History of Gualala
There are several different versions of where the name “Gualala” originated. The Pomo Native Americans who were the first inhabitants in the area gave Gualala the name Qh’ awala-li, that meant “water coming down place” or “where the waters meet” or “where the water meets the sea” depending on to whom you are talking. We understand their original pronunciation was almost identical with the one we use today. Between then and now, many people arrived from various parts of the world to live and work, and each gave the name their own variations with assorted origins.
In about 1861, a man named Cyrus Robinson and his wife Elizabeth filed a homestead for all the area that is now Gualala. They built a hotel, a saloon, and a ferry. They also had a post office, a Western Union, and a stage stop for the Wells Fargo Express.
Within
a year they sold land to a man who would build a lumber mill. The mill was
located at the mouth of Mill Gulch, now known as China Gulch. The Mill Company
started a company store that operated until the mid-1960s, when it burned, along
with a warehouse, water tower, and stairs down to the river.
The Robinsons put a stipulation into the contracts for every piece of land they sold; the new owner agreed not to permit any hotel or bar on the land. Tourists began to arrive in 1860. By the late 1880s Gualala was a major commercial hub for the entire area. People came for miles to sell their produce and buy supplies. By 1895 there was a dancing school, a Municipal Brass Band, and an Opera House in Gualala.
In 1865 the Robinsons put an apron chute at Robinson's Landing for getting cargo to and from the schooners, but they had chosen a bad location. Soon after, a man named Morton Bourn started his own landing 2½ miles north and in a better location, where there was protection for the ships. Soon the mill bought land from Morton Bourn so they could extend their railroad from Robinson's landing to Bourn's landing.
Elizabeth Robinson died in 1902 and the Gualala House,
their hotel, burned down in 1903. Another hotel was built a few blocks away on
land including 636 acres, a woodshed, barn, dairy, and huge garden. It cost
$6,000 to build. The whole
dairy was sold in 1907 to Mark Pedotti and Antonio Ciapusci, who also bought the
Tait ranch. In time they divided the properties, Mark taking the ranch and
Antonio taking Gualala. When Antonio died in 1932, his property went to his son
George and his wife Ida. When it was sold 1945, the ranch was still using a
diesel power plant, as there was no electric power in Gualala until 1952. Before
the first school was built in 1883, it was common to send children to live with
families in larger areas where there was a school. The lumber mill burned in
September, 1906, and less than two months later, Cyrus Robinson died.
In the early days it took two days to travel the 40
miles from Jenner to Gualala. By 1877 a railroad line was built connecting
Duncan's Mill to Sausalito. From there, passengers could take a ferry to San
Francisco. Because of the railroad, a daily stage service was started between
Mendocino and Fort Ross on the coast, and between Fort Ross and Cazadero. From
Cazadero passengers took a narrow-gauge railroad to Duncan's Mill. This meant
that a passenger could travel from Gualala to San Francisco in one long day.
In 1892 the first bridge was built across the Gualala River. That put the ferry out of business. The bridge fell down during the 1906 earthquake. It was repaired and lasted until 1919, when it fell for the last time. It was replaced by a steel bridge which lasted until 1958 when the current highway bridge was built.
The coastal road was started in Mendocino County about 1920. The automobile had arrived. There weren't many automobiles before 1940, so Highway 1 remained a dirt road with 18 gates that had to be opened and shut between Jenner and Gualala. One local young man was paid a penny for each gate he opened and closed each time his family went to or came from town! Horses were still useful, as cars couldn't make it through the mud during the winter, or up steep grades. By 1940 the State of California took over the coastal highway.
Logging was Gualala’s primary industry for many years. The Gualala watershed was rich with the coastal Redwood, Sequoia Sempervirens. The coast redwoods are the tallest living species on Earth. Often they can reach heights of 300-350 feet and diameters of 16-18 feet. More than a dozen trees exceeding 360 feet in height are now growing along the California coast.
After
the 1906 Earthquake, much lumber was needed to rebuild San Francisco. People
began arriving from all over the world to take jobs created by the logging
industry. The towering redwood trees presented interesting problems for the
loggers. The trunk of a redwood is larger, tougher and less desirable near the
ground than a little higher up. In the beginning they used scaffolds to raise
the fallers up to where they avoided the problems with the base of the trunk.
Springboards were wedged into the sides of the trunk to provide a place for the
faller to stand. New tools were invented to work with the redwoods. After the
trees were felled, preferably uphill or into the river so the soft redwood
wouldn’t split, a bucker cut off the limbs and cut the trunk into lengths
for the mill. Then a peeler went to work getting the bark off of the
logs. The loggers planned their work with the seasons so that the sap would be
running in the trees at the time they were cut. This made the peeler’s
job much easier. Taking the bark off in the woods made it much easier to pull
the tree along the wood lined skid road to the mill. There was also a sniper
who rounded one end of the log so it wouldn’t dig in as it was pulled.
In the early
days the logs were pulled by teams of oxen. Several logs were chained
together with a hollowed out log at the end to haul equipment & supplied back &
forth. A water-slinger ran ahead of the oxen. His job was to keep the
wooden skids wet so the logs would slide over them easier. Eventually the oxen
were replaced by the donkey engine which could deliver logs to a landing
and then either to the river to be floated downstream to the mill or onto
railroad cars for transportation to the mill. The railroads were for
delivering logs to the mill
and lumber to the port for shipping. Logging camps sprang up all along the
Gualala River and its tributaries. When a camp was ready to move to a new
location they just took the buildings apart, moved the materials to the new
location and reassembled them. The early loggers cut everything. All different
sizes of trees could be used for something. The last lumber mill in Gualala
closed in 1970. Trees are still harvested in the area, but they are trucked to
other mills north of here.
Another very large enterprise that flourished for years on the coast was tanoak bark. This is because of the tannic acid used in tanning leather. Nobody had any interest in the wood, just the bark. This was a business that a small family could work at, but it was also big business. The peeler’s job started in March or April and lasted until July, August or September. It all depended on the sap in the trees. The major players in this industry continued until about 1920, however some individuals continued until the 1950’s.
Click here for more historic photos of Gualala and the surrounding area.
