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106-654: The nonprofit Ferndale Museum , located in Ferndale, California , houses and exhibits artifacts, documents and papers from settlement during the California Gold Rush to the present including an active Bosch-Omori seismograph . The area of collection covers the lower Eel River Valley as far south as the Mattole River Valley and west to the Pacific Ocean . Collections include over 8,000 photographs, back issues of

212-550: A mural featuring local history and scenery on the Shaw Street side of the museum. Ferndale resident Joseph Jordan Bognuda (2 October 1889 Vacaville, California – 7 January 1979 Fortuna, California) became interested in earthquakes after living through the 1906 San Francisco which caused considerable damage in Ferndale and over the entire Eel River Valley. Bognuda began a correspondence with Dr. Periz Byerly and attended lectures at

318-618: A telegraph office , and a Wells–Fargo office. Telephone and telegraph wires were run into the valley by private companies in the 1890s; by 1899, it was said that the telephone was in "almost universal use in this valley." In 1900, the telephone line was extended to the Mattole Oil fields in Petrolia. In 1911, the Eel River and Southern Telephone company consolidated operations around Ferndale, and, on February 6, 1960, dial telephones were introduced;

424-619: A California species of tobacco . The town was established in 1852 from settlement by Willard Allard, Seth Louis Shaw, and his brother, American portrait painter Stephen William Shaw . The settlement was incorporated in 1893. In August 1852, Allard and the Shaw brothers borrowed a canoe from the Wiyots in the Table Bluff area and paddled it across the Eel and up Francis Creek to arrive with their supplies in

530-413: A damping mechanism. Bosch-Omori Seismographs are made of two units, one to detect movement North to South and the other East to West. Each has a pendulum which can pivot, restrained by a flexible wire and have a recording needle which traces on smoked paper, controlled by a weight-powered timepiece. The seismograph parts were shipped from Berkeley to Ferndale and assembled by Bognuda and Horace Winslow of

636-528: A detailed journal of two years of trying to grow plants in cold coastal fog. Seth Shaw settled in the area now marked by Main and Lewis streets where he began construction of the Gothic Revival style Shaw House on his property in 1854. The Shaw House served as the area's first polling place in 1854, post office and courthouse in 1863. in 1860 Seth Shaw was justice of the peace and postmaster , and his home served for many gatherings although it

742-470: A female householder with no husband present, and 35.8% were non-families. 30.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.83. In the city, the population was spread out, with 22.8% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 24.2% from 25 to 44, 29.5% from 45 to 64, and 16.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age

848-526: A few in outlying towns like Ferndale where two Chinese owned clothes washing businesses. Chinese laborers built parts of the Wildcat Road between Ferndale and Petrolia , dug out the water reservoirs for the Francis Water Company and worked at two fish canneries on the Eel River, although – as was the case in the rest of California – they were not truly welcome. In 1885, after a city councilman of

954-425: A ground rumble and a flash of light. On August 20, 1927, an earthquake centered about 60 kilometres (37 mi) west of Arcata caused considerable damage around Humboldt Bay , and damage reports from Ferndale included broken chimneys, merchandise tossed from shelves and china and glassware broken. Smaller earthquakes were recorded from the 1920s through the 1980s, but the next big earthquake to strike Ferndale

1060-406: A heavy bar or rod for the hammer handle. Punching is not limited to depressions and holes. It also includes cutting, slitting, and drifting—all done with a chisel. The five basic forging processes are often combined to produce and refine the shapes necessary for finished products. For example, to fashion a cross-peen hammer head, a smith would start with a bar roughly the diameter of the hammer face:

1166-434: A historical distinction between the heavy work of the blacksmith and the more delicate operations of a whitesmith , who usually worked in gold , silver , pewter , or the finishing steps of fine steel. The place where a blacksmith works is variously called a smithy , a forge , or a blacksmith's shop . While there are many professions who work with metal, such as farriers , wheelwrights , and armorers , in former times

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1272-536: A local blacksmith shop. Live demonstrations of blacksmithing are given in the shop. The exhibit is a complete 19th century forge (also known as a Smithy or Blacksmith Shop) originally located in Table Bluff, California . It has over 46 hammers, two anvils , tongs, rasp, wire brushes, chisels , gloves, aprons, a coal and/or coke fired forge, bellows , and numerous other tools of the trade. The shop operated from at least 1875 until 1962 under various owners. Also displayed are 80 cattle branding irons. The museum maintains

1378-412: A new spray-drying process (U.S. Patent #858,868 – 1907 and #1,157,935 – 1915) and went into business with Central Creamery owner Aage Jensen in a new dry-milk manufacturing process that used non-fat milk solids which had formerly been waste of the process. Their new plant processed 75,000 pounds of milk a day, shipping to San Francisco and filling contracts for the U.S. Navy. The first motorized milk truck

