William Carson
Undated photograph of pioneer lumberman William Carson. Photographer was Theo C. Marceau in San Francisco.
Humboldt County has been home to many distinguished people, but perhaps the one who left the most impressive legacy was William Carson.
Son of Irish immigrants, Carson was born in New Brunswick, Canada in 1825. There he worked with his father as a woodsman until learning of the California Gold Rush. Then he and four friends took ship for the West and, after a harrowing 6-month voyage, landed in San Francisco. The young men worked there briefly before heading to the Trinity Mountain gold fields.
When winter shut down gold exploration, the boys headed to Humboldt Bay. With Carson’s experience working in the woods, he and several others worked in a small milling operation on Ryan Slough. After another less than successful gold season, Carson returned permanently to Eureka and became involved in several mills. In 1864, he founded the Carson-Dolbeer company which became among the most successful in the county.
Soon Carson became a successful businessman in several other areas including banks, utilities and railroads. As well as acres of timberland, Carson owned a number of mills, docks and a small fleet of timber-moving ships. The popular romantic novel, Valley of the Giants, based largely on Carson’s operations and later made into several movies, showed the Carson-inspired character as a benevolent lumber baron.
He also made his mark in building. The large Carson Building on Eureka’s F street was reportedly the first impressive brick structure in town. Besides business offices, it housed the magnificent Ingomar Theater named after his favorite melodramatic play Ingomar, the Barbarian.
His first dwelling here reportedly was a hollow redwood trunk where he and his companions camped during their first Humboldt stay. Later, he lived in a modest Victorian home on 2nd Street, but in 1884, he began construction of what was to become his greatest architectural legacy – the Carson Mansion.
The mid 1880s saw a financial downturn in the timber industry, and Carson conceived his elaborate building plans as a way to keep his many employees at work. It also served as a tool to impress out-of-town buyers with the many possibilities of wood construction.
From the tower of their mansion on the bluff, the Carson family could look out over the extensive Carson lumber yards and watch their ships on the Bay loading their products. In 1889, Carson had another Victorian mansion built across the street (now the Pink Lady) as a wedding present for his son Milton.
Today, the Carson Mansion has become the iconic image of Eureka, helping stoke what is now the area’s main industry, tourism. In 1950, the building became the home of the private Ingomar Club, again named after the builder’s favorite play. The building is reportedly the most photographed house in America.
When William Carson died in 1912, the esteem in which he was held by the community was clear. School, businesses and even bars were closed. Flags on public buildings and on ships on the Bay flew at half-mast. His funeral procession along 5th Street to Myrtle Grove cemetery included over 200 of his employees who appreciated how he had kept their wages higher and their hours shorter than others in the timber industry. Carson remembered many of those employees in his will.
The story of William Carson, his family, his buildings and his business enterprises are central to Humboldt’s history and identity. And today the Humboldt County Historical Society is proud to preserve and share that history.