Spanish Humboldt

The cross at Trinidad Head.

            The Spanish conquest of Humboldt County was short lived but is still an interesting historical footnote.

            When Spain ruled the waves and much of the Americas, their ships sailed along California’s and Humboldt’s coast. On Nov. 4, 1590, the fog that frequently concealed desirable landing points lifted. Captain Cermenho of the Spanish galleon San Agustin saw the cookfires of the Yurok village of Tsurai and was tempted to land. But the off-shore rocks deterred him, and he sailed on.

            Nearly two centuries later, more determined Spanish captains Heceta and Bodega landed at the same bay. Led by a Franciscan friar, the crew celebrated mass on “the head” and erected an oaken cross with an inscription claiming the land for King Charles III of Spain. This was June 11, 1775, Trinity Sunday, hence the name Trinidad.

            The party stayed for over a week taking on game and water and sharing friendly meals and interactions with the residents of Tsurai.

            Years passed, international politics changed, and Spain never returned to assert their claim. Russian otter hunters stopped briefly, but the area was largely forgotten by outsiders until California’s discovery of gold. The race was soon on to find a port suitable to supply the growing Trinity Mountain gold fields. Those very mountains and their river were named Trinity in the mistaken belief that the river would meet the sea at the fabled Spanish Trinidad.

            Soon both Trinidad and Humboldt bays were settled as supply centers, though lumber mills rapidly became more significant to the economy. Briefly in the 1920s, Trinidad hosted a thriving (if smelly) whaling industry.

            The days of imperial Spanish glory were not forgotten, however. In 1913, an amalgamation of county women’s clubs dedicated a stone cross on the site of King Charles’s wooden cross. The ceremony was accompanied with music, speeches and the resolute planting of an American flag.

            Today Trinidad, the smallest incorporated city in California, is largely an art colony and vacation get-away. But on wind-swept Trinidad Head, a reminder to its imperial past remains.