1484-437: A population of 1,371. The population density was 1,335.5 inhabitants per square mile (515.6/km ). The racial makeup of Ferndale was 1,281 (93.4%) White , 1 (0.1%) African American , 22 (1.6%) Native American , 20 (1.5%) Asian , 2 (0.1%) Pacific Islander , 17 (1.2%) from other races , and 28 (2.0%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 77 persons (5.6%). The Census reported that 1,371 people (100% of

1590-653: A research room with local materials including "145 years of the Ferndale Enterprise , family records and photo albums, books, photographs, materials on major events, school fraternal organization ephemera, maps, [and] old telephone books." The museum publishes books, videos, and a research-based newsletter. "Letters Home", detailing the town's involvement in World War II, won the Western History Association Autry History Prize in 2011 as

1696-405: A very low carbon content, and also included up to 5% of glassy iron silicate slag in the form of numerous very fine stringers. This slag content made the iron very tough, gave it considerable resistance to rusting, and allowed it to be more easily "forge welded," a process in which the blacksmith permanently joins two pieces of iron, or a piece of iron and a piece of steel, by heating them nearly to

1802-632: A warehouse by Arnold Berding in the late 1880s, on October 10, 1929. The Swiss who settled in Ferndale from Italian- and German-speaking families included the Oeschgers who moved to Ferndale in time for Joe Oeschger to play baseball at Ferndale High School before going to a career in Major League Baseball . A later influx of Romansh Swiss included the ancestors of College Football Hall of Fame coach Len Casanova . Sausage, salami-making and wine-making can be traced to Italians who arrived later than

1908-436: A white heat and hammering them together. Forge welding is more difficult with modern mild steel, because it welds in a narrower temperature band. The fibrous nature of wrought iron required knowledge and skill to properly form any tool which would be subject to stress. Modern steel is produced using either the blast furnace or arc furnaces. Wrought iron was produced by a labor-intensive process called puddling , so this material

2014-430: Is smelted into usable metal, a certain amount of carbon is usually alloyed with the iron. (Charcoal is almost pure carbon.) The amount of carbon significantly affects the properties of the metal. If the carbon content is over 2%, the metal is called cast iron , because it has a relatively low melting point and is easily cast. It is quite brittle, however, and cannot be forged so therefore not used for blacksmithing. If

2120-400: Is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel , but sometimes from other metals , by forging the metal , using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith ). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, grilles, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agricultural implements, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils, and weapons. There was

2226-587: Is a city in Humboldt County, California , United States . Its population was 1,481 (2021 census), up from 1,371 at the 2010 census . The city contains dozens of well-preserved Victorian storefronts and homes. Ferndale is the northern gateway to California 's Lost Coast and the city, which is sited on the edge of a wide plain near the mouth of the Eel River , is also located near extensive preserves of coast redwood forests. Before American settlement, Ferndale

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2332-454: Is a heroic blacksmith in Germanic mythology. The Poetic Edda states that he forged beautiful gold rings set with wonderful gems. He was captured by king Níðuðr , who cruelly hamstrung him and imprisoned him on an island. Völundr eventually had his revenge by killing Níðuðr's sons and fashioning goblets from their skulls, jewels from their eyes and a brooch from their teeth. He then raped

2438-472: Is an alloy of copper and zinc . Each material responds differently under the hammer and must be separately studied by the blacksmith. Steel with less than 0.6% carbon content cannot be hardened enough by simple heat-treatment to make useful hardened-steel tools. Hence, in what follows, wrought-iron, low-carbon-steel, and other soft unhardenable iron varieties are referred to indiscriminately as just iron . In Hindu mythology, Tvastar also known as Vishvakarma

2544-433: Is important for indicating the temperature and workability of the metal. As iron heats to higher temperatures, it first glows red, then orange, yellow, and finally white. The ideal heat for most forging is the bright yellow-orange color that indicates forging heat . Because they must be able to see the glowing color of the metal, some blacksmiths work in dim, low-light conditions, but most work in well-lit conditions. The key

2650-567: Is known for well-preserve Victorian storefronts on Main Street and homes throughout the community, which are also known as "Butterfat Palaces," due to their construction wherein considerable wealth was generated in the dairy industry. Many of these buildings date from the 1880s. The entire town is registered as California Historical Landmark #883. Six historic buildings as well as the Ferndale Main Street Historic District and

2756-488: Is lengthened or "drawn out." As an example of drawing, a smith making a chisel might flatten a square bar of steel, lengthening the metal, reducing its depth but keeping its width consistent. Drawing does not have to be uniform. A taper can result as in making a wedge or a woodworking chisel blade. If tapered in two dimensions, a point results. Drawing can be accomplished with a variety of tools and methods. Two typical methods using only hammer and anvil would be hammering on

2862-439: Is likely to have them crack and break apart. This is a problem for some blade-making steels, which must be worked carefully to avoid developing hidden cracks that would cause failure in the future. Though rarely hand-worked, titanium is notably hot short. Even such common smithing processes as decoratively twisting a bar are impossible with it. Upsetting is the process of making metal thicker in one dimension through shortening in

