We learn that the editor of our weekly newspaper in tiny Ferndale was the "mole" that gave California Gov. Gillett in 1906.

This is one of the stories "that now can be told," says the editor of the now-defunct Larkspur-Corte Madera News (Marin County, CA) in January 1946. And today, I say, "Ditto." What a find.

Another manila envelope among dozens, another night of half-watching the news and half-sorting through the detritus of three or four generations of several families. Oh, Hamilton Field (on the envelope), more World War II, sigh, “interesting,” my aunt’s handwritten note to me says. Understatement of the month.

IN ITS ISSUE OF JANUARY 31, 1956, the Marin County, California Larkspur-Corte Madera News (1927-1999), features a long tale in its front page ‘Round Marin’ column, detailing the role that the village of Ferndale, California, in Humboldt County, played in the selection of the person who was to become the state’s next governor.

c. 1907: The era in which Governor James Gillett—a Humboldt County-based former Congressman—visited his constituents in Petrolia (I’m skirting saying this uncaptioned photo from the Ferndale Museum is Gillett’s party, although the formality makes it very likely). Over a thousand people made the trek to Mattole to welcome the Guv, who was the Guv thanks to the editor of the Ferndale Enterprise. Read on.

WHILE THE STUNNING BACK-ROOM events herein described took place in 1907, the hook for disclosing them at this later date (1946) was, as the News reported, “…the presence at Hamilton Field of Capt. George Waldner¹, the PRO [public relations officer], whose newspaper, the Ferndale Enterprise at his hometown in Humboldt County, was the medium selected by the Southern Pacific political machine to bring out a gubernatorial candidate.”

The story takes place in January 1906, and election year, when the Governor of California was George C. Pardee, a Republican eye-and-ear doctor from Oakland (where he had also served as mayor) and the first California-born man to hold the governor’s office (January 1903-07). During his tenure, Pardee, who had not been the first choice of the Southern Pacific bosses, also struggled with a bubonic plague outbreak—the upshot being that SP needed a new candidate, more to the liking of William F. Herrin, head of SP’s legal and political departments. Herrin, of course, needed a candidate with origins untraceable to SP. “A fresh face.”

James Norris Gillett, born in Wisconsin, transplanted to Eureka, raised to political heights by the Ferndale Enterprise.

From the Larkspur-Corte Madera News clipping:

U.S. Congressman James N. Gillett [spelling is correct] of Eureka was selected. “…a self-made-man of the Abe Lincoln type.

The question was, how to launch Jim Gillett as an aspirant for the governorship. While all this happened in the days before the direct primary law, it was necessary to at least have a man’s name before the public even thought he was to be a dark horse in a hand-picked state convention. Furthermore, the sponsorship should come from his home county.²

The Eureka dailies³…were too close to the Gregor-Connick-Campbell machine, which was the Humboldt County branch of the then-powerful Espee⁴ machine. For them to bring out Gillett would have been a tip-off on the real sponsor, so the seed had to be planted in soil free from political taint.

The powers-that-be selected the dignified Ferndale Enterprise in the heart of Humboldt’s rich dairy country and whose editor, Herbert N. Briggs, hadn’t been prominent, politically speaking. Nor was the editor to know that he was the mouthpiece for a statewide political plot.

The Humboldt lieutenants had just the right tactic to employ. One of their stalwarts was George Huestis⁵, who later became secretary of the State Lunacy Commission, perhaps in payment for his faithfulness. In any case, Huestis “happened” out to Ferndale⁶ and had a casual chat with Editor Briggs. In the course of the conversation, Huestis turned to the forthcoming state election and mentioned what a great thing it would be for Humboldt if [the county] could have [be the home region of] a governor.

Congressman Gillett, of course, was the only Humboldter known outside his own county, as the [Congressional] district took in nearly half the counties of the state, extending clear into the Mother Lode country.

The next issue of the Ferndale Enterprise came out with a fine boost for Gillett for Governor. By coincidence, which at the time didn’t seem peculiar, the editorial was reprinted all over the state and Gillett became a formidable candidate.…

Notwithstanding the political chicanery…Gillett made an excellent governor. And it was during his administration that the first state highway bonds were voted and the directed primary law adopted. It was this latter that provided the vehicle for Hiram Johnson to crush to death the Southern Pacific political machine. ….”⁷

1. My uncle, mentor, “grandfather” on whose farm I live today— which is how this clipping came into my possession—yet another pile of stuff in another box from the attic.

2. Humboldt, which is not and was not the central location of any corporate body from Southern Pacific.

3. The Humboldt Times, the Humboldt Standard, and the Vestern, a Swedish newspaper.

4. Espee—SP—Southern Pacific Railroad.

5. Born in 1870, ten years after the massacre at Tuluwat [Indian Island] in which another George Huestis, who I believe was his father, was a participant.

6. This would have been via Dungan or Singley ferry across the Eel River; it was to be another four years before Fernbridge was built.

7. During his tenure, automobile usage increased and Gillett worked in pioneering a state highway system. Food and drug legislation was passed, and several new state buildings were constructed, many of which were in earthquake-destroyed San Francisco. State financial reserves grew, and legislation was enacted giving the state control of the horse racing industry. Gillett suffered financially while in office and chose not to seek a second term. He left office on January 3, 1911, returning to his law career, and serving briefly as a lobbyist for the oil industry

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