Del Norte County California

Del Norte County. Organized 1857. Bounded north by Oregon, east by Siskiyou, south by Klamath and west by the Pacific Ocean. Area, 1,440 square miles. Assessed valuation of property for 1874, $697,565. County seat, Crescent City. Principal towns. Crescent City and Happy Camp. This is the extreme north eastern county of the State, hence its name. The resources of Del Norte are abundant, though slightly developed, chiefly owing to the mountainous and inaccessible character of the country. The forests are on a grand scale, and a large lumbering business is carried on.

Farming is not an extensive resource, but .several thousand acres are under cultivation, and a grist mill of seventy-five barrels capacity a day is maintained at Crescent City. The mineral wealth is great, though the production is not large.

Gold is mined on the Klamath and its branches, and in the sands of the ocean beach. Rich veins of copper exists in the mountains east of Crescent City, and immense deposits of iron ore of a high percentage are found. A company of San Francisco capitalists has been formed for working these ores, for which the abundant forests afford convenient fuel. Chromic iron ore, or chrome, highly valued as a pigment, and used as a coloring matter in various ways, appears In inexhaustible quantities in the vicinity of Smith River Valley, and is mined for shipment East and to Europe. During the year 1874 over 1,200 tons of this ore were shipped East from the mines of Del Norte.

The fisheries of the coast and streams entering the ocean constitute an important resource, the salmon being chiefly sought, and of this noble fish some two thousand barrels are taken annually at Crescent City, on the coast, is an open roadstead, where steamers and sailing vessels land passengers and freight in favorable weather.

Officers: W. A. Hamilton, County Judge; P. H. Peveler, Clerk, Recorder and Auditor: William Sample, District Attorney; R. S. McLellan, Sheriff and Tax Collector; John Chaplin, Treasurer; Jacob Marhoffer, Assessor: D. S. Sartwell, Surveyor; Lib Magruder, Coroner; J. E. Eldridge, Public Administrator; Max Lipowitz, Superintendent Public Schools.

California Gazetteer | AHGP California

Source: Pacific Coast Business Directory for 1876-78, Compiled by Henry G. Langley, San Francisco, 1875