A Lost Cost Outpost article on the namesake of our beloved A.W. Way Park

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Saige Heuer

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Jul 15, 2024, 2:26:05 PM7/15/24
to Mattole Valley Bulletin Board
https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2024/jul/13/humboldt-history/

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Saige Heuer
Pronouns: she, her, hers

I acknowledge my residence in Goudi'ni (Arcata), part of the ancestral territory of the Wiyot peoples. I offer my reconciliation and respect to their elders past and present. https://www.wiyot.us/162/Wiyot-Placename-Video

 

Be Y

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Jul 15, 2024, 3:42:34 PM7/15/24
to Saige Heuer, Mattole Valley Bulletin Board
Thanks Saige for the link to the story. 
Dick Brown is related to Arthur Way & I believe his place is the piece of property remaining after the county park donation occurred. 
Everyone loves & benefits from AWWay Park, one of the many gems of the Mattole. 
It would be great for the Outpost to follow up with a story about the native peoples that inhabited the mid valley prior to colonization.
~l

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laurac...@frontiernet.net

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Jul 19, 2024, 8:52:13 PM7/19/24
to Mattole Valley Bulletin Board, Saige Heuer
Thank you, Saige, for calling our attention to this article. Lost Coast Outpost is republishing Humboldt Historian articles every weekend, i think.
 
Way back when, in the first full issue of our Mattole Valley Historical Society newsletter (#2), we printed a thorough article about A.W. Way, which drew heavily on the Humboldt Historian article linked below and also on an interview with A.Way's grandson, Richard Brown. That newsletter was typewritten and has not been digitized, but someday we aim to have them all available in .pdf form.

I thought this was a good opportunity to call attention to the existence of the Mattole Valley Historical Society. We first organized in 1994, upon the beaching of the FV "Misty" at the mouth of the Mattole and Ellen Taylor's contest for a ballad celebrating the lusty and brave men who rescued that boat (Dick Scheinman won the contest, and happened to sing his commemorative song at the latest Cabaret-- Memorial Day weekend, 2024). By 1999, we were offered space in the Mattole Grange, so the boxes of books, papers, and photos went over there to the office rooms off the Breakfast/Meeting Room, and publication of "Now... and Then" began (as well as public events, a proper Board of Directors, etc.). A quarter century later, we were offered an entire house and property-- the old Ernest and Ida Roscoe home, built (for the third time, after a house there burning down twice previously) a century ago, in 1923. We are now in the process of working on, and raising funds to work on, the Roscoe House at Granny Creek museum. It's a beautiful, stout, commodious 4000 s.f. + building on about nine acres of land. We have a multi-talented group of people on our Board, each with something unique to offer. But we can always use more help.

If you would like to see the place and meet a few of us active MVHS members, come over this Sunday (July 21) between 11 and 3. We're at 39030 Mattole Road, as indicated in the post i put up yesterday about those open hours.

Below i will paste a list of the topics of the newsletters from Issue #1 up to our current, #53. (Don't panic if you are a subscriber and haven't seen this latest one yet; the issue is printed and we are about to have the mailing get-together.) If you are not a member/subscriber and find any of these topics of interest, please reply to me, Laura, and i can either send you a copy of the old info-- digital or paper, depending on what is on hand-- and/or get you to join the MVHS, for a suggested basic dues payment of $25/year. It's really a deal to get this much knowledge, and to be supporting such a huge endeavor as this new museum, for only $25 nowadays!

(The list of newsletters is printed, and occasionally updated, on my history blog, "West of the Redwoods." You can just search with those four words, you'll find it. I have not updated it for a long while-- times being hard, you know-- but there's a lot of interesting stuff there and more to come. Why, on the tab called "About"-- as opposed to the straight article series, "Home"-- i just saw that the comments generated a discussion of the commune above Honeydew in the 1970s that harbored underground counter-cultural figures tied to Patty Hearst, Charles Manson-- these names are thrown around; not clear how strong those ties were-- until a murder occurred... all connected to a San Francisco vegetarian restaurant called Wellsprings Communion. Anyway, history is a smorgasbord and you never know what you'll find.)

~Laura


Back Issues of Now... and Then

Vol. 1, no. 1 (June, 1999): Proposal for Historical Society, seeking members and ideas. 4 pages.

Vol. 1, no. 2 (September, 1999): A.W. Way and his Place in the Mattole; Bear River Natives’ fishing methods. 8 pages.

Vol. 1, no. 3 (Winter, 2000): Reminiscences of Ruth Miner; Mattole Union School becomes Mattole Valley Community Center; more. 8 pages.

Vol. 1, no. 4 (Spring, 2000): Rudy Senn’s Schoolbus Memories and more; School to Community Center, part 2; Riding through the Valley in 1912 (excerpt from J. Smeaton Chase book). 8 pages.

Vol. 2, no. 1 (Summer, 2000): Early Days of Mattole Grange, more. 10 pages.

Vol. 2, no. 2 (Autumn, 2000): John Salladay’s First 92 years, by Sandy Antonson-Solo; Ancient World Animates Grange, by Ellen Taylor. 10 pages.

