Kneeland, California
Encyclopedia
Kneeland is an unincorporated community
in Humboldt County
, California
.
It is located 7.5 miles (12 km) south-southwest of Korbel
, at an elevation of 2129 feet (649 m). Kneeland Airport
is nearby. The ZIP Code
is 95549.
and Arcata
(14 miles (23 km)). It is 283 miles (455.4 km) north of San Francisco
.
The first nonnative explorers entered Humboldt Bay in 1806, but the region was not permanently settled by Euro-Americans until the 1850s, when the Gold Rush brought a flood of new residents. Nearby coastal communities (Eureka, Arcata, and Trinidad) quickly developed as shipping and supply centers for the mining industry.
After the Gold Rush waned, area residents began to capitalize on locally abundant timber, land, and marine resources and the region became a major center for logging, ranching, and fishing.
The Kneeland area, which lies above the timberline and is dominated by prairie vegetation, attracted settlers interested in cattle and sheep ranching. Initially known as Kleizer's Prairie, the area features prime grazing land and climatic conditions suitable for cultivating hay and other fodder crops.
In 1852, John A. Kneeland and his sister Mandana established a ranch in the area, which then became known as Kneeland's Prairie. Other ranchers followed suit, taking advantage of lucrative markets for meat products in nearby mining and logging communities. The 1850s were marked by heated conflict between white settlers and native peoples who sought to defend their claims to the land surrounding Kneeland, but native resistance was severely undermined when the U.S. Army established two stations, Camp Lyon
(1862) and Camp Iaqua(1863), in the vicinity and began regular patrols to defend settler's ranches. This era was also characterized by conflicts among squatters, until the Homestead Act of 1862 established a framework for formally settling the area. The early 1860s brought a wave of homesteaders from elsewhere in the U.S. (including states as distant as Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri) and from foreign locales (especially Ireland), but many of these settlers sold their land to larger ranching operations during a period of consolidation in the 1870s. At the turn of the century, several substantial ranches owned by prominent local families dominated the area.
Community interdependence among these isolated ranches was fostered by the need to keep roads passable and coordinate access to markets for meat and agricultural products. In 1869, area residents constructed the first Kneeland School, which also served as a church and a central meeting place. A post office was constructed in 1880, and some hotels catering to stagecoach passengers traveling from Humboldt Bay to San Francisco briefly operated in Kneeland in the 1880s. Starting in the 1940s, extensive commercial logging became an important economic activity in the Kneeland area, which hosted a short-lived sawmill. In 1962, a small airport was constructed in the vicinity of Kneeland, which had long been a convenient site for emergency landings when weather or navigation problems prevented pilots from reaching nearby Eureka - if they are flying small private aircraft! It currently serves as a Helitack station for CalFire.
Today, Kneeland consists of a loose collection of horse, sheep, and cattle ranches (many of which are owned by descendants of the first Euro-American settler families) and rural residences. The community has no central commercial district or downtown area, but the Kneeland post office, Kneeland Elementary School (re-built in 1952), the Kneeland Airport
, and the Kneeland Volunteer Fire Department provide services to area residents and form a central location for community activity. The surrounding forested areas remain sites of timber extraction for Pacific Lumber and other local logging companies.
The Kneeland post office operated from 1880 to 1891 and from 1892 to the present. The name commemorates Tom and John A. Kneeland, first American settlers there.
Most of the ranches and the few houses past the post office and toward Bridgeville are also referred to as Kneeland. The cemetery is a good 8 miles from the post office. Memorial Day weekend brings a few of the locals out for a cleanup and get-together to commemorate the history of this small community.
The population was 95.9% White, 1.6% Native American or Alaskan Native, 0.9% other races, and 1.6% identified with two or more races. Only 2.2% of the population was foreign born, and of those, 50.0% were born in Guatemala
.
For the population 18 years and over, 89.3% had a high school education or higher: 8.6% had a high school diploma or equivalency, 32.1% had some college education but no degree, 39.0% had attained a bachelor's degree, and 9.6% had earned a graduate or professional degree.
