History of Eureka

"Eureka" received its name from a Greek word meaning "I have found it!" This exuberant statement of successful (or hopeful) California Gold Rush miners is also the official Motto of the State of California. Eureka is the only U.S. location to use the same seal as the state for its seal. In the United States, Eureka, California is the largest of about a dozen towns and cities dating from the mid-nineteenth century that have the name Eureka.

The 1860 Wiyot Massacre

The first Europeans venturing into Humboldt Bay encountered the indigenous Wiyot. Records of early forays into the bay in 1806 reported that the violence of the local indigenous people made it nearly impossible for landing parties to survey the area. After 1850, Europeans ultimately overwhelmed the Wiyot, whose maximum population before the Europeans was in the hundreds in the area of what would become the county's primary city. But in almost every case, settlers ultimately cut off access to ancestral sources of food in addition to the outright taking of the land despite efforts of some US Government and military officials to assist the native peoples or at least maintain peace. The 1860 Wiyot Massacre took place on Indian Island in the spring of 1860, committed by a group of locals, primarily Eureka businessmen. The chronicle of the behavior of European settlers toward the indigenous cultures locally and throughout America is presented in detail in the Fort Humboldt State Historic Park museum, on the southern edge of the city.

Post World War II

In Eureka, both the timber industry and commercial fishing declined after