Lost Coast of Del Norte

Long before personal computers, the Internet and blogging, I used to write little one page thoughts about that which interested me. In the mid-90s, I collected up as many of these little vignettes as possible with the hope of publishing them one day in booklet form, entitling it: “Lost Coast of Del Norte.” Instead, what follows is that series.

It was third grade when I learned about not only our Pacific coastline, but about some of the people who lived in Del Norte County and the Klamath area long before me or any Anglo-Saxon. It was strange to be eight-years-old and suddenly mystified by inhabitants that no longer existed in their once natural form.

As a class we were taken by school bus to sites like the Yurok sweathouse that is perched above the Klamath River. The river, Yurok elders told us used to have so many fish in it that a person could walk across the water without getting wet.

We also visited the Tree of Mystery to see the largest privately collected Indian museum in California. It would always amaze me  that I grew up to hold the position of cataloging the entire collection as a summertime job.

Thus my interest in local history grew.