, and home of the Kneeland School, a public K-8 school which started as a one-room schoolhouse, with separate outhouses for boys and girls, in 1873.. Two other schools were in operation at the time: Iaqua School (in Iaqua
) and Lone Star (in Lone Star
), but these were amalgamted with Kneeland School. The school was modernized in 1951, and again in the 1980s.
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...
in Humboldt County
Humboldt County, California
Humboldt County is a county in the U.S. state of California, located on the far North Coast 200 miles north of San Francisco. According to 2010 Census Data, the county’s population was 134,623...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
It is located 7.5 miles (12 km) south-southwest of Korbel
Korbel, Humboldt County, California
Korbel is an unincorporated community in Humboldt County, California. It is located east-southeast of Blue Lake, at an elevation of 154 feet . The ZIP Code is 95550....
, at an elevation of 2129 feet (649 m). Kneeland Airport
Kneeland Airport
Kneeland Airport is a public airport operated by Humboldt County and located 10 miles southeast of the central business district of Eureka, USA. The airport is co-located with a California Dept. of Forestry Helitack Station. Located on a mountain ridge line at over 2,700 ft...
is nearby. The ZIP Code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
is 95549.
Geography
Kneeland is located about 12 miles (19 km) east of Humboldt Bay, roughly equidistant from EurekaEureka, California
Eureka is the principal city and the county seat of Humboldt County, California, United States. Its population was 27,191 at the 2010 census, up from 26,128 at the 2000 census....
and Arcata
Arcata, California
-Demographics:-2010 Census data:The 2010 United States Census reported that Arcata had a population of 17,231. The population density was 1,567.4 people per square mile...
(14 miles (23 km)). It is 283 miles (455.4 km) north of San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
.
History
Several native groups occupied the Humboldt County area before and after the arrival of European settlers. Kneeland lies within the original territory of the Wiyot, who relied heavily on salmon, locally harvested roots, and marine resources for subsistence purposes. Native groups may have maintained the prairies immediately surrounding Kneeland as hunting grounds via strategic burning practices. Prior to 1860, there were an estimated 1500 to 2000 Wiyot living within the Humboldt County area. By 1920, their numbers had declined to around 100, due to introduced diseases and deadly conflicts with Euro-American settlers and the military. Today, many members of the contemporary Wiyot Nation live on the Table Bluff Reservation, located 16 miles (26 km) south of nearby Eureka.The first nonnative explorers entered Humboldt Bay in 1806, but the region was not permanently settled by Euro-Americans until the 1850s, when the Gold Rush brought a flood of new residents. Nearby coastal communities (Eureka, Arcata, and Trinidad) quickly developed as shipping and supply centers for the mining industry.
After the Gold Rush waned, area residents began to capitalize on locally abundant timber, land, and marine resources and the region became a major center for logging, ranching, and fishing.
The Kneeland area, which lies above the timberline and is dominated by prairie vegetation, attracted settlers interested in cattle and sheep ranching. Initially known as Kleizer's Prairie, the area features prime grazing land and climatic conditions suitable for cultivating hay and other fodder crops.
In 1852, John A. Kneeland and his sister Mandana established a ranch in the area, which then became known as Kneeland's Prairie. Other ranchers followed suit, taking advantage of lucrative markets for meat products in nearby mining and logging communities. The 1850s were marked by heated conflict between white settlers and native peoples who sought to defend their claims to the land surrounding Kneeland, but native resistance was severely undermined when the U.S. Army established two stations, Camp Lyon
Camp Lyon (California)
Camp Lyon, sometimes called Fort Lyon, was established in 1862 during the Bald Hills War midway between Fort Anderson and Fort Baker. It was a temporary California Volunteer post located at Brehmer's Ranch on the Mad River, about 20 miles southeast of Arcata, California near Kneeland, California...
