This is a narrative history of Humboldt County (1850-1903), published serially in the Blue Lake Advocate, (1964), and collected in an unbound scrapbook by the author, Susie Baker Fountain. The collection also includes letters written (1903-04) by Eleanor E. Tracy, a Humboldt Co. schoolteacher, that were compiled and annotated for publication in the Blue Lake Advocate, (1964), by Harriet T. DeLong.

Humboldt County was formed in 1853 from Trinity County. It lies on the northwestern coast of California and contains Cape Mendocino, the westernmost point of mainland Unites States outside Alaska. The county has three principal rivers, the Klamath, the Eel and the Trinity, as well as three major bays, Trinidad, Arcata and Humboldt. Gold mining flourished in the heavily forested county during the 1850s and 1860s, and, as a result, there were many battles with local Indians, culminating in the massacre of 1860. These altercations led to the establishment of Fort Humboldt (1853) and the creation of the state's largest Indian reservation at Hoopa Valley. For the past one hundred twenty-five years lumbering has been the principal industry of the region. The County Seat is Eureka (1856).

Collection is open for research.