Isaac Minor

Courtesy: In accordance with terms of use from humboldt.edu for non-commercial use citing, "History of Humboldt County, California : with Illustrations Descriptive of it's Scenery, Farms, Residences, Public Buildings, Factories, Hotels, Business Houses, Schools, Churches, etc., from Original Drawings, including Biographical Sketches." Circa 1881.

Interred in this mausoleum.

Interred in this mausoleum.

Residence and ranch of Isaac Minor.

Courtesy: In accordance with terms of use from humboldt.edu for non-commercial use.

City Residence of Isaac Minor.

Courtesy: In accordance with terms of use from humboldt.edu for non-commercial use.

ISAAC MINOR

"The president of the First National Bank of Arcata, which institution he organized and opened for business in October, 1913, is Mr. Minor, a pioneer of December, 1853, and through all the intervening years an associate in movement for the permanent building of Humboldt county. Whether the elements entering into his success were innate personal attributes or whether in part they were quickened by the circumstance of his early identification with California, it would be impossible to determine. Suffice it to know that he reached the success and that Humboldt county has been the center of his large enterprises. To him belongs the credit for the building of the Warren Creek standard gauge railroad, which makes possible a convenient connection with the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. Also to him may be given credit for the development of a granite quarry near Arcata, a plant mining a fine quality of granite that splits like wood, but hardens when exposed to the air. Sawmills, creameries, electric lighting systems, freight vessels, timber lands and farms represent the varied character of his commercial connections and the remarkable change that has come into his life since he arrived in Arcata, friendless, without money or influence, and in the frontier environment of the then Uniontown, the original county seat of Humboldt county, took up the task of rising out of day labor into independence. How well he succeeded in reaching the goal of his ambitions is a matter of common knowledge throughout the entire county, whose resources have been developed under his sagacious supervision and whose opportunities he believes to be as great as those offered by any section of the state.

Descended in the third generation from Gen. Ephraim Douglas of Revolutionary war fame, Isaac Minor is a son of Samuel and Louise (Keller) Minor, natives respectively of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and during early married life residents of the last named state, where their son, whose name introduces this article, was born on a farm April 8, 1830. The wife and mother died in the Keystone state at forty years of age, and later the father became a pioneer of Iowa, where he spent his last days in the home of a daughter. During the fall of 1851 Isaac Minor came via Panama to California. The voyage up the Pacific to San Francisco on the old ship, Monumental City, consumed forty nine days and was filled with peril. More than once the passengers had to take turns in pumping the water out of the unseaworthy craft. The vessel cast anchor in safety, but on its next voyage was lost. March of 1852 found Mr. Minor in Sacramento, where the great flood was in progress. All night he worked for $1 an hour, carrying off goods that were being destroyed by water. In the morning he waded out through the water and walked to Chinese Camp in Tuolumne county, where he spent eighteen months in prospecting and mining. Chance brought him to Humboldt county during the latter part of 1853. Being young, energetic and capable, he had no trouble in securing work, but his independence of spirit led him to prefer to work in his own interests rather than in the interests of others.

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