(1862) and Camp Iaqua(1863), in the vicinity and began regular patrols to defend settler's ranches. This era was also characterized by conflicts among squatters, until the Homestead Act of 1862 established a framework for formally settling the area. The early 1860s brought a wave of homesteaders from elsewhere in the U.S. (including states as distant as Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri) and from foreign locales (especially Ireland), but many of these settlers sold their land to larger ranching operations during a period of consolidation in the 1870s. At the turn of the century, several substantial ranches owned by prominent local families dominated the area.
Community interdependence among these isolated ranches was fostered by the need to keep roads passable and coordinate access to markets for meat and agricultural products. In 1869, area residents constructed the first Kneeland School, which also served as a church and a central meeting place. A post office was constructed in 1880, and some hotels catering to stagecoach passengers traveling from Humboldt Bay to San Francisco briefly operated in Kneeland in the 1880s. Starting in the 1940s, extensive commercial logging became an important economic activity in the Kneeland area, which hosted a short-lived sawmill. In 1962, a small airport was constructed in the vicinity of Kneeland, which had long been a convenient site for emergency landings when weather or navigation problems prevented pilots from reaching nearby Eureka - if they are flying small private aircraft! It currently serves as a Helitack station for CalFire.
Today, Kneeland consists of a loose collection of horse, sheep, and cattle ranches (many of which are owned by descendants of the first Euro-American settler families) and rural residences. The community has no central commercial district or downtown area, but the Kneeland post office, Kneeland Elementary School (re-built in 1952), the Kneeland Airport
Kneeland Airport
Kneeland Airport is a public airport operated by Humboldt County and located 10 miles southeast of the central business district of Eureka, USA. The airport is co-located with a California Dept. of Forestry Helitack Station. Located on a mountain ridge line at over 2,700 ft...
, and the Kneeland Volunteer Fire Department provide services to area residents and form a central location for community activity. The surrounding forested areas remain sites of timber extraction for Pacific Lumber and other local logging companies.
The Kneeland post office operated from 1880 to 1891 and from 1892 to the present. The name commemorates Tom and John A. Kneeland, first American settlers there.
Most of the ranches and the few houses past the post office and toward Bridgeville are also referred to as Kneeland. The cemetery is a good 8 miles from the post office. Memorial Day weekend brings a few of the locals out for a cleanup and get-together to commemorate the history of this small community.
Demographics
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the population of Kneeland was 244. The population was 51.6% female and 48.4% male. The median age of the population was 41.5, higher than the national median of 35.3.The population was 95.9% White, 1.6% Native American or Alaskan Native, 0.9% other races, and 1.6% identified with two or more races. Only 2.2% of the population was foreign born, and of those, 50.0% were born in Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
.
For the population 18 years and over, 89.3% had a high school education or higher: 8.6% had a high school diploma or equivalency, 32.1% had some college education but no degree, 39.0% had attained a bachelor's degree, and 9.6% had earned a graduate or professional degree.
Education
Kneeland is the seat of the Kneeland Elementary School DistrictKneeland Elementary School District
The Kneeland Elementary School District, headquartered in Kneeland, California, oversees public education, through grade 8, in a portion of east central Humboldt County, California. The school it operates is a two-room K-8 school in Kneeland....
, and home of the Kneeland School, a public K-8 school which started as a one-room schoolhouse, with separate outhouses for boys and girls, in 1873.. Two other schools were in operation at the time: Iaqua School (in Iaqua
Iaqua, California
Iaqua is a former settlement in Humboldt County, California. It was located south of Kneeland.Camp or Fort Iaqua, a military post operational from August 5, 1863 to 1866 was located on Yeager Creek about 18 miles east of the mouth of the Eel River, is located on Iaqua Creek south-southeast of...
) and Lone Star (in Lone Star
Lone Star, Humboldt County, California
Lone Star is a former settlement in Humboldt County, California. It was located north-northeast of Lone Star Junction.As of 1873, a school was in operation at Lone Star.. It was later amalgamated with the Kneeland School.-References:...
), but these were amalgamted with Kneeland School. The school was modernized in 1951, and again in the 1980s.