Bookstore

All profits from bookstore sales support our non-profit organization. Purchasing a book about Humboldt County History, gifts, or ephemeral items from our bookstore is a great way to support the work we do!

Back issues of the Humboldt Historian are available in the bookstore or by phone order. Due to the wide variation in shipping and handling costs, issues cannot be purchased online. Please call (707) 445-4342 during open hours to place your order. Bulk discounts are available!

We do have a selection of used books which are not included on the website. If you’re looking for a particular book, please give us a call. We’ll be happy to check the shelves for you! We mail books out on the Friday following your order.

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Book of the Month - November 2024
Two Peoples, One Place
$23.95 - 20% off the regular price of $29.95
One of the best overall histories of Humboldt County, with a significant emphasis on local indigenous peoples.

 

Night Crossings

Night Crossings

from $13.46

By Jon Humboldt Gates. At night , a harbor entrance becomes a dark and unpredictable corridor. One of the most dangerous harbor crossings in North America is the entrance to Humboldt Bay, on the California North Coast. For years, mariners have traded tales of shipwrecks and narrow escapes on the bar. The five stories retold here occurred between 1933 and 1982. This book is a classic of Humboldt history!

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Inspired by his own experiences as a young man, Gates presents five attempts to navigate the treacherous Humboldt Bay bar at night. They are skillfully written dramatizations of seamen's accounts of real incidents taken from oral and written recollections of events between 1933 and 1982. Included are powerful black and white illustrations by JoEmma Eanni.

       The first tale relates Gates' own bay tragedy and the death of a close friend. The second tells of the Coast Guard cutter Avoyel's near fatal attempt to rescue a stricken salmon troller.  This compelling tale is smoothly interspersed with recollections of the skipper's own wartime experiences.

       Story number three tells of towboat "Thor's" 1970 experience guiding a pulp ship out of the crowded and fog-bound bay. Next comes the 1972 Christmas Eve tale of the crab fishing boat, Lady Fame's, four survivors after being assaulted by a monstrous wave. Finally comes the story of the yacht, "Koala II" whose taped radio calls with the Coast Guard tell of its fraught attempt to enter the stormy bay.           

       At the end of the book, find a map and appendixes about past area ship wrecks, and dangerous variables such as fog, currents and tides.  But more than the illuminating facts, this book is notable for its beautiful evocative language describing scudding fog, starlit skies, playful dolphins and the mournful tolling of fog horns. A good all around read.

Trinidad

Trinidad

from $22.49
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The Ghost Forest: Racists, Radicals, and Real Estate in the California Redwoods

from $31.50
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Fortuna & the Eel River Valley

from $22.49
Bellboy: A Mule Train Journey

Bellboy: A Mule Train Journey

from $16.20
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The Humboldt Bay Region, 1850-1875

from $7.65