Big River is the heart of several communities; some of these communities are part of Big River’s natural ecology while other communities can be associated with different stages of human occupation of the Big River estuary and watershed. Big River has not always been called “Big River”; early settlers used the Northern Pomo assignation of “Bul Dam,” spelling it as either “Bulldam” or “Bul Don.” It has been the main artery of California’s coast redwood logging empire as well as an obstruction to modern commercial overland transportation. Big River has been both an obstacle and a natural tool for human settlement along its influence and its perceived nature has changed as human society has redefined its own goals. Big River’s natural environment has shaped human settlement both as an intrinsic aid for resource extraction and also as a litmus test against which local societies have judged their complexity.
The environment of Big River has been drastically altered since the introduction of logging to the area in 1851. Descriptions of Big River are notably different depending on when an observer was visiting the area. For example, Alfred Kroeber describes the environment of the coast Pomo in 1923 as “…mostly cliffs or bluffs, with little beach, foggy, and much of the year blown over by heavy, steady winds. There are no harbors and few coves…For a mile or two back from the salt water, up to the timber on or near the crest of the first ridge, the hills were wind swept, but here and there yielded bulbs and seeds; only oaks did not grow near at hand.” This seems a stark contrast to Jerome Ford’s 1852 description of the Mendocino Bay at the mouth of Big River as “…very large & River entering from the mountains from 20 miles up in.”
Kroeber’s coastal region was shaped directly by Jerome Ford’s hand. Born in Vermont in 1821, Ford was an early “lease holder” with, and employee of, Henry Meiggs in the lumber mills of Mendocino County. Dispatched by Meiggs in 1851 to salvage what he could from the wrecked brig, Frolic, Ford noted the size and quality of the coastal redwoods. By 1852, Ford had bought a claim for $100 from William Kasten, a German blacksmith who would guide Ford along Big River in canoe and by horseback. When Henry Meiggs’ California Lumber Manufacturing Company went bankrupt in 1855, Ford became a principal owner, with E.C. Williams and William Kelley, in the Mendocino Mill Company. The name of the corporation overseeing logging and mill operations would change twice more over the ensuing years—to Mendocino Lumber Company first, then Union Lumber Company—but Ford would remain a large shareholder in them until he died in 1889. Jerome Ford’s house, still extant, looks out at the peninsula upon which the first mill on the Mendocino Coast was located.
The Frolic, by the time Ford arrived, had already been picked over by the local Northern Pomo. This is noteworthy because Kroeber, seemingly in passing, makes the assertion that Northern California Native Americans were largely unaffected by European or American contact in 1851. Specifically, when discussing populations of native groups around Mendocino and Lake Counties, states that “M’Kee, in 1851, before any but the southern Pomo had been seriously affected by Spanish or American contact, computed far fewer [population numbers].” However, by 1851 the coast Pomo were familiar with shipwrecks to the degree that the brig Frolic was picked clean by Native American looters. Jerome Ford, on his way to establish the mill at Big River, even mentions two existing wrecks at the Albion River, several miles south of Big River but well within the cultural area of the Northern Pomo.
Prior relationships between the Northern Pomo and Europeans is also evidenced by Jerome Ford hiring five Indians to help with the building of his house in Mendocino, indicating that Pomo culture had already begun adapting to Euro-American influences such as wage labor , and in Ford’s mention of a “Blacksmith Indian Big George” working with him “splitting out rails.” While menial labor requires little training, specialties such as blacksmithing do require formal training in some sort of apprenticeship relationship and Ford makes no mention of being required to teach the Indians the concept of wage labor or blacksmithing. He is unsurprised at being able to use native labor. He has no problem attracting workers from already the established Pomo population because they already know what he expects as a white man.
Ford was an irregular diarist during the earliest years he worked along Big River, but he offers enough of a glimpse of a different Big River than exists today. Today’s residents might not recognize Ford description of the Mendocino Headlands as “quite well timbered with Pines and very well sheltered…” Today, the vast majority of the point originally settled by Ford is grass and open to the onshore winds, just the sort of place Kroeber would recognize from his tenure with coast Native Americans. In 1970, a study by California’s Parks and Recreation Department of the headlands that dominate the point would describe the vegetation of the area as “…dominated by Bishop pine and large expanses of gently rolling grasslands.” Truly the year 1851 was a watershed moment in the natural history of the north coast of California.