Vol. 2, no. 3 (Winter, 2001): Searching for Miss Katie Cummings; A Tribute to Tanoak; Teamster Remembers Eerie Events (excerpt from Vera Snider Teague book). 10 pages.

Vol. 2, no. 4 (Spring, 2001): Young Petrolian Drew Barber Discovers Roots; Book of Petrolia to be republished; Taylor Peak. 10 pages.

Vol. 3, no. 1 (Summer, 2001): Hometown Horsewoman Doris Loudermilk, by Sandy Antonson-Solo; Curly Wright anecdote; Dick Collins remembered. 10 pages.

Vol. 3, no. 2 (Autumn, 2001): Journal Illuminates Judge Moses Conklin; more. 10 pages.

Vol. 3, no. 3 (Winter, 2002): Buckskin Jack, Family Man (notorious killer/Indian fighter, 1860s); Marguerite Tooker’s Light Station memories. 10 pages.

Vol. 3, no. 4 (Spring, 2002): Reminiscing with Frankie Lawrence; more. 10 pages.

Vol. 4, no. 1 (Summer, 2002): Gracious Lady, Good Neighbor– June Chambers Mathison, by Sandy Antonson-Solo; Memories of Telephone Man Gene Schonrock; more. 10 pages.

Vol. 4, no. 2 (Autumn, 2002): Capetown Schoolhouse Saved; Ruth Cartwright, teacher, interview; more by Gene Schonrock; Six Ladies on a Mattole Road Trip, c. 1885 (from old newspaper). 10 pages.

Vol. 4, no. 3 (Winter, 2003): Curly Wright, by John M.G. Brown; more. 10 pages.

Vol. 4, no. 4 (Spring, 2003): Walt Davis Decides to Look Back; Mayme Hunter Cook remembered by son Leonard Cook; Letter from Wanda Harrington Hart, re: Hunter, Cook families and lighthouses. 10 pp.

Vol. 5, no. 1 (Summer, 2003): Walt’s Return to Upper Mattole, by Walt Davis; Mr. Hill in the Mattole Valley, 1854; Fletch Harrow-Jack Lucy Duel, by Bob Stansberry. 12 pages.

Vol. 5, no. 2 (Autumn, 2003): Was He Really “Crazy” John? (John the Beach Hermit); Jim O’Dell to the Rescue, Chapter 3 of Walt Davis’s writings; Honeydew/Petrolia relations; Allen Miner and Mary Rackliff Etter remembrances. 12 pages.

Vol. 5, no. 3 (Winter, 2004): Honeydew this and Honeydew that… (name origin); It’s Cooskie on the Map (another about name origin); Uncle Bill Squires and Aunt Lil, Chapter 4 by Walt Davis. 12 pages.

Vol. 5, no. 4 (Spring, 2004): Honeydew Milltown Swept Away like Sawdust; Sesquicentennial plans. 10 pages.

Vol. 6, no. 1 (Summer, 2004): Special Sesquicentennial Issue. Oil Dream Creates Petrolia in Lower Mattole; The Mattole Native People, by Gordon Bussell; What Happened to the Natives Here/A Bloody Decade (1854-1864); Sesquicentennial Events schedules. 16 pages.

Vol. 6, no. 2 (Autumn, 2004): The Rex and Ruth Rathbun Story, by Sandy Antonson-Solo; Sesquicentennial reports and pictures; Time Capsule dedication speech. 16 pages.

Vol. 6, no. 3 (Winter, 2005): Rathbuns’ 30 Years Here Makes a Difference (conclusion of Rathbun series), by Sandy Antonson-Solo; The Ranch House Message System, 1975-2000, by David Simpson; Triple R Ranch, brief history; Chambers (Lanini) Cabin. 12 pages.

Vol. 6, no. 4 (Spring, 2005): On the Trail of Bonnie Buckeye (by Laura Cooskey with Becky Enberg); 1919 letter to Aleita Schortgen; more. 12 pages.

Vol. 7, no. 1 (Autumn, 2005; #25): Albert Etter and Brothers, Engineers in Eden; more. 12 pages.

Vol. 7, no. 2 (Winter, 2006; #26): Albert Etter: The Legacy of a Fruit Explorer, pt. 2 of Etter story, by Ram Fishman; 1970 Petrolia phone directory. 12 pages.

Vol. 7, no. 3 (Spring, 2006; #27): For Gypsy Evenden, with her letter; World War II in the Valley. 8 pages.

Vol. 7, no. 4 (Spring, 2007; #28): Spiritual World of Mattole Natives (by Ellen Taylor); Sam Kelsey by his great-great grandson; Donell McCanless (by Buck Miner); the Mary Rackliff Etter house (by Ellen Taylor). 12 pages.

Vol. 8, no. 1 (Autumn, 2007; #29): St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, by Margot Wells; Rosa Wright Johnson’s diary of covered wagon journey, 1859; preliminary list of historic homes in lower Mattole. 12 pages.

Vol. 8, no. 2 (Summer, 2008; #30): Ray Azevedo interview; Don Etter, Man on the Move (by Brian Doyle). 12 pages.

