" I passed here a peaceful grey day ... "

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Coast Trails

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Here we find Chase near Cape Mendicino, and south of Eureka.
He visits Petrolia and Ferndale, where I had a delightful
stay recently. 



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"To-day we had no sight of the sea. The coast here trends considerably westward to Point Gorda, whence it runs north a few miles to Cape Mendocino and thence somewhat more easterly to the Oregon line. The road kept a mean northwesterly course, and by evening I was again approaching the coast, and stopped for the night at the village of Petrolia, lying in the open lower valley of the Mattole.

Petrolia, as its name seemed to signify, once had great expectations in oil, but these have not been realized. This failure, and a double disaster, of fire in 1904, and of earthquake two years later (both, curiously, on the same day of the year), might well discourage the modest settlement. The first hotel had been destroyed by the fire, which nearly obliterated the little place, and the dwelling-house which is now used as an inn was literally broken in half by the earthquake. A landslide had occurred near the summit of a high hill to the east of the village, when the great trees by hundreds were snapped off like matches before the eyes of the terrified Petrolians, roused, or rather, thrown, early from their beds on that fateful morning.

Petrolia, app. 1910's, virtually as Chase would

have seen it.

Now came a descent as long as the rise, but beautified with fine timber. Here appeared yet another coniferous tree, the Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), a handsome but somewhat mournful tree with long trailing branchlets that hang like the funeral fringes of undertakers. It is most interesting to the travelling tree-lover to meet thus one after another the particular species of his locality.


A rough and peculiarly broken tract, known as "the Wild-Cat Country," occurs here, and with it a doleful quantity of burned timber. Farms were few and secluded, and I guessed from the appearance of the few people I passed on the road that a large proportion of the farmers are Scandinavians. Coming at length down a long grade, I saw below me the wide valley of the Eel River, and the river itself (at this season at its lowest, but not a contemptible stream) with the town of Ferndale lying prettily on the southern edge of the valley. Looking round to the west I could make out a thin white line of surf, four miles away. Ferndale is a fair-sized town for this thinly populated country, with several stores, a bank, and the unwonted choice of two hotels. The next day being Sunday, I passed here a peaceful gray day, enjoying by contrast walking among the old-fashioned cottage gardens, full of cosmos, autumn roses, and a hawthorn or two with red haws twinkling among the bronze foliage. "

The Ivanhoe Hotel,

 Ferndale

The American Hotel,
Ferndale

** The two hotels in Ferndale Chase refers too. **
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Thank You to Lynn Lourenco at the Ferndale
Museum for the picture of Petrolia, and the
hotel photos in Ferndale. He's a
wonderful source of info about the area, and
the museum is a fine one.
http://www.ferndale-museum.org

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Also check out Ferndale Music Company in the
amazingly restored, century old church, while
in town; and see Emily while you are there.
She can give you a an excellent history of
the building and its restoration.
http://www.ferndalemusiccompany.com

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