2968-561: Is located in a Victorian parlor near detailed miniature dollhouses of Victorian buildings. Banks of switchboards, where operators used corded plugs to connect callers, are displayed along with working crank telephones.Other historical exhibits include nautical history and artifacts from the first oil well drilled (1865) in California at Petrolia. Exhibits include farming, ranching, and blacksmithing. The lumber and dairy industry are also covered. Native American artifacts, including baskets from

3074-520: Is moderated by its proximity to the Pacific Ocean and in the lee of the Wildcat Hills. Winter temperatures rarely go below freezing and summer days are rarely over 80 °F (27 °C). Ferndale has a warm summer Mediterranean climate indicated by the code "Csb" on some weather maps. Ferndale receives most of its roughly 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain from November to May, with lesser amounts in

3180-430: Is now a difficult-to-find specialty product. Modern blacksmiths generally substitute mild steel for making objects traditionally of wrought iron. Sometimes they use electrolytic-process pure iron. Many blacksmiths also incorporate materials such as bronze , copper , or brass in artistic products. Aluminum and titanium may also be forged by the blacksmith's process. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin , while brass

3286-400: Is sufficiently corrosion-resistant that artifacts of bronze may last thousands of years relatively unscathed. Accordingly, museums frequently preserve more examples of Bronze Age metal-work than examples of artifacts from the much younger Iron Age . Buried iron artifacts may completely rust away in less than 100 years. Examples of ancient iron work still extant are very much the exception to

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3392-500: Is the blacksmith of the devas . The earliest references of Tvastar can be found in the Rigveda . Hephaestus (Latin: Vulcan ) was the blacksmith of the gods in Greek and Roman mythology . A supremely skilled artisan whose forge was a volcano, he constructed most of the weapons of the gods, as well as beautiful assistants for his smithy and a metal fishing-net of astonishing intricacy. He

3498-510: Is to have consistent lighting, but not too bright. Direct sunlight obscures the colors. The techniques of smithing can be roughly divided into forging (sometimes called "sculpting"), welding, heat-treating, and finishing. Forging —the process smiths use to shape metal by hammering—differs from machining in that forging does not remove material. Instead, the smith hammers the iron into shape. Even punching and cutting operations (except when trimming waste) by smiths usually re-arrange metal around

3604-457: Is very close to the mouth of the Eel River as it enters the Pacific Ocean . By car, Ferndale is 265 miles (426 km) north of San Francisco and 12 miles (19 km) south of Eureka. California State Route 211 is the major road connecting the city with US 101. Directly to the south of Ferndale is the Lost Coast region, whose geology and terrain has made it difficult to establish routes through

3710-898: The Fern Cottage Historic District are within or around Ferndale and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Other points of interest include the Ferndale City Hall, Ferndale Museum, Ferndale Cemetery, St. Mary's Cemetery, Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Saint Mark's Lutheran Church, Church of the Assumption, the Congregational Church (now the Community Church), and the Humboldt County Fairgrounds. Blacksmith A blacksmith

3816-454: The Ferndale Enterprise newspaper, and family papers spanning 150 years. The museum was founded on September 22, 1979 after a two-year period of renovating an existing building to house its collection. It has always been located on Shaw Avenue, Ferndale. Historical exhibits include decorated rooms, where visitors can look through windows and doors of what could have been homes and businesses in late 1800s to early 1900s. A working player piano

3922-461: The Pacific , North American , and Gorda tectonic plates , makes it extremely susceptible to earthquakes . Earthquakes affected Ferndale in the 19th century, but the first to receive widespread news coverage was the 1906 San Francisco earthquake , which damaged more than 40 structures in the downtown, with severe damages to the two brick buildings, and 98 percent of chimneys thrown down. The earthquake

4028-588: The Proto-Germanic *smiþaz meaning "skilled worker". Blacksmiths work by heating pieces of wrought iron or steel until the metal becomes soft enough for shaping with hand tools, such as a hammer, an anvil and a chisel . Heating generally takes place in a forge fueled by propane, natural gas, coal, charcoal, coke , or oil. Some modern blacksmiths may also employ an oxyacetylene or similar blowtorch for more localized heating. Induction heating methods are gaining popularity among modern blacksmiths. Color

4134-614: The University of California at Berkeley which resulted in the university and the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey establishing a Ferndale Seismographic Station with a lighter Bosch-Omori Seismograph than the one in active use at Berkeley at the same time. Omori Seismographs were developed by Fusakichi Omori , a seismologist at the Imperial University of Tokyo and further refined by J.A. Bosch of Strasbourg who added

4240-536: The poverty line , including 9.9% of those under age 18 and 3.6% of those age 65 or over. The local economy is a mixture of dairies and ranching, agricultural support, retail and services. On July 18, 2013, the California Employment Development Department identified Ferndale as having the second lowest unemployment rate (1.7%) of all cities in the state, led only by Carmel-by-the-Sea . Ferndale, sometimes also referred to as "Cream City",