Vol. 8, no. 3 (Summer, 2009; #31): Gideon Cummings journal of covered-wagon trip West; Dr. Earl E. Gossard tribute; Aleita Schortgen autobiography; history of restaurants/bars in the Valley. 16 pages.

Vol. 8, no. 4 (Winter, 2010; #32): Drownings in the Mattole; Chief and Nina Mathews. 12 pages.

Vol. 9, no. 1 (December, 2010; #33): First Accounts of White Settlers; Becky Enberg on Petrolia Store in ’40s; Patty Langer on Rock House in ’50s. 12 pages.

Vol. 9, no. 2 (December, 2011; #34): Petrolia Pioneer Cemetery-A Guide to the Burials; Leah Kausen obituary. 20 pages.

Vol. 9, no. 3 (Autumn, 2014; #35): Their Ship Came In with the Sea-Weed (1970s marijuana); The Women of the “Squaw Men” of Upper Mattole. 16 pages. (corrected .pdf)

Vol. 9, no. 4 (Spring, 2015; #36): ‘Colorful Characters of Yesteryear’ (murderers and fugitives in Mattole history); Punta Gorda light station burning; Roger Brown. 12 pages.

Vol. 10, no. 1 (Autumn, 2015; #37): Johnny Kazipp; End of the oil boom, by Nicole Log. 12 pages.

Vol. 10, no. 2 (Spring/Sum, 2016; #38): Musings on Mattole Trees; brief description of building project progress, with floor plan. 12 pages.

Vol. 10, no. 3 (Winter, 2016-17; #39): Francis Cook; 1890 letter re: visit to Mattole; Honeydew Bridge meeting. 12 pages.

Vol. 10, no. 4 (Spring, 2017; #40): Mattole Lumber Co.; list of Mattole deaths since mid-2003; Mattole Hole microclimate, by Ken Young. 12 pages.

Vol. 11, no. 1 (Autumn, 2017; #41): Mattole Lumber Co., Pt. 2; Tanbarking, by Bob Stansberry; Ruth Miner is her dad’s “boy” in 1920s; Wool Creations from Valley sheep. Continuation of death notices, now a standard newsletter feature. 12 pp.

Vol. 11, no. 2 (Spr-Sum, 2018; #42): Shivarees; Old-Time Remedies, by Becky Enberg; Grange BBQ reminiscences; Ken Young story. 12 pp.

Vol. 11, no. 3 (Autumn-Winter, 2018; #43): Gender Roles in Mattole; Museum Plan Update; Current membership list. 12 pp.

Vol.  11, no. 4 (Summer, 2019; #44): The Other Native Land Grab: Indian Scrip; Building and Fundraising Committee updates. 12 pp.

2019, Winter, [late ʼ19] #45: First issue under new editorial team of Dyan Damron and Trisha Corey. Becky Enberg’s Century Plant on Seven-Mile Beach; A.W. Way Park’s 50th; Francis Sweet and lambs; Historian’s reports on projects and collection (standing feature). 10 pp.

2020, Fall, #46: Growing Up in Honeydew—the Shinns, by Linda Smith Franklin; Recipe Corner, 1st installment (standing feature); Nancy Wright Smith memories; Point Disappointment photos, then and now; Jack Stansberry 1939-40 diary part 1—Introduction. 14 pp.

2021, Summer, #47: Roscoe House at Granny Creek acquisition (#1), by T.B. Dunklin; Jack Stansberry diary entries, part 2; letter from Donell McCanless; Obituaries column, “In Loving Memory,” reinstated (standing feature). 12 pp.

2022, Winter [early ʼ22] #48: Update on Roscoe House museum project (#2), by T.B. Dunklin; Jack Stansberry Diary entries, part 3; The Duncans (Native Mattole) & Anthropologists, by L. Cooskey. 12 pp.

2022, Summer, #49: Downtown Petrolia aerial photos, then and now; Anthropologists who visited Mattole, by L. Cooskey; Update on Roscoe House museum project (#3) by T.B. Dunklin. 12 pp.

2022-’23 Winter, #50: Betty Jean Roscoe interview; Update on Roscoe House Museum (#4)—deed acquisition, by T.B. Dunklin; Hindley Family celebration, by Lisa Hindley; Sea Lion Rock (site of wharf), then and now. 14 pp.

2023, Summer, #51: Squire Morrison, a memorable Mattole Native; Roscoe House Museum (#5); View from Grange—Valley life fr. mid-20th-century Grange Minutes; rephotography—Petrolia Square from ENE, 1885/2023, by T.B. Dunklin. 16 pp.

2024, Spring, #52: Loudermilk slideshow, 1940s-ʼ50s Lower Mattole; Mattole Native Language and Group Boundaries, by L. Cooskey; Roscoe House Museum update (#6), by T.B. Dunklin. 10 pp.

2024, Summer, #53: Native Mattole vegetation burning, by Jamie Roscoe and Thomas Dunklin; rephotography—view from Moore Hill up valley, by D. Loudermilk/ T.B. Dunklin; Roscoe House Museum update (#7), by T.B. Dunklin; Telephone service development in Mattole, by L. Cooskey. 14 pp.








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