As a historian researching the history of mineral and hot springs locally I became enthralled and entertained browsing through “Durham’s Place Names of California’s North Coast” covering Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake and Trinity counties. With 336 pages, it had 40 geographic place names (think of words like mountain, gulch, island, creek, etc) attached to a persons name (Hull Mountain) or a descriptive term (Grapevine Creek).
What is amazing is that geologist David Durham did 14 volumes like this covering every county in California. Long out-of-print the combined single volume has 1680 pages and costs a bloody fortune from used book sale sites on-line.
Durham tells readers the history of the naming of a location and when the name first appeared on a printed map. Like Grasshopper Flat seven miles northeast of Helena in Trinity County. Fishermen named the area after they found it was a good place to collect bugs for bait when fishing. Eden Valley below Covelo got named in 1854 by its white discoverer who thought it must bear a fanciful resemblance to the biblical Garden of Eden. Lightning Camp, 13 miles northeast of Covelo marks the spot where a lightning bolt killed 400 sheep standing in wet grass.
Ethnic backgrounds abound in names on the land. Irish Beach, Italian Bar, English Ridge, Norse Butte, Swede Canyon, Russian River and China Gate all denote who was there first. Many place names included words that would be considered ethnic slurs in today’s politically correct atmosphere. The word Indian was followed by Bar, Beach, Butte, Creek, Island, Prairie, Ridge, Rock, Spring and Valley. Add the word Teepee, Squaw and Papoose to place names too.
Deer gave names to Buck Ridge, Doe Lake and Fawn Prairie. Fairview in Trinity County no longer has a fair view since it is under the waters of Clair Engle Lake. Hullville in Lake County is under Lake Pillsbury. Irmulco, on the Skunk Train railroad line, was an invented word using the first letters from the four words Irvine Muir Lumber Company.
I wonder who lost their smoking pipe on the banks of a creek five miles south of Leggett and named it Lost Pipe Creek? Who thought up the name Little Penny as a name for the homes of workers at the Redwood Queen Copper Mine eight miles west of Ornbaun Springs? There were place name opposites to be discovered throughout the book: Mad Creek and Happy Camp Canyon, Round Mountain and Flat Glade, Low Gap and High Valley, Sharp Point and Rough Creek. Names I considered funny included Noisy Creek, Pickle Springs, Horse Heaven Meadows, Mouse Pass, Skeleton Creek, Dead Puppy Ridge, Hungry Hollow, and a place called Shenanigan Ridge.
In some manner the word “The” is considered essential to several place names. There were 27 place names where “The Hermitage” is correct but plain old Hermitage is not, or “The Nervous Lake” and not Nervous Lake. A place you might not want to swim in? Leech Lake or Pink Eye Lake. How did the hobos get to Hobo Gulch Camp 10 miles north of Helena in Trinity County? It’s in the middle of no place. So it does not take much to entertain a historian when every term in Durham’s Place Names comes with its own mini history lesson.
Lightning Camp/400 dead sheep! Really? And I have always wondered about Gas Mine Ridge between Round Valley and the Eel River. Fifty years ago I heard stories that at least one ranch homestead out there had a pipe from the ground into the kitchen with a gas stove. Can anyone confirm this? Thanks.
A small names on the land thing i witnessed when I was a teenager in the early 70’s. My great uncle Johnny Peterson was an old boonter and close friend of Jack June who I understand did survey work for the usgs maps produced in the ‘50’s. I had a copy of the map quadrant containing his spent timberland west of philo that had an old cabin and barn on it and was marveled by the fact that spot carried the name “Peterson Ridge”. He didn’t address it directly but chuckled “It should probably have been called Eten Ridge” since that was the site of his maternal grandparents original homestead. History is written by the last to show up.