4346-587: The "best contribution to local history in any medium" in the United States. In 2022, attendance was around 1,300 in addition to a total of approximately 750 museum memberships. The museum is nonprofit and supported privately with memberships, attendance donations, donations, and grants. The museum employs a director, hired and managed by its board of directors, and contracts services for the original research and publication of its research oriented newsletter, Our Story . Ferndale, California Ferndale

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4452-641: The 1860s. The name on the side of this engine was "Franklin" because the city bought it from the Franklin Fire Company of San Jose, California . The engine was transferred to the newly formed Ferndale Fire Department when they organized in February 1897. In November 1923, after 41 years in service, the hand pumper was shipped to the American LaFrance Company, "as part payment on the fine new pumper recently purchased by this town." Other sources say

4558-672: The 1870s and a few from mainland Portugal, most came from the Azores islands between 1900 and 1915. Ferndale Portuguese have celebrated their traditional Festival of the Holy Ghost since 1924. Chinese immigrants arrived in California in the earliest gold-rush days, and were settled in all parts of Humboldt County almost as soon as English-speaking whites. They worked in gold mining on the Klamath and Trinity Rivers , before settling mostly in Eureka , with

4664-411: The 6.5 magnitude 2010 Eureka earthquake 's epicenter was about 25 miles (40 km) offshore from Ferndale. It was the largest local earthquake since the 1992 Cape Mendocino earthquakes. On December 20, 2022, the 2022 Ferndale earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 centered approximately 10 miles (16 km) from Ferndale impacted the city and temporarily closed Fernbridge . Ferndale's climate

4770-528: The Central Creamery on Main Street Ferndale had combined the smaller operations into a more modern production facility. The use of paper wrapping on butter to reduce air oxidation was pioneered in Ferndale at the suggestion of Chester E. Gray (1881–1944) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture who studied the problem of unrefrigerated fine butter turning white within hours of production. Gray patented

4876-561: The Danish and Swiss, beginning around 1897. The Germans arrived earlier; the first was businessman Arnold Berding in 1857. Most Germans worked on ranches or were dairymen, but at least one owned the Milwaukee Brewery Depot Saloon. United States Congressman Don Clausen is descended from German settlers of Ferndale. German settlers organized St. Mark's Lutheran Church in 1906. Except for three Portuguese brothers who arrived in

4982-514: The Ferndale Cemetery Association was established which manages the 5.03 acre burial ground. There is also a Catholic Cemetery on Bluff Street. The Ferndale Museum has educational exhibits of area history, paper records, photographs and also genealogical resources. Ferndale is located at 40°34.6′N 124°15.8′W  /  40.5767°N 124.2633°W  / 40.5767; -124.2633 . Its location south of US 101 ,

5088-462: The Overland Stage and Express line which ran from Eureka to Cloverdale with connections to San Francisco; over 80 hours of traveling for a cost of $ 20. The first stage line was founded in 1862 with daily trips from Eureka, Centerville, and Petrolia. In 1868, twice weekly stages ran to San Francisco and by 1871 daily service was available. The first automobiles were used for the stage runs in 1911,

5194-686: The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in what is now the Ferndale Fire Department building. This new Ferndale Station, abbreviated "FER" – located at 40°34′33.74″N 124°15′48.92″W  /  40.5760389°N 124.2635889°W  / 40.5760389; -124.2635889 – became active on January 25, 1933. During the nearly 30 years FER station was in operation, newspapers throughout the U.S. contacted it for information about California earthquakes. With daily observations, Bognuda solved an old puzzle about constantly wiggling traces, by correlating vibrations recorded at FER station to heavy surf on

5300-475: The anvil horn, and hammering on the anvil face using the cross peen of a hammer. Another method for drawing is to use a tool called a fuller , or the peen of the hammer, to hasten the drawing out of a thick piece of metal. (The technique is called fullering from the tool.) Fullering consists of hammering a series of indentations with corresponding ridges, perpendicular to the long section of the piece being drawn. The resulting effect looks somewhat like waves along

5406-418: The appearance of the piece. An experienced smith selects the finish based on the metal and on the intended use of the item. Finishes include (among others): paint, varnish, bluing , browning , oil, and wax. A blacksmith's striker is an assistant (frequently an apprentice ) whose job is to swing a large sledgehammer in heavy forging operations, as directed by the blacksmith. In practice, the blacksmith holds

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5512-514: The approximate vicinity of what is now Main and Shaw streets. In September 1852, they cleared a five-acre area of ferns and began building a cabin near the base of the Wildcat Road even though Allard was sick with ague. By January 1853, twelve men were living in the Shaws' cabin including Seth Kinman , who provided the group with meat, and Joseph Russ. About this time, Stephen Shaw painted the portrait of Wiyot elder Kiwelattah (or Ki-we-lah-tah) and kept

5618-546: The area. It has thus made that area only accessible by land via small county mountain roads, such as Mattole Road, running from Ferndale south to Petrolia . According to the United States Census Bureau , Ferndale has a total area of 1.0 square mile (2.6 km ), all of it land. Ferndale's location near the Mendocino Triple Junction , a subduction fault associated with the offshore interaction of

