The Great Depression and Baseball in Mendocino County

The Depression in the United States forever scarred the psychology of a generation of Americans and helped shape the course of political dialogue forever. At no other time was the national political and social continuity more threatened as capitalist commerce no longer kept thousands of Americans fed in the urban centers. Social, economic, and regional self-sufficiency was centered on rural towns where much aid was administered through informal neighborhood networks. These communities of self-sufficient and relatively self-reliant farming and logging families spent what little leisure time they possessed focused on social events such as picnics, restaurants, and sporting events, most notably, on California’s Mendocino Coast, baseball.

Baseball, both watched and played, allowed the coastal Mendocino public to forget for a few hours the uncertain economic realities that existed across the nation and were most evident by the intermittent closings of coastal mills for a dearth of buyers. 

Players were also workers in the woods and in the towns’ mills, as well as grocers, gas station owners, and dairy farmers. They played hard and worked harder, when there were jobs. Multiple leagues existed on the Mendocino coast, not including high school teams that would play against the various town and association teams in exhibition and pre-season games. Baseball was played in every town on the Mendocino coast in some fashion. The home field of the Fort Bragg Seals also hosted concessions operators and ticket sellers who earned a small wage.[1] The teams were for entertainment and meant little in relation to greater issues, such as the mills’ operation. However, baseball was a vivid expression of coastal Mendocino County’s culture of mutual aid and support.

Baseball interwove other communities together with the greater Mendocino Coast community. The local Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp at California’s Russian Gulch State Park maintained a very competitive baseball club as a part of their recreation program and was a part of a larger Northern California CCC baseball “sub-district” league. The Russian Gulch camp was established on November 17, 1933 with the express intent of developing Russian Gulch into a state park for California. Immediately, crews “started on road and trail construction, camp ground clearings, stream improvement, eradication of poisonous plants, general cleanup, and many other approved projects.” Eleven months later, federal work crews had constructed “three miles of road, forty individual camping units consisting of stoves, tables, cupboards, and water. One Recreation Hall fifty by sixty feet, one Custodian Cottage of five rooms, eight latrines (Chich Sales type) and ten miles of foot trails...”[2] Initially only fifty crew members began the work, but that number soon swelled to over two hundred enrollees.[3]

In addition to conservation work, the CCC provided opportunities for a number of athletic activities including boxing, basketball, and baseball. The CCC baseball teams played their games on Mendocino High School’s field.[4] The high school also opened its doors to hundreds of CCC enrollees to finish their high school education by hosting night classes twice per week with, a CCC reports adds, “the entire school staff and the school’s facilities and equipment at their disposal.”[5] A CCC educational report for Russian Gulch camp in 1938 noted that “[t]he healthy relation existing between the people and high school and the men of this company has improved the moral of this company.”[6] The “people” of Mendocino included Auggie Heeser, editor and publisher of the Mendocino Beacon, who declared “Hail to the boys of the CCC!” at the opening of the Russian Gulch camp.[7] Mendocino’s embrace of the CCC was likewise illustrated by the invitation of local families to enrollees for holiday parties and dinners.[8]

This seeming unconditional acceptance of the strangers in their midst was possible because the area was isolated and rural, but self-sufficient. According to Emery Escola, a member of a long-time Mendocino County family, during the Great Depression the area was relatively protected from the more harsh effects of widespread starvation or malnutrition. He said he “didn’t really know it was the depression.” He continued,

I wasn’t old enough to know about finances and money like that. My whole early life was during a low economic time. I didn’t have too much idea about what value was. When the depression came it didn’t make too many changes to us. Everybody shared their food. If somebody killed a pig and had too much left over, they’d share it with their neighbors. Never went without something to eat. We had it pretty good compared to in the city. Most of the people raised their own food anyway.”[9]

Escola described the coast as dotted with farms that provided many of the essentials, such as eggs, milk, and butter. During the Depression, Escola and his brother built a trapper’s lodge to trap fur animals along the Noyo River to earn what cash was necessary for survival beyond food. Escola sold raccoon, mink, and otter skins to chain retailers such as Montgomery Wards.[10] Perhaps it was such abundance in isolation that allowed leisure activities such as baseball to proliferate.

