Local historian Jerry Rohde gives two presentations of "A Bair, 50 Mules and a Moon,” on Saturday, September 7 at 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., in the first-floor conference room of the Humboldt County Library, 1313 Third Street, Eureka. Admission is free, and everyone is invited.

Tom Bair owned a Winchester and he knew how to use it. When two desperadoes tried to hold up Bair’s pack train he shot them dead (and later commemorated them in an unusual way). When Sinophobic vigilantes from Eureka came to his ranch to capture his Chinese worker Charlie Moon, Bair cradled his rifle on his arm as he told the miscreants that the gun contained thirteen bullets and at least a few of them would find their mark should the vigilantes persist.

 But Bair was known for more than his gunplay. He came to own large ranches on Redwood Creek and at Maple Creek, ran a noted resort at the former, served as the president of the Bank of Arcata, helped start the Eureka trolley line, and was probably the richest Democrat in Humboldt County.

Join local historian and author Jerry Rohde for an illustrated presentation about the life and times of Charlie Moon, Tom Bair, and Bair’s many (actually more than 50) mules. For more information please contact the Humboldt County Historical Society at 445-4342.