In 1970, Big River was examined closely by California ecologists to determine the degree Big River should be protected by either regulation or purchase into the state’s park system. The study described Big River’s environment.
“Temperature variations are minimal, resulting in two basic seasons—summer 50 degrees to 64 degrees F., and winter 40 degrees to 56 degrees F. Rainfall averaging 38 inches annually, occurs during the winter season. Fog conditions along the Mendocino Coast as recorded over the past 40 years, averages 55 hours per month from October-June, and 170 hours per month July-September. Prevailing ocean breezes vary from 5 knots to 25 knots. Ocean water temperatures range from 48 degrees-55 degrees F.”
Here, then, a late Twentieth Century report about Big River is consistent with Kroeber’s depiction of the coastal region as “foggy, and much of the year blown over by heavy, steady winds.” Within this region, the Big River estuary encapsulates “a marine terrace typical of the central Mendocino coastline between Albion and Point Cleone. This twenty mile segment of the California coast represents the largest formation of this rugged geologic type in California.” This particular terrace is developed from the accretion of Cretaceous marine sediments such as “sandstone, shale conglomerates, and Pleistocene marine deposits…” Winds and waves sculpted the terrace, producing the characteristic fifty- to seventy-feet high bluffs.
From the mouth of Big River, Jerome Ford, visiting from 1852, would have been familiar with the 1970 vegetation if he were to ride eastward and inland. The shore and Bishop pine mixes with lowland white fir and giving way to Sitka spruce and coast redwood. These mixed forest communities cover the upland and banks of Big River and “offers a fine example of plant growth of the transition life zone.” The dense forest sheltered numerous tributaries to Big River that were given names such as Beans Gulch, Burnt Jam, Little North Fork, and Feldman Gulch. In turn the streams are homes to the silver salmon and the steelhead trout. Second only to the Navarro River located a dozen miles south, no other river in Mendocino County contains more salmon or steelhead trout.
Along these waters, the Northern Pomo followed established trails seasonally between coastal and inland sites. According to Kroeber, “…the alluvially filled river and creek mouths afforded small level tracts and shelter, and the ocean itself yielded a fair amount of food even to an unnavigating people. Mussels, surf fish, and sea lions replaced the deep-water fish which they were unable to take; and in winter the salmon ran up the rivers and creeks. If the smaller streams held fewer fish, they rendered them easier to take.” The watershed of Big River provided ample sustenance for the semi-settled Pomo. Most notably, Pomo culture lacks mention of famine which is in contrast to myths and histories of more well-known groups, such as the Plains Indians.
Admittedly, the natural abundance of Big River was double-edged. The environment supported a limited human population and, as Kroeber stated, any “…material increment to the population would undoubtedly have resulted in hardship…” The wide spectrum of resources allowed few times of exhaustion and significant dietary deficiencies. The Pomo were required to expend significant labor with food gathering, but the diversity of the foods gave indigenous groups comparative security against want, though Kroeber does accuse the landscape of “robbing him of leisure and of concentration.”
With Ford’s establishment of logging along Big River, the sundry natural resources of Big River became associated only with the virgin stands of coast redwoods. In an early reconnaissance of Big River, Ford noted a “…great quantity of fine level Timbered Land…” as far inland as fifteen miles. As expected from a burgeoning lumber magnate, Ford focuses almost exclusively on describing timber in his diaries if he describes the natural environment at all. Fifteen years later, enjoying an outing near the future town of Comptche, Ford declares that “The plain looks beautiful all surrounded by Redwood trees of the largest size…” The plain is still relatively unsettled, though the large redwoods are absent.
By 1938, the mill on Mendocino headlands was closed, though logging operations still continued along Big River. Gone were the days when logs were sent to the mill down the river; by 1945, harvested timber was removed by truck and taken to Fort Bragg to be milled. The river became an obstacle to cross when the state of California applied to the War Department for a permit to build a new bridge. Rather than being central to an industry, the area was considered by officials as rural and worth only token political effort. The natural landscape itself was discussed only in passing in hearings for the permit.
