Fortuna

The late, lamented Star Hotel, Fortuna, CA. It burned down in January 2015. Undated.

                Though officially designated a Rural County, Humboldt is the home of several sizable communities each with its own unique history. The third largest today is Fortuna, located on the east side of the Eel River.

                When the first Euro-Americans arrived on Humboldt Bay in 1850 many, instead of heading to the Trinity Mountain gold fields, sought their fortunes in the abundant redwood forests and rich soils of the Eel River Valley. That river derived its name from the abundant lamprey that had helped several indigenous tribes thrive there for many centuries.

                One of the valley’s earliest settlers was Henry Rohner. A native of Switzerland, he immigrated to Indiana at age 17 and soon joined the 1949 Gold Rush across the plains to California. He enjoyed some success in the gold fields, but then moved back to the bay region to work as a newspaper printer. A gunshot wound from a disgruntled reader changed his career plans again, and he purchased land beyond the fog belt in the Eel River Valley. There, in 1859, he opened the area’s first store founding a new community soon to be called Rohnerville and shortly after founded the Springville lumber mill, five miles west on the banks of the Eel River.

                Within a few years, the area around the mill grew, first with housing for the mill workers, then with other necessities such as saloons, hotels, shops, a blacksmith, a livery stable and a post office. The post office was central to the saga of the early community’s name.

                Originally called “Slide” after a nearby landslide area, the town’s residents decided to adopt the more pleasant name of “Springville”. But when applying for a post office, that name was rejected because another community in California was already called Springville. The name Slide was returned to, but enough citizens objected to that unappealing name that the more propitious sounding name Fortuna was adopted. The town was officially incorporated in 1906.

                For a time both Fortuna and Rohnerville prospered, but in the 1880s the Eureka and Eel River Railway was built along a route to Fortuna. When the Northwest Pacific Railway was completed in 1914, it linked to that same route and Rohnerville’s importance declined. The community was officially annexed to Fortuna in 1979.

                Henry Rohner himself built a grand house on Fortuna’s Main Street. After his death, several sales and donations of land behind it came to the City as Rohner Park. Later as passenger rail traffic ceased, the old passenger depot was itself moved to the park where it now houses the Fortuna Depot Museum which officially opened during the nation’s Bicentennial celebrations on July 4, 1976.

                As Fortuna grew, it experienced many of the features of other thriving small towns. Fraternal orders, women’s clubs, churches, bands, sports venues and a volunteer fire department flourished. Schools sprang up including the brief appearance of a liberal arts academy, the Mount St. Joseph College. Shops, hotels and theaters appeared. The town coped with natural disasters including several devastating floods along the Eel. Young men marched to war. An airport was built nearby specializing in fire suppression. Automobiles, telephones and newspapers arrived, expanding many aspects of life. Redwood Memorial Hospital was established replacing the area’s health dependence on the Scotia Hospital and Dr. Comfort’s Fortuna sanitarium.

                Several more special features of Fortuna’s story stand out including the anti-Chinese demonstrations in the early 20th century - somewhat belying the town’s later designation as “the Friendly City.” And in 1912, a deadly confrontation between a drunken logger and law enforcement led to Fortuna voting to go dry until Prohibition was repealed nationally in 1933. This did enhance the fortunes of locally produced sparkling fruit juices – “temperance beverages”.

                Another unique historical element is Fortuna’s role in a certain sporting activity. In 1866, a racetrack was opened in Rohnerville, and this became the setting for the annual Humboldt County Fair until 1895. But in 1921 an institution began that was uniquely Fortuna – the annual Rodeo. It started as a picnic with “rodeo stunts” plus a dance and barbeque. Soon this grew into a week-long celebration including parades and various community events surrounding a full-scale rodeo. The only gaps in its century-long history came during the Great Depression, World War II, and the recent pandemic. A new book detailing the Rodeo’s history is scheduled to be published soon.

That book, of course will be available for sale at the Humboldt County Historical Society’s gift shop. But vast other resources about Fortuna and our other communities are open to the public at the Society’s archives. There, everyone is welcome to come and learn about Humboldt’s rich past.