lights were installed though, they didn’t always function without a hitch. The wires were thin, and Joe mentions a few months later that a wire had broken and had to be replaced. About a year later, the family’s supply of light bulbs ran out and Joe had to walk out to the electric works in search of bulbs- but he found that the offices where their bulbs originally had come from had closed. The only other shop with the proper light bulbs had run out of stock, so the family had to take back out their old oil lamps until a new shipment came in.
Expanding the Reach of Electricity: A Tale of Two Electrical Companies
An offshoot electrical company, organized by many of the same men that established the first electrical service in Eureka like John Vance and William Carson, was formed in 1902, called the North Mountain Power Company to specifically power the Humboldt Transit Company Streetcar system. This company also came up with an idea to construct an electric railroad connecting Eureka’s timber mills to Sacramento to improve their lumber transportation system, which relied on ships at the time. It would take a lot of electricity to operate, so the first step was to create a hydroelectric system near Weaverville. In 1904 when construction began, work was very slow due to the waterlogged roads between Redding, where the needed generator equipment was located, and Weaverville.
The same company, North Mountain Power Company, devised a project to build the electric railroad was abandoned temporarily due to the slow pace of construction. One way or another, the generator plant in Weaverville was completed with lines extending out to Eureka.
| The power line connecting Eureka and the power plant went over some of the most rugged, hilly, and difficult to traverse land in this part of California due to not only the terrain but the heavily forested nature of the land. “To give you an idea of the ruggedness of the terrain,” William H. Wonderly in a Humboldt Historian Article from 1985 titled “1885-1985 Notable Anniversaries” states “the total rise and fall measured vertically, not including minor gulches, was 44,900 feet (eight and one half miles), equivalent to a climb from sea level to the top of the highest peaks in the Andes and back again.” |  Crossing landscapes covered with giant trees like this one to lay a power line was no easy feat. |
In the end, the transit system decided to built their own power plant since the cost of electricity from the Junction City power plant was too expensive. The North Mountain Power Company went back to their electric railroad idea- which was then abandoned for good when progress on the steam railroad from the Bay Area began to pick up.
The North Mountain Power Company and Eureka Lighting Company merged after a period of intense competition and low profits. The North Mountain Power Company was trying to find enough customers to operate the Junction City power plant at a profit rather than a loss and offered incredible incentives like free light bulbs and electrical wiring work in homes to increase their customer base. After the merger between the two companies, there was enough of a demand to use the Junction City plant at a profit.
Like the problems facing early Humboldt County, the solutions to providing electricity to the growing area were monumental- and significant. The power system constructed at the turn of the century was used to power Eureka until 1966. In 1964, huge storms hitting Humboldt County washed out a diversion dam that channeled water into the Junction City power plant, and the cost to reconstruct the dam was too high. It was officially deconstructed in 1966.
Powering the Shipyards
| In 1917, Bonds and Mortgages magazine from Chicago, Illinois, mentions that “The Eureka, California division of the Western States Gas & Electric Company [which was later purchased by what became Pacific Gas and Electric] has completed laying its 11,000 volt cable across Humboldt Bay to supply electricity to shipyards and other industries in that district. The shipyards are exceptionally active not, and eight keels for new boats have recently been laid. Two new bank buildings are being erected in Eureka” |  |
These shipyards included the Hammond Mill, which was commissioned by the US government to construct 7 ships for government use in World War 1 shortly before the electrical cable was laid to power the shipyards in Samoa. The Hammond Mill briefly served as the Hammond Engineering Company until the Armistice in 1919, since the mill had the land needed to construct a temporary shipyard. After the Armistice, the shipyard was converted into a timber storage area.
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