One example of the state government’s marginalizing the environment in its desire to rebuild Big River bridge is California’s senior bridge engineer describing an artist’s rendering of the proposed new bridge. In describing the state’s artist conceptual drawing of the proposed Big River bridge, Norman Raab states, “Probably most of you won’t recognize this country, but being that our artist has never been up here he did the best he could in order to portray what he thought the country looked like.” California officials were not interested in presenting how the river and surrounding environment would spatially impact the bridge. The primary conflict between local residents and state officials ultimately rested on cost in dollars.
In response to a question regarding the difference in cost between a proposed 35 foot clearance and a 60 foot clearance on the proposed Big River bridge in 1947, Norman Raab, the senior bridge engineer for the State of California Department of Public Works, replies, “Well, there is about 80 thousand dollars difference between the 35 and the 60 foot verticle [sic] clearance. I might ask you people whether you would be willing to put up that money. The state hasn’t got it.” The eighty thousand dollar figure would continue to an issue engaged by locals and Big River was little more than an afterthought.
The focus on Big River changed again in the 1970s. The awareness of Big River as a unique ecosystem was in part a result of “recreational deficits” in the urban areas of Sacramento and San Francisco. Thus recreation was, and is, forefront in efforts to preserve Big River. A study of the feasibility of including Big River in the state parks system states emphatically that “Recreational beach activities include fishing, beachcombing, walking for pleasure, sightseeing, picnicking, skindiving, scuba diving, boating, and possibly camping.” The coast of Mendocino was transitioning to a tourist economy and Big River was becoming a big draw for its own sake.
Big River’s ecology was again a part of the local economy. The state parks feasibility study touts “Big River winds for miles inland and exists in a nearly natural state. Only an old logging road along the north bank interrupts the natural quality of this area.” The realities of logging along the Big River were minimized in favor of its “natural state.” The report extols “… virgin pine, century old fir, and second growth redwood.” Wildlife was also noted prominently as additional bonuses, as silver salmon and steelhead are given has having “excellent runs…” Mollusks are even billed with “Extensive shell fish beds exist, consisting primarily of soft shell clams.”
The serious nature of the report, however, is reflected in the clarion statement, “The importance of the Big River estuary is magnified when one considers that California has already lost over 60% of its estuarine habitats and that the existing estuaries are rapidly being altered for man’s use, and this area should be considered as a subsequent area for study.” Additionally, nine years later, in an environmental assessment ordered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Scott English declares
Cumulative impacts from logging operations are those which may occur off-site, downslope, or downstream from the area of the original [timber harvest plan]. There are two possible types of impacts from logging operations which may affect downstream water quality and fisheries resources. These are: 1) increased stormflow peaks and 2) increased erosion and sedimentation…Caspar Creek is an adjacent watershed and studies indicated that sediment levels following road construction were four times higher than pre-construction levels…
Concern for Big River triggered a popular local effort to remove the watershed from private ownership and would result in a large portion of the river and surrounding environment, including the headlands that were home to the mill and Jerome Ford, becoming state property as Big River and Mendocino Headlands State Park in 2001. As a natural feature, Big River has remained central to human settlement on the coast as either a resource to be exploited or an obstacle to be overcome. In recent years, preservation of the ecology of the river has become itself a viable economic reality. But it has been the perception of the river that has changed more than Big River itself.
Bibliography
Mendocino Headland and Big River Beach Feasibility Study. March 2, 1970.
“Buy Big River.” Mendocino Beacon. September 27, 2001.
Record of Public Hearing re: Public Hearing #485, Proposed construction of bridge across Big River, Mendocino, California. 1947
Obituary of Jerome B. Ford. Oakland Tribune. October 24, 1889
Diary of Jerome Ford, 1852-1867
Final Draft Environmental Assessment for Protection of Big River Estuary, Mendocino County, California. June 6, 1979.
Alfred Kroeber. Handbook of the Indians of California. (1976)