Weott, California - History

History

The town of Weott is believed to be named after a sub-grouping of the Wishosk people who lived at the delta of the Eel River 60 kilometres (37 mi) northwest of current-day Weott. The Wishosk word for that area and the people who lived there was wíyat. Wiyot is now the general name for this group. The town of Weott is beyond the bounds of the areas known to have been utilized or inhabited by the Wiyot. When the area was invaded in 1849 by whites looking for new supply routes to the Trinity gold mines, the Sinkyone peoples were living in the area. The Wiyot were further north and currently occupy the Table Bluff Reservation just north of Loleta. Invaders began filing and establishing homesteads in the area soon after the attempts to find a supply route. Indian Agent Redick McKee's 1851 expedition brought a rush of homestead filings. Native groups militated against this. The resulting conflicts led to the establishment of organized vigilante committees such as the Volunteer Company of Dragoons. The conflicts continued through at least the 1870s.

Before 1925, Weott had been known informally as Helm's Mill or Helm's Camp, then as McKee's Mill (named for Ernest McKee, who operated a shingle mill just east of lower Weott, the building of which still stands). When it put in a request to the United States Postal Service for a post office in that year, however, the residents had to decide on a definitive name. At least one source records that the residents were required to do this because there was already a town named McKee in California, but this appears to not be true. One source says that a naming contest led to the name Weott, another that the USPS chose the name from several submitted. The ZIP Code is 95571, with four-digit suffixes tied to post office box numbers. There is no home delivery in Weott. Weott is in area code 707.