*** Source: History and Business Directory of Humboldt County, Lillie E. Hamm, November 1890, Eureka, Cal. *** ---page 073--- [ad] Oil Paintings and Engravings at J. E. Mathews [ad] HISTORY OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY 73 lavish abundance of the very best character of ship timber within easy reach of the Bay, and this industry offers one of the most promising openings to master ship-builders. We confidently assert that the advantages for enlarging this interest are unexcelled anywhere. HUMBOLDT COUNTY. POPULATION. POSSESSING only communication with the outside world by steamship or the stage, the growth of the county has necessarily been retarded. Unless the iron rail binds communities with the centers of trade and commerce, the prospective immigrant feels as if he were about to locate in a wilderness, but as two railroads are bent on having their terminus at Eureka, population is being attracted. The San Francisco and Northern Pacific Railway and the Santa Rosa and Carquinez Railroad are heading in this direction, and it will be but a matter of a short period of time when Humboldt county will be as favored in point of railroads as it is by great natural resources. This has been the great stumbling block in the county's advance, for, while other counties with but few advantages to offer have "boomed," so to speak, Humboldt, with its great resources and wealth, has progressed, comparatively, but slowly. The present population of the county may be set down at 30,000. TELEPHONE LINES. Mr. John Vance has in full operation about thirty miles of telephone line. The Sunset Telephone Co., Mr. A. E. McLaren, manager, have about forty miles of telephone line. These two lines are being daily improved and extended. Z. Russ & Sons control a telephone line of about forty miles. These combined lines are of great importance and convenience to the commercial and general public. REAL ESTATE. "What does land cost?" is an inquiry that will undoubtedly be asked by the prospective settler, and is one that is most difficult to answer. If we were to say that it ranges from the Government price of $1.25 to $300 per acre, it would indeed be considered a great range, and unsatisfactory. But we will lay the situation before the reader, so that an idea may be formed of the value of real estate in this county. We will, for convenience sake, class land under three heads--grazing, timber and farming. LANDS OF HUMBOLDT COUNTY. To the person in search of a home for himself and family, where the comforts of life are easily to be had, and with the certainty of a liberal return for his industry, the county of Humboldt surely offers advantages possessed by few [ad] Gibbard & Lever --MAKE A SPECIALTY OF-- Ornamental Mantels Cor. Third and H sts, Pioneer Building, Eureka [ad] ---end---