Note: i don’t have a category for “Photos” alone, since so many of these posts have a few. However, if you put “photos” in the Search bar above, you will see the blog entries that are basically just pictures– such as this one!
From an album given to us by Dayton Titus. This is only the second picture i’ve ever seen of the John A. Mackey store. It burned in 1903, so this is a very early photograph. Since the original was only about 2 inches in diameter, even this much detail in it (when blown up; to make it bigger, click on it, and click again…) is gratifying. The store was opposite the southwest corner of the Petrolia square.
Here’s another from the same page, same Titus album. I didn’t clean it up or Photoshop the scan in any way but to enhance the contrast… it was quite washed-out. But it’s a treasure, in that we only have two or three other views of this hotel, which was the one on the square. The structure must have been enlarged many times; i think this was the north wing, seen from the west; that is, it’s directly across from the present Petrolia Store. The main and original part of the hotel is to the right, on the southwest corner of the square.
A double exposure, probably accidental as nobody’s trying to look like they’re astride a horse; still, it does look like that one guy’s on a ghost horse, no? From the Titus album.
View northwest toward the hill at the end of Chambers Rd., which is the cliff above the narrow part of Conklin Creek Rd. There are a couple other pictures we have of this same view, from different times. This one shows a little more of the grazing area, perhaps giving more of a clue to the exact location of this enclosure. I believe it was between the curves of the road going down Shenanigan Ridge toward Petrolia, two turns below the present dump… land marked Mike Shallard on some of the very old maps. But i am not sure.
Old bridge not necessarily in the Mattole area (some of the pictures in Dayton Titus’s album are from Ferndale, maybe other places), but it could well be any of at least four in the lower Mattole (Honeydew and downstream) that cross between steeper, treed banks.
This picture was sent by Doris Long, the lady who knew the John W. and Florence Mackeys as a child. A nice view of the mouth of the river in 1941- ’42.
The story Doris Geib Long told, and several great pictures she sent, are here.
Lisa (Mrs. Laurence) Hindley sent these next few pictures. This is Joseph N.D. Hindley with a tamed fawn.
I can’t get my orientation right for this picture… are we looking upstream?
Another Hindley photo, of the structure for a straw barn at the family ranch in Honeydew.
Wind or lightning? Something felled this lone tree, but its regrowth is vigorous and beautiful. Thanks to Lisa Hindley for sending this and other photos.
Speaking of Hindleys, something tells me there might be some Hindley children in this group. Perhaps it’s a group of Honeydew schoolmates. The photo was in the Mary Rackliff Etter collection. I see some Native faces, and a few of the people strongly resemble those in other Honeydew group photos.
Jerry Rohde sent me this photo a couple of months ago. It is by Walter Burgess, a Petrolia-area photographer, and it was filed with the Bear River-Petrolia pictures at the Humboldt Co. Historical Society. We are wondering if anybody knows where this apparently beachfront bachelor’s cabin was located. I sent it to John McAbery, wondering if he had any ideas about whether it might have been a previous structure on the location of his home at Four Mile Creek, but he said No. Anybody?
Well, many more photos upcoming when i find the time.
My great grandfather Eby had a hotel in Petrolia so I enjoyed looking at the one posted and wondering if it could be it.
Yes, i’m pretty sure this was the one, Rae. There are only two old hotels that we have photos of: this one, southwest corner of the square, and the two-story squarish one south toward the cemetery, which was built in the 1880s. Yours is this one, which burned in April, 1903. I found another mention, in an old newspaper article, of it and its landlords, will send to you sometime so you can keep the History of the Old Petrolia Hotel accurate!
My Great-Great Grandpa Harry Hallberg was reported to have died at his cabin at the mouth of the Mattole. In 1912 I think – could have the year wrong, but close. He is buried at the Petrolia Cemetery. His son Andrew Holberg married into the Lewis family in Garberville and his Granddaughter Esther married Archie Cathey of Briceland.
Dear Pamela, i put together a guide to the Petrolia Cemetery last fall, and here is the entry for Harry:
*HOLBERG, Harry- 1860-1926 (or b. 1851- sketchy info) in Finland, d. 2/22/1926 of heart failure. Laborer.
As you can see, i couldn’t find much about him. Thank you for filling in some blanks. The asterisk by his name means a headstone can’t be found; however, whatever death notice or listing we had states that he was buried there. I do think the date of death is accurate, but i can go back to the information i used and try to find out the exact source. Pretty sure i wrote in there all i could find, though.
Maybe he was the “Old Batch”… maybe this was his cabin… and maybe we don’t know much about him because he liked it that way! (Though i guess he couldn’t have been an “old batch,” having your great-grandfather…)
Harry Hallberg left his wife back in Finland and in later census records states that he is divorced, so he was batching in the US. There was an obit in the Ferndale Enterprise on 21 Jun 1918 that stated he died 17 Jun 1918, found dead at his cabin at the mouth of the Mattole. Left two sons. He was born 25 Jul 1854 in Replot, Finland. His full name was Jakob Herman Beatasson Hallberg. He came to the US in 1887/8 just after Andrew was born. His oldest son John joined him at Fort Bragg in 1903 and Andrew came over in 1906. His wife Karolina Lisasdottoer Svahn stayed in Finland.
Thanks so much, Pam! I will have to put another correction on the Cemetery Guide page. My info came from the Marilyn Keach Milota Birth & Death records. She does so much, of course she is not always accurate. Somebody else had the fact of his being born in 1851, and i’m not sure where my friend got that, either. Well! Thanks for setting us straight. I doubt there were two Harry Holberg or Harry Hallbergs, both from Sweden, in the Petrolia Cemetery–i’m sure this is our man. I will try to run down the 1926 error, see who died then.
Another wonderful post Laura, great to see these old pics!
where’s your sister Amelia?