5724-559: The beach river by four-horse teams from the Mattole to Centerville or Port Kenyon and the teams returned supplies from Ferndale. The 81 dairies from the southern area faded as the land along the Eel River Valley was settled for dairying, first by the Danes and later by other settlers. In the 1880s, multiple cooperative creameries in the Eel River valley began to process milk into butter; by 1904,

5830-454: The blacksmith had a general knowledge of how to make and repair many things, from the most complex of weapons and armor to simple things like nails or lengths of chain. The "black" in "blacksmith" refers to the black firescale , a layer of oxides that forms on the surface of the metal during heating. The origin of smith is the Old English word smið meaning "blacksmith", originating from

5936-522: The cannery. After threats of mass action, the Chinese were taken to an old cookhouse on Indian Island from which all whites were barred and where they were held until they left by sea. The Japanese were permitted to keep working for Starbuck–Talent. Dairies were founded from the Bear River Ridge to the south side of the Eel River starting in the late 1860s. Filled kegs of butter were transported along

6042-418: The carbon content is between 0.25% and 2%, the resulting metal is tool steel , which can be heat treated as discussed above. When the carbon content is below 0.25%, the metal is either " wrought iron (wrought iron is not smelted and cannot come from this process) " or "mild steel." The terms are never interchangeable. In preindustrial times, the material of choice for blacksmiths was wrought iron. This iron had

6148-447: The center of the weld connects first and the connection spreads outward under the hammer blows, pushing out the flux (if used) and foreign material. The dressed metal goes back in the fire, is brought near to welding heat, removed from the fire, and brushed. Flux is sometimes applied, which prevents oxygen from reaching and burning the metal during forging, and it is returned to the fire. The smith now watches carefully to avoid overheating

6254-408: The city was 93.34% White , 0.29% Black or African American , 0.51% Native American , 0.58% Asian , 0.07% Pacific Islander , 1.30% from other races, and 3.91% from two or more races. 4.27% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 611 households, out of which 25.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.0% were married couples living together, 9.3% had

6360-582: The copper used by the Mediterranean World came from the island of Cyprus . Most of the tin came from the Cornwall region of the island of Great Britain , transported by sea-borne Phoenician and Greek traders. Copper and bronze cannot be hardened by heat-treatment, they can only be hardened by cold working . To accomplish this, a piece of bronze is lightly hammered for a long period of time. The localized stress-cycling causes work hardening by changing

6466-477: The county seat Eureka was shot dead in the crossfire from two warring Chinese tong gangs , 480 Chinese residents were rounded up in two days and forced to relocate to San Francisco. A year later, the Cutting Packing Company brought in a crew of Chinese for the season. Following a heated meeting at Roberts Hall in Ferndale between local residents and an upset delegation from Eureka, the company guaranteed

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6572-467: The earliest ordinances enacted. In 1915, the current firehouse was built as combined firehouse and city hall. After the 1875 fire which nearly destroyed south Main street was put out by volunteer bucket brigades, and after other smaller conflagrations, the City purchased a used Hunneman hand pumper fire engine on April 14, 1883. The end-stroke torrent pumper had been built in the 1850s and been shipped west in

6678-404: The ends of the stock down into the bend, 'upsetting' it at the point of the bend. They would then dress the bend by drawing the sides of the bend to keep the correct thickness. The hammering would continue—upsetting and then drawing—until the curve had been properly shaped. In the primary operation was the bend, but the drawing and upsetting are done to refine the shape. Welding is the joining of

6784-464: The engine was sold to a Hollywood film company. Modern equipment arrived in 1905 with a motorized pumper engine, in 1917 with a Model T truck with chemical tanks and in 1948 the Hook and Ladder Company formed. In 1883, water supplies were consolidated in local cisterns under present-day State Route 211 which were later filled in and water from the hill reservoirs was used to supply the hydrants. In 1902,

6890-536: The fire alarm was placed in a wooden structure at the corner of Brown and Main which fell over in the 1906 earthquake which led to the bell being hung at the firehouse, and a steam-whistle at the Creamery used for the fire alarm from 1906 until electric sirens came into use in 1931 Electrical lighting was installed in May 1896, supplied by a wood-burning steam electric-generating plant that worked between dusk and midnight only; it

6996-511: The first shock, which was centered about 35 miles (56 km) south of Eureka and had a magnitude of 7.1. The other two large earthquakes hit within 18 hours of the first and were of magnitude 6.5 and 6.7. Both a large landslide and several small landslides occurred on the Mattole Road, which also cracked due to downhill slumping and soil compaction of the road shoulders. Damages in Ferndale were estimated at $ 10.4 million. On January 9, 2010,

7102-480: The god of blacksmiths, warriors, hunters and others who work with iron is one of the pantheon of Orisha traditionally worshipped by the Yoruba people of Nigeria . Gold , silver , and copper all occur in nature in their native states , as reasonably pure metals – humans probably worked these metals first. These metals are all quite malleable , and humans' initial development of hammering techniques