The natural abundance did not necessarily translate into financial abundance. The Fort Bragg Seals practiced and played games at their primary field located at the corner of Madrone and Main Streets, now occupied by CVS Pharmacy, Coast Cinemas, and a strip-mall. Located on the same block, just outside the first base side fence, was the twenty-seven room, three-story Piedmont Hotel, built by the Andreani family in 1914. [11]

In this undated photo, Fort Bragg's town team squares off against Albion. In the background along the first base line is the Oak Manor Hotel, on Oak Street, and the Catholic church, originally located at the corner of Main and Oak streets. The church is now called Portuguese Hall, on Stewart Street. Note the absence of the Piedmont Hotel, built in 1941. The baseball field was torn down in 1955. Photo courtesy of the Mendocino County Historical Society

From this matrix of regional abundance and communal generosity Mendocino Coast baseball gained its roots. One of the locals, C. Louis Wood, played third and first bases, as well as being the manager at the beginning of the ’37 season; Wood also owned a gas station on Main Street in Fort Bragg. His ownership of the gas station was his connection to the community as evidenced by the Mendocino Beacon’s declaration that “[t]he Fort Bragg Seals, under the sponsorship of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, have been having regular workouts the past week…C. Louis Wood, who has the Associated Service Station on the corner of Main and Redwood avenue, will manage the team this year… Woods [sic] has had considerable experience with baseball teams and is well qualified to handle a team.” The Associated Service Station owned by Wood was located two blocks from the Seals’ ballpark, certainly a convenience to a business owner who was a part-time slugger. [12]

But just because Fort Bragg’s hometown nine were part-time did not mean they were not serious hitters. Another set of local part-time sluggers were the Galletti brothers. The Galletti’s were from a Point Arena dairy family, one of the many farms and ranches that produced such regional abundance.

On June 9, 1937, Leo Galletti illustrated why small town baseball during the Depression was as magical as the legendary teams of Major League Baseball. In an error-free contest, the Seals’ Tilio Pavioni energized the home crowd when he safely hit three times in four at-bats, walked once, and stole second base twice; he did not, however, score a run. In the home half of the sixth, third baseman Galletti, previously a catcher with the Point Arena Dairymen baseball team, clobbered a pitch over the fences for the game’s only run.[13]

In the bottom of the sixth Galletti watched from third base as Fort Bragg’s defense took its turn in turning in a gem play, in particular catcher Waddy Lawson. Lawson brought fans to their feet when he picked off a runner at second base. With a runner on second, and anticipating an attempted steal of third, in a play that foreshadowed in technique modern Major League Baseball catchers, Lawson called for a pitch-out from pitcher Johnny Matson and threw from the kneeling position to second base to eliminate Santa Rosa’s scoring threat.

The Seals won 1-0, with Matson throwing a complete game to earn the win.[14]

There were times, though, that fans left disappointed without even the satisfaction of watching a game at all. In local contests of “town teams,” games were often cancelled because visiting teams failed to show due to inclement weather, automotive breakdowns, or plain discourtesy. Mendocino County’s roads during the Depression were poorly maintained and the primary method of getting to Fort Bragg until 1936 was by steamer; after 1936, automobiles were at best questionable conveyances over the coastal mountains.

Coastal Mendocino area’s very geography was a deterrent to outside teams playing in Fort Bragg. On July 24, the Mendocino Beacon reported that the California Colored Giants of Oakland failed to appear for a game because the axle of their team bus broke only seventy miles from Oakland.[15] 
Then on August 4, the newspaper reported that the Winters team had failed to arrive for the game because the team car had broken down.[16]

For four consecutive Sundays, the Seals refunded the fans’ money. That meant that, in addition to games versus Winters and the Oakland Colored Giants, games against two additional out-of-area teams had also been cancelled. The Fort Bragg Junior Chamber of Commerce, responsible for scheduling games and advertising, announced that it would not schedule any more games that year. The season would end for the Seals with two games against Scotia and one game against Talmage. [17]

The Fort Bragg Seals’ 1937 ended prematurely. The local newspaper did not report detailed statistics for the players. The Fort Bragg Seals were not the New York Yankees or St. Louis Cardinals. They did not play 150 games or more per season; barely a dozen games were played during that season. They committed errors that were “inexcusable” to the local press. They did not have a Joe DiMaggio or Joe Medwick.

