If you've been following along with our blog, you may remember from a past post that Humboldt County had its very own day during the nearly year long Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. This day brought 500 Humboldt County residents to the Exposition in celebration of the rising star that Humboldt County was on the northern coast of California. Besides being a mysterious, heavily forested and beautiful area, it was turning out to be prolific in a number of natural resource oriented industries such as mining, logging, and fishing, along with agricultural and livestock based industries, with a number of dairy farms, cattle ranches, and apple orchards. With the completion of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad in 1914, access to Humboldt County had become easier than ever and, with the creation and renovation of what would eventually become the Redwood Highway and US 101, access would only become quicker and easier, promoting tourism.
Besides having a day dedicated to Humboldt County, the County even had its own exhibit, pictured on the far right in the photo above. This photo was taken during the exhibit's dedication day. A description from California's Magazine, dated 1916 describes the incredible exhibit space:
Humboldt County's display was unique in that it had brought to the Exposition two great sections of a giant redwood tree. These sections were made into rooms, one of which housed the display of redwood. Here were hung the beautiful paintings picturing the famous forests of Humboldt. The ceiling of the room, which was twenty feet in diameter, was made of polished, hand-carved redwood. In the center was suspended a crystal candelabra which reflected its light upon the highly polished surface of the wood furnishings.
Paintings were framed in redwood burl.... Every article made of burl was highly polished and is most artistic. In the center of the room stood one of the most noteworthy and costly tables in the Exposition. This is made of a single slab of redwood burl, is seven feet in diameter, without a flaw...
Artists featured in this exhibit space included Emma Freeman and Cora Wright, two locally famous artists. A post about the contents of the exhibit was made for the blog a few months back that you can see here.
Photos of this day were found earlier this year in the museum's collections, however, wasn't until recently that we found this ribbon in the archives, which you can see below. Some of the people in the group photo above are wearing ribbons like the one below.
 |  Detail of the Humboldt County Ribbon |
On the right, you can see more of the detail on the ribbons central image. The ribbon includes a number of things that Humboldt County was known for in 1915: its dairy cows, orchards, farmland, streams and rivers teeming with fish and of course, its redwoods. We have a large collection of ribbons like these that were very popular in the early 1900s. Many different groups had them, including the Fraternal Organizations that are currently on display in the Clarke Museum's main hall.
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