7208-583: The hammer over the horn or edge of the anvil or by inserting a bending fork into the hardy hole (the square hole in the top of the anvil), placing the work piece between the tines of the fork, and bending the material to the desired angle. Bends can be dressed and tightened, or widened, by hammering them over the appropriately shaped part of the anvil. Some metals are "hot short", meaning they lose their tensile strength when heated. They become like Plasticine : although they may still be manipulated by squeezing, an attempt to stretch them, even by bending or twisting,

7314-450: The handle hole would be punched and drifted (widened by inserting or passing a larger tool through it), the head would be cut (punched, but with a wedge), the peen would be drawn to a wedge, and the face would be dressed by upsetting. As with making a chisel, since it is lengthened by drawing it would also tend to spread in width. A smith would therefore frequently turn the chisel-to-be on its side and hammer it back down—upsetting it—to check

7420-563: The hero known to the Ossetians as Kurdalægon and the Circassians as Tlepsh is a blacksmith and skilled craftsman whose exploits exhibit shamanic features, sometimes bearing comparison to those of the Scandinavian deity Odin . One of his greatest feats is acting as a type of male midwife to the hero Xamyc , who has been made the carrier of the embryo of his son Batraz by his dying wife

7526-403: The hole, rather than drilling it out as swarf . Forging uses seven basic operations or techniques: These operations generally require at least a hammer and anvil , but smiths also use other tools and techniques to accommodate odd-sized or repetitive jobs. Drawing lengthens the metal by reducing one or both of the other two dimensions. As the depth is reduced, or the width narrowed, the piece

7632-419: The hot iron at the anvil (with tongs) in one hand, and indicates where to strike the iron by tapping it with a small hammer in the other hand. The striker then delivers a heavy blow to the indicated spot with a sledgehammer. During the 20th century and into the 21st century, this role has become increasingly unnecessary and automated through the use of trip hammers or reciprocating power hammers. When iron ore

7738-554: The king's daughter, after drugging her with strong beer, and escaped, laughing, on wings of his own making, boasting that he had fathered a child upon her. Seppo Ilmarinen , the Eternal Hammerer, blacksmith and inventor in the Kalevala , is an archetypal artificer from Finnish mythology. Tubal-Cain is mentioned in the book of Genesis of the Torah as the original smith. Ogun ,

7844-508: The local Wiyot, Yurok, Karuk and Hupa, are exhibited along with interpretive information. Other artifacts include a woman's buckskin headband, hair ties used by a shaman, a smoking pipe, wrapping skin, and a gambling drum. Native wildlife displays also help interpret life of the times. Artwork exhibited include paintings from the 1860s by portrait painter Stephen William Shaw and photographs by Edna Garrett. In 2007, artists collective Empire Squared of Eureka, California donated labor to paint

7950-532: The metal glows an intense yellow or white. At this temperature the steel is near molten. Any foreign material in the weld, such as the oxides or "scale" that typically form in the fire, can weaken it and cause it to fail. Thus the mating surfaces to be joined must be kept clean. To this end a smith makes sure the fire is a reducing fire: a fire where, at the heart, there is a great deal of heat and very little oxygen. The smith also carefully shapes mating faces so that as they come together foreign material squeezes out as

8056-457: The metal in the fire so he can see it without letting surrounding air contact the surface. (Note that smiths don't always use flux, especially in the UK.) Now the smith moves with rapid purpose, quickly taking the metal from the fire to the anvil and bringing the mating faces together. A few light hammer taps bring the mating faces into complete contact and squeeze out the flux—and finally, the smith returns

8162-412: The metal is joined. To clean the faces, protect them from oxidation, and provide a medium to carry foreign material out of the weld, the smith sometimes uses flux—typically powdered borax, silica sand, or both. The smith first cleans parts to be joined with a wire brush, then puts them in the fire to heat. With a mix of drawing and upsetting the smith shapes the faces so that when finally brought together,

8268-455: The metal. There is some challenge to this because, to see the color of the metal, the smith must remove it from the fire—exposing it to air, which can rapidly oxidize it. So the smith might probe into the fire with a bit of steel wire, prodding lightly at the mating faces. When the end of the wire sticks on to the metal, it is at the right temperature (a small weld forms where the wire touches the mating face, so it sticks). The smith commonly places

8374-431: The nearby coast, an effect now called wave-generated microseism. The FER station became inactive in 1962 when advances in seismic technology rendered it and several others in the state obsolete. The Bosch-Omori seismograph was donated to the city of Ferndale by the university, which moved to the museum in 1981 where it continues to record daily. A working blacksmith shop and forge displays hundreds of items that made up

8480-617: The norm. Concurrent with the advent of alphabetic characters in the Iron Age , humans became aware of the metal iron . However, in earlier ages, iron's qualities, in contrast to those of bronze, were not generally understood. Iron artifacts , composed of meteoric iron , have the chemical composition containing up to 40% nickel . As this source of this iron is extremely rare and fortuitous, little development of smithing skills peculiar to iron can be assumed to have occurred. That we still possess any such artifacts of meteoric iron may be ascribed to

