Josiah Gregg

Josiah Gregg is generally credited with the rediscovery of Humboldt Bay and authoring the book: “Commerce of the Prairies.”  However he should also be given credit for establishing the first overland route that led to Del Norte County.

Gregg died on February 25, 1850, from injuries received after falling from his horse. The location of his grave is not known.

Less than a year after his death, the first incident of open murder recorded by white historians occurred when two men were killed about 18 miles from Union — which is now Arcata.  A second followed shortly after on the forks of the Salmon River when whites took revenge by burning three villages and killing a number of Indians.

The situation worsened the next year, prompting the hiring of Colonel Redick McKee, a U.S. Indian Agent who was summoned to Northern California to negotiate treaties with the tribes. In some cases the arrangement worked out.

Other tribes did not acquiesce so easily. Those included the Chilula and Redwood Creek Indians.

Though most of the Indians accepted the arrangements in good faith, with some minor disagreements, white American settlers continued to push for the removal of indigenous peoples from Northern California. Pressure from both sides resulted in Brigadier General Ethan Allen Hitchcock, commander of the Department of the Pacific, establishing a military post on the Humboldt Coast.

Ground for Fort Humboldt was broken in January 1853 — where future U.S. Civil War General and U.S. President Ulysses Grant would soon be assigned. Following a short war between white settlers and rebellious Red Caps, work soon began on buildings for an Indian Agency.

The first two were weather-boarded houses at Kepel and Wau-Kell, near the Klamath River. Arrangements for the Indian reservation on the Klamath River were finalized in April 1855 by S.G. Whipple, Indian Agent for Klamath County.

The establishment of the reservation system in Del Norte County eventually brought about greater conflict.