Anderson Valley - History

History

Early Native American inhabitants of Anderson Valley were speakers of two of the seven Pomoan languages. The Late Pomo of what is now the Yorkville area spoke the Central Pomo language. The Tabahtea (Tah-bah-tay) Pomo of the Boonville area west to Navarro spoke the Northern Pomo language. These residents occupied nineteen known village sites, with an estimated population of 600 in 1855.

The early European American settlers of Anderson Valley arrived after 1850. They practiced subsistence farming and expanded into resource extraction economies based on timber harvesting and livestock ranching. Some of the first European American settlers included Henry Beeson (who took part in the Bear Flag Revolt), his brother Isaac Beeson and William Anderson, their stepbrother, for whom the valley was named. The first wave of European American settlers included the Ornbaun, Hutsell, Barnett, Clow, Gschwend, McAbee, Rector, Burgess, Rawles, McGimsey, Witherell, Prather, Irish, Holgooden, Hiatt, Ball, Prather, Smalley, McSpadden, Wallace, Conrad, O'Barr, Bowen, Nunn, Vines, Buster, Farrer, Counts, Shields, Lawson, Williams, Donelly, Plaskett, Leonard, Hawkins, Stephens, Robinson, Tift, Perkins, Elliott, Ponad, Gasklii, Brayton, and Connard families.

John Gschwend established the first water powered lumber mill along the Navarro River in 1857, and Thomas Hiatt built the first steam powered lumber mill in 1877 near present day Boonville. In 1880 a human population of around 1,000 maintained 75,000 head of sheep and 20,000 head of cattle. Commercial production of apples and hops began before the turn of the century, along with the development of Boontling, the local folk language. The 1940s and 1950s were boom years, when industrial automation and modern highway transportation enabled rapid liquidation logging of the remaining redwood forests. Many commercial lumber mills were established to work the brief timber boom.

By the 1960s the sheep, timber and apple sectors of the economy were in decline. Large tracts of land were removed from production and subdivided. The first commercial vineyards for wine grapes were planted. Marijuana production flourished with the influx of many new residents from the urban counterculture in the 1970s. By the 1980s the timber industry was reduced to two small specialty mills (lath and decorative fencing), the sheep industry to four working ranches of modest size, and the apple industry to a small fraction of its former planted area. In 1989 Sean Donovan of Boonville established KZYX, a community-based non-commercial, National Public Radio affiliated station.

A wine boom began in the 1980s. This led to the establishment of the Anderson Valley AVA, specializing in Alsatian varietals, Pinot Noir and sparkling wine. The wine industry is currently the dominant contributor to the Anderson Valley economy. The major annual wine events are the Pinot Noir Festival the third weekend in May and the International Alsace Varietals Festival in late February. In addition to wine, there is a successful microbrewery, the Anderson Valley Brewing Company, on the outskirts of Boonville. Like much of Mendocino County, the hospitality industry is a natural adjunct to boutique alcohol production. Fine restaurants and quality lodging are in good supply. The pleasant natural environment and rural lifestyle attracts artists, writers, musicians and a variety of skilled crafts people. As in similar pastoral regions dependent upon a low-paid work force in the farm, hospitality and service sectors, degraded tenant housing is available for local employees, while upscale real estate inventory is generally priced beyond the typical household budget of resident unskilled laborers.