8586-554: The old switchboard and crank phones are on display at the Ferndale Museum . The Ferndale Enterprise newspaper was founded on May 11, 1878, by three sons of the local Methodist minister and has published continuously since then, while moving offices and shifting from semi-weekly to weekly publication. Ferndale incorporated with a vote of 89 in favor and 47 against on August 17, 1893, primarily to organize drainage and prevent dogs and other animals from running loose, according to

8692-408: The other. One form is to heat the end of a rod and then hammer on it as one would drive a nail: the rod gets shorter, and the hot part widens. An alternative to hammering on the hot end is to place the hot end on the anvil and hammer on the cold end. Punching may be done to create a decorative pattern, or to make a hole. For example, in preparation for making a hammerhead, a smith would punch a hole in

8798-641: The population) lived in households, 0 (0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized. There were 611 households, out of which 149 (24.4%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 294 (48.1%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 55 (9.0%) had a female householder with no husband present, 27 (4.4%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 38 (6.2%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships , and 6 (1.0%) same-sex married couples or partnerships . One hundred ninety-four households (31.8%) were made up of individuals, and 91 (14.9%) had someone living alone who

8904-442: The same or similar kind of metal. A modern blacksmith has a range of options and tools to accomplish this. The basic types of welding commonly employed in a modern workshop include traditional forge welding as well as modern methods, including oxyacetylene and arc welding . In forge welding, the pieces to join are heated to what is generally referred to as welding heat . For mild steel most smiths judge this temperature by color:

9010-477: The same year as Fernbridge (bridge) was built, eliminating the need for ferry boat service. In 1878, regular service on steamships carried produce, cargo and passengers from Port Kenyon, where, by 1897, 188,652 pounds of wool and 965,010 pounds of butter were shipped out along with grains, chickens, potatoes, lumber, eggs, hides, vegetables, and salmon. The steamer trade declined as the Salt River silted up and

9116-454: The size and shape of the metal's crystals . The hardened bronze can then be ground to sharpen it to make edged tools. Clocksmiths as recently as the 19th century used work hardening techniques to harden the teeth of brass gears and ratchets . Tapping on just the teeth produced harder teeth, with superior wear-resistance. By contrast, the rest of the gear was left in a softer and tougher state, more capable of resisting cracking. Bronze

9222-407: The spread and keep the metal at the correct width. Or, if a smith needed to put a 90-degree bend in a bar and wanted a sharp corner on the outside of the bend, they would begin by hammering an unsupported end to make the curved bend. Then, to "fatten up" the outside radius of the bend, one or both arms of the bend would need to be pushed back to fill the outer radius of the curve. So they would hammer

9328-497: The summer months. Local microclimates are varied and support tropical palm trees and Sitka spruce , including a mature Sitka forest in Russ Park, and the over 150-foot-tall (46 m) spruce lighted every year for Christmas. Morning fogs are common year round. A weather station was run in the town from 1963 to 1973. The climate is similar to that of nearby Eureka . The 2010 United States Census reported that Ferndale had

9434-437: The top of the piece. Then the smith turns the hammer over to use the flat face to hammer the tops of the ridges down level with the bottoms of the indentations. This forces the metal to grow in length (and width if left unchecked) much faster than just hammering with the flat face of the hammer. Heating iron to a "forging heat" allows bending as if it were a soft, ductile metal, like copper or silver. Bending can be done with

9540-940: The transport hub shifted to Eureka The completion of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad in 1914 allowed for speedier transportation to Eureka and the San Francisco area. The track was built about five miles to the northwest of Ferndale in Fernbridge . Main Street businesses supplied the needs of not only the Ferndale area, but for the inland Mattole Valley as well. They included banks, hotels, stables, variety and merchandise stores, hardware and grocery stores, farm and machine implements, butchers, blacksmiths shoemakers, barbers, tailors, milliners , saloons and gambling halls, billiard parlors, coopers, doctors, dentists, drug stores, lawyers, engineers, surveyors, real estate agents, several photographers, furniture makers, undertakers ,

9646-487: The water-sprite Lady Isp, who spits it between his shoulder blades, where it forms a womb-like cyst. Kurdalaegon prepares a type of tower or scaffold above a quenching bath for Xamyc, and, when the time is right, lances the cyst to liberate the infant hero Batraz as a newborn babe of white-hot steel , whom Kurdalægon then quenches like a newly forged sword. The Anglo-Saxon Wayland Smith , known in Old Norse as Völundr ,

9752-417: The work to the fire. The weld begins with the taps, but often the joint is weak and incomplete, so the smith reheats the joint to welding temperature and works the weld with light blows to "set" the weld and finally to dress it to the shape. Depending on the intended use of the piece, a blacksmith may finish it in a number of ways: A range of treatments and finishes can inhibit oxidation and enhance or change