But individual players often demonstrated a remarkable athletic ability, especially considering they practiced but once a week. The players for the Fort Bragg Seals were known well enough to the town that only their last names were used to identify them to readers. Men like Pavioni, Lawson, and Matson played as if they were on the Boston Red Sox or Detroit Tigers, but they could only dream of salaries matching that of Lou Gehrig and DiMaggio.

The Seals, to appearances, were a “bush league” team that was staffed by part-time players. But town baseball games were consistently attended by relatively large crowds of spectators and individual players could often demonstrate a remarkable athletic ability, especially considering they practiced but once a week. In those moments of competition and athleticism, the Seals and the other local teams transported their friends and neighbors out of 1937 Mendocino County, away from labor unrest and economic strife. For that ability alone, the Fort Bragg Seals were professional.

Mendocino County was rich in natural resources that mitigated the effects of the Depression. Baseball was an escapist luxury that allowed residents of coastal Mendocino County, as well as other towns across America, to forget for a few hours the uncertain economic realities that existed during the Great Depression. Within Mendocino County, though uncertainties were held at bay by natural wealth of resources and wealth of community spirit. Baseball was only one visible expression of the Mendocino coast’s history of cultural richness.

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[1] Louis Andreani, Fort Bragg Remembered, 21-24

[2] “Superintendents Monthly Narrative Report,” United States Department of  the Interior, National Park Service, State Park Division, Russian Gulch SP-11, Mendocino, California, October, 1933

[3] Mendocino Beacon, October 14, 1933

[4] Mendocino Beacon, June 26, 1937

[5] “Summary of Camp Facilities for Education, Job Training and Recreation,” Russian Gulch Camp SP-11, September 2, 1937

[6] Civilian Conservation Corps Educational Report, Camp SP-11, Company No. 219, Fort Bragg, California, October 28, 1938

[7] Mendocino Beacon, February 19, 1934

[8] Mendocino Beacon, December 23, 1933

[9] Emery Escola, interviewed by Jonathon Matlin and Khalil Robinson, Mendocino Middle School Oral History Project, CD, November 15, 2000

[10] Emery Escola, interview, November 11, 1989, pg. 4, qtd in Robert Winn, “Bridges, Huckleberries, and Robin Stew: The Depression and The New Deal in Mendocino County”, Mendocino Historical Review, Vol. 14, Winter/Spring 1989-90, pg. 13

[11] Andreani, Fort Bragg Remembered, 21-24

[12] Mendocino Beacon, April 24, 1937.

[13] Mendocino Beacon, June 12, 1937

[14] ibid

[15] Mendocino Beacon, July 24, 1937

[16] Beacon, August 7, 1937

[17] Beacon, August 21, 1937

[18] Mendocino Beacon, March 22, 1968

Joshua Grindle Inn to reopen

From The Mendocino Beacon, May 21, "Joshua Grindle Inn to reopen this summer." A Mendocino landmark will reopen for business.

A Mendocino Immigrant: Antone Carvalho

On November twenty-second, 1896, thirty-two-year-old woodsman Antone Raposo Carvalho was a man ascendant. Not three years prior, the native of Sao Miguel, Azores, had been a subject of King Luis I of Portugal. Now he stood in the Fort Bragg Catholic Church before his, and seventeen-year-old Maria Pacheco’s, friends and family as a citizen of the United States. Antone’s Certificate of Naturalization, dated January 8, 1894, states that he was a resident of the United States for at least five years. In fact, Antone immigrated to the US eleven years previously in 1883 at the age of 19. At this time, the Azores Islands were in the middle of a century of unrest and violence, bracketed at one end by bloody civil war in the 1830s and at the other end of the century with revolutions in the early 1900s. From this turmoil, Antone Carvalho fled, leaving behind everything he knew and taking only his trade as a woodsman, to build a new life half-way around the world. In contrast to the turmoil of the Azores, confined as it was to small geography, the labor strikes and riots that occurred in the sprawling United States during the 1890s must have seemed far away from Mendocino and tame.

