The Falk Archaeological District encompasses a historic town and lumber mill site in

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

, United States. Included in the

Headwaters Forest Reserve The Headwaters Forest Reserve is a group of old growth Sequoia sempervirens, coast redwood (''Sequoia sempervirens'') groves in the Northern California coastal forests ecoregion near Humboldt Bay (United States), Humboldt Bay of the U.S. state o ...

in 1999, the town was founded by Noah and Elijah Falk. The site was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2023.

History

Noah Falk came to California in 1854 and formed the Elk River Mill and Lumber Company with two partners. The town was built around the

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

in 1884 to house the families of immigrant

lumberjack Lumberjack is a mostly North American term for workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees. The term usually refers to loggers in the era before 1945 in the United States, when trees were felled us ...

s from

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Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

.Workers toiled deep in the now-protected redwood stands, felling trees, shipping them on Falk’s very own railroad to the mill, and finally sending the lumber to worldwide markets via a port at present day Eureka. The town of 400 with a

cookhouse A cookhouse is a small building where cooking takes place. Often found at remote work camps, they complemented the bunkhouse and were usually found on ranches that employed cowboys, or loggers in a logging camp. Prior to the 20th century, cook ...

, a

dance hall Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for Dance, dancing, but usually refers to a specific type of twentieth-century venue, with dance clubs (nightclubs) becoming more popular towards the end of the century. The palais de danse was a term ap ...

, a

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

, a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

and a

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

thrived until 1937 when the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

closed the lumber mill and the town was soon abandoned. Among the last residents were Charlie Webb and his wife who acted as

property caretaker A property caretaker is a person, group, or organization that cares for real estate for trade or financial compensation, and sometimes as a barter for rent-free living accommodations.Dunn, Gary"Property Caretaking Rent Free"Escape Artist Magazi ...

s for the lumber company. After Charlie died, the lumber company burned and demolished the buildings in 1979 due to liability concerns and a plaque stands in its place.

Description

Remnants of the townsite are visible and marked with interpretive signs along the first half-mile of the Elk River Trail. The restored locomotive barn serves as an education center.

Elk River Mill & Lumber Co. 1 Falk

Elk River Mill & Lumber Co. "Falk" No.1 is a

0-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven. The wheels on the earliest four-coupled locomotives were ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

built by Marshutz and Centrell in 1884. This "gypsy" type locomotive was purchased by Noah Falk in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and shipped by vessel to Arcata, CA. It was first used at the Dolly Varden Mill in north Arcata until the mill was closed in 1885. In 1886, it was moved to Falk for use on the Elk River Mill & Lumber Co. railroad. Logs were hauled from the woods to the mill. When the

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

was extended five miles up a narrow, winding canyon, a larger locomotive was purchased in 1903. The Falk was relegated to switching duties at the mill. In 1927 it was retired. The locomotive was given to the city of

Eureka, California Eureka ( ; Wiyot: ; Hupa: ; ) is a city and the county seat of Humboldt County, located on the North Coast of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt Bay, north of San Francisco and south of the Oreg ...

, for use in a 1936

Fourth of July Independence Day, known colloquially as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States which commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing th ...

parade operating on

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

tracks. In May 1986, the engine participated at SteamExpo 86 in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. The engine participated at Railfair 1999. As of 2024, The Falk is still operational.

References

External links

Falk Historic Logging Ghost Town.
Eureka-Humboldt Visitors Bureau.
Humboldt Heritage Trails.
Eureka-Humboldt Visitors Bureau. Ghost towns in California Former settlements in Humboldt County, California National Register of Historic Places in Humboldt County, California {{California-ghost-town-stub