9858-540: The workers would come nowhere near town and they were allowed to stay until the fishing season was over in December. Chinese crews were used again at the same cannery in 1887 and 1889. In 1906 Eureka and Fortuna citizens were again up in arms at Ferndale's violation of the unwritten law of the county when the Starbuck–Talent Canning Company of Port Kenyon brought in 23 Chinese and four Japanese to work at

9964-452: Was 3.0%. 926 people (67.5% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 445 people (32.5%) lived in rental housing units. As of the census of 2000, there were 1,382 people, 611 households, and 392 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,343.2 inhabitants per square mile (518.6/km ). There were 663 housing units at an average density of 644.4 units per square mile (248.8 units/km ). The racial makeup of

10070-406: Was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.8 males. The median income for a household in the city was $ 37,955, and the median income for a family was $ 49,706. Males had a median income of $ 32,404 versus $ 29,808 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 21,727. About 4.5% of families and 7.1% of the population were below

10176-404: Was 47.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.1 males. There were 717 housing units at an average density of 698.4 units per square mile (269.7 units/km ), of which 611 were occupied, of which 388 (63.5%) were owner-occupied, and 223 (36.5%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.8%; the rental vacancy rate

10282-404: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24. There were 376 families (61.5% of all households); the average family size was 2.84. The population was spread out, with 283 people (20.6%) under the age of 18, 75 people (5.5%) aged 18 to 24, 283 people (20.6%) aged 25 to 44, 422 people (30.8%) aged 45 to 64, and 308 people (22.5%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age

10388-438: Was a glade of giant ferns reaching more than six feet (1.8 m), surrounded by alder , willow , Sitka spruce , Douglas fir , coast redwood , swampy land, and windswept prairies. The area was populated by the southern Wiyot people, and centered along the Eel River, where they caught lamprey eels, salmon and sturgeon in iris leaf fish nets and collected shellfish along the river and at its mouth, while cultivating

10494-472: Was actually three earthquakes collectively named the 1992 Cape Mendocino earthquakes . The first of these struck on April 25 during the first "Best of the West" festival parade, shattering the glass windows of the stores on Main Street. The brick facade of Valley Grocery collapsed, and police estimated damage to 80 percent of the downtown buildings. Between 30 and 40 houses were knocked off their foundations from

10600-426: Was estimated at a Mercalli intensity of VII ( Very strong ) at Ferndale. On January 22, 1923, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake centered off Cape Mendocino was said to be nearly as great a shock in Ferndale as the 1906 earthquake and produced a tsunami . Chimneys fell, water mains and plate glass windows broke, and the recently repaired Odd Fellows building fell off its new foundation. The earthquake arrived with

10706-419: Was not finished until 1866. After having been away from the area for two years, Stephen Shaw sold his holdings in 1856 to Welsh-born Francis Francis (1818–1877) who later established the city's water system through pipes laid initially in 1875. Other small towns were established around Ferndale, including Centerville , Port Kenyon , Waddington, Grizzly Bluff , and Arlynda Corners . Produce from Ferndale

10812-455: Was replaced in 1903 by a distillate-burning steam electric generator a few blocks east of Main Street. In 1911, the earlier generation and distribution systems were merged into Western States Gas and Electric acquired in 1927 by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company . The national landmark Ferndale Public Library was completed in 1910 with local funds and an $ 8,000 Carnegie grant . In 1876,

10918-487: Was shipped out via Centerville and transferred to ships at anchor offshore prior to the opening of docks at Port Kenyon in 1876. While the earliest settlers were English speaking from Great Britain , New England , Canada , or Ireland , waves of immigrants arrived in Ferndale from Denmark , Switzerland , Germany , Italy , Portugal , and China . Danish settlers founded and built Our Savior's Lutheran Church in 1899 and dedicated Danish Hall, which had been built as

11024-612: Was the god of metalworking, fire, and craftsmen. In Celtic mythology , the role of Smith is held by eponymous (their names do mean 'smith') characters : Goibhniu (Irish myths of the Tuatha Dé Danann cycle) or Gofannon (Welsh myths/ the Mabinogion ). Brigid or Brigit, an Irish goddess , is sometimes described as the patroness of blacksmiths. In the Nart mythology of the Caucasus

11130-620: Was undoubtedly applied to these metals. During the Chalcolithic era and the Bronze Age , humans in the Mideast learned how to smelt , melt , cast , rivet , and (to a limited extent) forge copper and bronze. Bronze is an alloy of copper and approximately 10% to 20% Tin . Bronze is superior to just copper, by being harder, being more resistant to corrosion, and by having a lower melting point (thereby requiring less fuel to melt and cast). Much of

11236-460: Was used here. In 1916, Grey and Jensen moved to San Francisco and changed the company name to Golden State Creamery Local Ferndale resident and Eureka newspaper editor Andrew Genzoli began recording the history of the Ferndale dairies during this time, culminating in scrapbooks of newspaper clippings from 1910 to 1954. Ferndale was a crossroads village and provided lodging, horses, blacksmithing and other services both to individual travelers and

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