Mendocino was a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic city for much of its existence. Mendocino’ story is less the story of Euro-Americans than it is the story of cultural amalgamation. The coast was settled by immigrants from Portugal and the Azores, Sweden, Finland, Latin America, as well as Americans from other parts of the country. Mill and logging crews were littered with people with last names like Paoli, Gomes, and Silvia as well as  Kontag,  Klienschmidt, and Olsen. Other men were known to their peers by such colorful pseudonyms as Old Man MacDonald and Little River Smith. Other higher profile individuals in the Mendocino coast community were likewise either immigrants or first generation Americans. William Heeser was an immigrant from Germany who was invited into the homes of most coastal residents by way of his newspapers, The Fort Bragg Advocate-News and The Mendocino Beacon. Heeser also started newspapers in Kibbesillah, Westport, and Rockport.

Antone Carvalho resided on the Mendocino coast for fifty years. In 1903, he purchased his first family home in Mendocino at 44460 Little Lake Road. In 1921, Carvalho purchased and moved his family to the Blair House, which remained with the family until the 1940s. In Antone Carvalho’s fifty years on the Mendocino Coast, he witnessed nine children born and grown to adulthood. When he died in 1933, Antone was missed as a well-liked and well-respected member of the coastal community. Antone’s Certificate of Naturalization and marriage certificate to Maria Pacheco, in addition to other artifacts such as Antone’s workman’s pocket watch, are maintained by the Kelley House; images of these and other items can be viewed at the Kelley House’s website, www.mendocinohistory.org.

Where in the World is Melburne?

The heart of the Melburne community was located four miles west of the inland Mendocino County town of Comptche. Though the town itself comprised only a handful of buildings at its zenith, associated with the town of Melburne were the logging camps Camp B, Melburne Camp, and Camp 10. Also included in the greater Melburne area was the area known as Tom Bell Flat.

In his research for his book Big River was Dammed, W. Francis Jackson notes that “Camp B and what has been called the Melbourne [sic] Camp, located at the mouth of Feldman Gulch further down the stream, without a doubt have stories, particular news items that refer to one camp and should have been referred to the other one.”

Jackson was convinced that the two camps were in fact the same locality. Furthermore, the greater community was bonded together by not just the lumber industry, but by the formation of the Kaisen School District that focused a sparse population toward the little one-room schoolhouse at Melburne. By defining Melburne by the limits of the Kaisen School District, the township of Melburne encompasses a considerable area.

The scale of the farms adds to the impression that Melburne is merely a wide spot in the road. As logging and the trades associated with logging, such as tie making and blacksmithing, flourished, single men and families alike were attracted to Melburne. By 1890 a town thrived. Yet the thriving town was surrounded by extensive woodlands and small landholdings.

One example of a Melburne farmer with a seemingly disproportionate sized parcel was William Host, a German immigrant who was granted his land in 1869. The six hundred acre Host parcel was sold to John Regan Skiffington, a future postmaster of the Melburne Post Office and an immigrant from Yale, Michigan, in 1899. Skiffington sold his stake to Jack Olson in 1944. The Olsons also acquired the adjoining seventy-three acre Makela farm subsequent to their purchasing the Skiffington place, enlarging the original William Host holding. Finally, in 1946, Olson sold his stake to Frank and Mary Tunzi. Frank Tunzi was a rancher and contractor from Kings County, California, and would continue his vocation at the former Melburne property.

According a 1946 issue of the Fort Bragg Advocate-News the “Melburne ranch sold for $32,500.”

With such relatively large blocks of land privately owned, the population in Melburne was scattered and concentrated in areas closest to the most active areas of logging. Melburne was located near Big River and several camps existed along the river’s tributaries that flowed through what would be called Kaisen School District.

Early in the Twentieth Century, the names “Kaisen” and “Melburne” were used interchangeably by local newspapers to describe the rural district. The Mendocino Beacon, on Sept. 16, 1905, declared that “…a movement is on foot to increase the size of Melburne School District by adding 1120 acres from the Big River District, 640 acres from Comptche, and 80 acres from Spring Grove, which would enable Melburne to erect a centrally located school building on the main road about a mile east of George Feldman’s place.” This school would be built “…just west of Melburne, on the south side of the road. It had a wood stove and outhouses.

During the thriving years of the logging camp as many as fifty students attended Kaisen School.” Kaisen and Melburne schools were the same structure in the same location. The boundaries of the district dictated who belonged in the greater Melburne community.