Eureka chamber works to save teachers’ college
In early 1923, the Eureka Chamber of Commerce worked to save the Humboldt State Teachers’ College — now known as Cal Poly Humboldt — from being overtaken by the Chico State Teachers’ College.
“The Chamber of Commerce has announced that it will do everything possible to help in keeping the Humboldt State Teachers’ College in operation here and urges a full attendance at the meeting to be held this afternoon at 5 p.m.,” the Humboldt Standard reported on Feb. 2, 1923.
The following day’s coverage covered the vote at the chamber meeting.
The chamber members voted down “decisively” a plan to merge the junior college with the state teachers’ college and adjourned before taking any action on the proposed abandonment of the college.
“Today, however, the Chamber of Commerce sent a telegram to Governor Richardson deprecating any action toward closing the school and asking for the fullest possible information,” the Standard reported on Feb. 3, 1923.
Similar letters were sent to the local state senator and assemblyman representing the North Coast at the time as well as the state superintendent of public instruction.
‘A menacing epidemic’
“House moving” was described as an epidemic in an editorial in the Feb. 4, 1923, edition of the Humboldt Standard.
“Old buildings that are barely more than a mass of decaying wood and cracked timbers are bing rushed about the city and parked shoulder to shoulder with modern bungalows constructed at a cost of thousands of dollars,” the editorial page comment stated.
The editorial surmised that “revised building laws will solve the problem.” But it also noted that residents need to present a united front.
“If you want to see your city protected and made attractive talk to your neighbors who are similarly inclined and put up a united front,” the editorial noted. “As long as you stand alone and lament the evil, you will get nowhere.”
A woodsman, a fisherman and a millhand were sitting in the county jail on Feb. 2, 1923, in the wake of a raid on a distillery located in a Samoa swamp.
“The (dry) squad had been looking for a distillery there for some time past but it was not until (Feb. 1, 1923) that they located it, finding it set up in a tent in an almost inaccessible swamp,” the Standard reported.
The men were held in jail on $500-$1,000 bonds.
In a separate case, a local man who claimed to be a bookeeper for the Palace Saloon was convicted of selling whiskey in violation of the Volstead Act, otherwise known as prohibition laws.
Harry Johnson, known as “Silk Hat Harry,” was accused of selling whiskey to “four detectives in the employ of the county District Attorney’s office.”
“Johnson, who was placed on the stand by the defense, said that he had only recently become proprietor of the place and that previous to that he had been manager for Ed Storm, the proprietor while the latter was serving a jail sentence for driving an automobile while drunk,” the Standard reported. “He said that all he did about the place was to keep the books and count the cask, but on cross-examination, the prosecution proved to the satisfaction of the jury that he could not keep books. Nor could he produce the books.”
Sewer system built
A Eureka councilman was instrumental in helping place nearly two miles of sewer between 1922 and 1923.
“Quietly and effectively, Eureka is being equipped with a substantial sewer system,” the Standard reported on Feb. 2, 1923, with a front-page photo. “Under the direction of Councilman John M. Simpson, who has been personally directing the work, over 9,000 feet of sewer have been constructed in Eureka in the past year.”
The Standard reported that Simpson was considered an expert in the field and “developed an efficient system for putting down the pipe.”
The photo collage showed an image of Simpson and the construction work in progress.
Skiing in Kneeland
The temperatures in Humboldt County dipped substantially in early February 1923 and gave outdoor enthusiasts an opportunity for winter play.
“Favorable temperatures during the past week have hardened the snow on Kneeland into a perfect crust for skiing and other outdoor sports, according reports received (Feb. 2, 1923) from the Hurley ranch.”