Mendocino County

Mendocino County Map
Sources

• Mendocino: Name on maps from 1587 applied to its westernmost cape, probably from viceroy Mendoza of New Spain. One of original 1850 counties, but until 1859 was administered from Sonoma County.

• King Range and Sinkyone Wilderness State Park: "Lost Coast" continues.

• Bear Harbor, Jackass Creek, Usal: Historic "doghole" ports for timber and ranching products; remains of railroad at Bear Creek, old sheds and barns at Usal.

• Needle Rock Visitors Center: Old farmstead staffed by volunteer; scrapbook & artifacts of farming and logging history and the many shipwrecks along the rock studded coast.

• (Nearby, not yet accessible) Point Vizcaino/Rockport Bay: Named for early discoverer; dog hole port with remains of mill housing and loading chute.

• Westport (Bealls Landing): Had wharf for loading San Francisco bound ships.

• Union Landing: Ghost port, loaded by chute.

• Bruhel Point: As Lilam a vortex of several trails used by various Indian tribes who shared sea resources at this accessible spot.

• Old Haul Road: 1949 logging road on path of 1916 railroad from camps far up Ten Mile River to Fort Bragg.

• McKerricher State Park: From land of 1868 Scotch homesteader Duncan McKerricher.

• Old Pudding Creek Trestle: 1916 wooden railroad bridge.

• Fort Bragg: Built as fort 1857 to oversee Indian reservation; historic lumber and railroad sites; Chinese community; railroad east to Willits (called "skunk" when gas powered engines installed) provided access to San Francisco and still runs; museums.

• Noyo Harbor and River: Early Indian village No-yo-bida; 1880's commercial fishing continues.

• Jug Handle State Reserve: Uplifted marine terraces from Pleistocene; other examples include Van Damme.

• Caspar/Caspar headlands/Caspar Creek: 1860's settler Siegfried Caspar; remnant of Caspar sawmill at mouth of creek.

• Point Cabrillo Lighthouse: Constructed in 1900's at site of 1860's Pine Grove settlement; octagonal tower; automated in 1970; not open to public.

• Mendocino City: First Mendocino redwood lumber mill 1853 by San Franciscan Harry Meiggs for San Francisco building boom, operated til 1930's; subsequent artists colony retained much historical architecture.

• Van Damme State Park: Site of historic community of Little River; Silas Coombs' 1864 lumber mill now park recreation hall, his mansion the Little River Inn. Later Thomas H. Peterson lumberyard constructed coastal schooners.

• Albion: 1852 site of California's first water powered lumber mill by Capt. William Richardson.

• Navarro River mouth: Historic doghole port of Wendling.

• Elk/Greenwood: Settled 1840's by sons of Caleb Greenwood who guided first wagon train across Sierra:

• Cuffey's Cove/Cuffey's Cove Cemetery: Former dog hole port; cemetery with many early graves.

• (Nearby, trail inland here): Point Arena Lighthouse/Point Arena/Garcia River: Flumeville 1869 mill on River built by Rafael Garcia; town and lighthouse badly damaged in 1906 earthquake; rebuilt lighthouse has original Fresnel light, open to visitors.

• Point Arena/Point Arena Cove: Early whaling station, busy port; weekly schooner service to San Francisco; historic buildings reflect 1880's prosperity.

• Whiskey Shoals: Subdivision planned at Moat Creek, purchased by Coastal Commission which retained bluff top trail before reselling to individuals. Name relates to Prohibition era cargo landing site.

• Saunders Landing: Former dog hole port below Saunders Reef.

• Anchor Bay: Like Whiskey Shoals and many secluded coves in Mendocino and Sonoma, provided sites for Prohibition rum runners.

• Bourn's Landing: 1870 lumber loading chute; wide gauge railroad to Gualala sawmill til 1930.

• Gualala: Major lumber port for inland logging using Gualala River; wide gauge road for draft horse use, later specially built wide gauge steam engines; Gualala Hotel 1903. Name may have derived from "Walhalla" by Ernest Rufus, grantee of Rancho German in 1846.