*** Source: History and Business Directory of Humboldt County, Lillie E. Hamm, November 1890, Eureka, Cal. *** ---page 27--- [ad] J. E. MATHEWS, Agent for Daily, Weekly and Sunday EXAMINER [ad] HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY 27 California is the land of greatness and of magnitude. Her forests are gigantic; her plains are vast, and her giving-forth of wealth has been stupendous. Her people are seized with the spirit of greatness that pervades even the atmosphere,-- they attempt great things, and even if they fail, they do so grandly. In less than forty years of its life as a country of action and of progress, more history-making has been done, more vicisitudes of fortune and despair, and more wonderful success has been achieved than in all the rest of the world put together. In all these matters Humboldt county has had her place. She has had her successful men, her millionaires; and she has seen noble and manlike struggles against adverse fates with triumphant results. Hope is one of the Godly virtues of which all mankind in general possess to a great degree. No matter if in a dungeon, the stony walls and dismal enclosure are lighted up by a ray of hope--hope for liberty and freedom. The youth as he sets out from home is animated with the same Godlike characteristic fame, honor and wealth he hopes to obtain and although he may struggle against superhuman obstacles a star beacons him onward, "follow" it seems to say, that star is hope. It is the light, the pillar of fire which has guided man across unknown seas, over mountains whose peaks seem almost to pierce the canopy of the sky, across the yarning abyss, and onward to the building of an Empire, has the rays of this star been the guide. It lead the pioneer, the gold hunter and the fortune-seeker to the land of the Golden Gate; from Europe and from the East they came in thousands, dreaming of future happiness, prosperity and wealth--dreams inspired by hope. "Westward the star of empire wends its way," and to the present generation the star of hope shines on the shores of the Pacific. The man of family struggling to obtain a living amid the heat of summer or the snows of winter in the Eastern States looks forward to the time when he may go to the Eldorado of the world, not the land of gold, but of peace and plenty, the California of to day. Here indeed can be found the realization of his reasonable hopes, for here in this great State is a climate conducive to health and longevity. But California is a great State and where and in what part is most desirable for the settler of modest means? It is to answer such questions that the publisher proposes to lay before the reader the resources, climate, productiveness and advantages of HUMBOLDT COUNTY As we have stated before, California is a great State with a coast line of nearly or over 800 miles, possessing every natural variety of climate, every variety of soil and all possible natural resources. In Southern and Central California the orange, lemon and the fig are attractions, but land is high and to those of moderate means who cannot wait ten or twelve years to reap an income from their labor and investment it is undesirable for them to settle there. So we therefore turn the eyes of the prospective settler towards Humboldt county, and present to his mind its manifold advantages and great resources. Here the giant redwood towers hundreds of feet into the air awaiting only the axe to fell, and saw to cut to be transformed into the finest lumber known to man, the luxuriant grasses which carpet every hill, [ad] Gibbard & Lever Manufacturer of Furniture and Every Kind of Ornamental House Finish Factory, 2nd & E Sts. Eureka, Cal [ad] ---end---