Uptown Humboldt - ready to bloom again.
At first glance, the "uptown" area of Humboldt might not seem like much. But, that's because you haven't seen Humboldt through the eyes of Betsy Gilcrease Dowdy.
Dowdy is a fourth-generation resident of Humboldt, and when she talks about her town, pent-up memories flow non-stop.
Yes, today, many of the buildings look old and forlorn; sitting empty with "For Rent" signs propped in the windows. At one time, however, a close-knit and thriving mining and agricultural community socialized and performed business transactions in these buildings.
Like that big building that has the word 'Antiques' written in huge letters across the top. Dowdy peers through the windows and points out the embossed ceiling tiles still viewable through the storefront.
"This was the old drugstore, is what we called it, and it was so neat... it had an old marble bar, and it was set up like a soda shop on this side. In the back was where the bar was, in the back room; and up above it, said, 'No miners allowed.' And I was a little girl, and my dad worked at the mine, and I always wondered, 'Is my dad going get in trouble for going back there?" Dowdy gives a little laugh as she remembers her few childhood concerns. "So it was, for real, my parents were quite the partiers, they were hard workers but they partied too, so we spent a lot of time here."
"When I was a baby, there was a shootout about right here, that had a drunken barroom brawl," Dowdy says, pointing at the street. "It was over a woman, and the guy shot the other guy dead, and the guy who shot him ran down to our house. And my Dad said, 'You can't stay here.'"
It used to be a drugstore... now it's empty.
Dowdy stops to explain how the law enforcement was set up at the time in Humboldt. "You know they had one sheriff that took care of Mayer, Humboldt, Dewey, and his name was Clyde McDonald. He was our great-uncle. So, he [McDonald] came and he finally caught him [the shooter], took him away to jail. So I don't know what happened with that, but it was like an old-time shootout."
It's fascinating to hear these stories, in part because they really didn't happen that long ago. Dowdy was born in the mid-1950's, "In Prescott, because they didn't have a hospital in Humboldt at the time." (Evidently, there was a hospital in the very early 1900's, but she's not sure what happened to it. The thought of a hospital in Humboldt seems kind of amazing to her.) As soon as the hospital released them, her mother brought Dowdy back to Humboldt, where she has lived for all but about five years of her life.
Dowdy's dad worked mostly in the mines, and her mother worked at the turkey ranch at first (where Young's Farm is now), finally landing a career job with the Forest Service, from which she retired.
"Over here, where it's the Mile-High Archery - that used to be the General Store where we would shop," Dowdy says, spinning around and pointing to a building across the street. She gestures to another building right next door. "And Fran Murray lived in this building here, all my life. We used to have dances and stuff here, whenever my parents were younger, but by the time I had grown up, this was just part of the Murray's house."
Peeking in the windows, you can see the original tile on the ceilings.
Dowdy points out the former post office, where someone lives now; and a building that has served as a bank, the Catholic church and then a thrift store, but now is home to the Gateway Baptist Church. Dowdy is pleased that a church is inhabiting the building again. It just seems right, somehow. Looking through the windows, Dowdy notes that it still had the same old walls, and confides that the original bank safe is still in the middle of the building.
"This was the Catholic Church, and this was where I was baptized and all my sisters and brother were baptized in this church. When I was little I used to come to Mass up here, and then after Mass was over, I would go down to the little Community Church down there, and go to Sunday School, because I couldn't understand what they were saying here. Back then it was real traditional, they did Latin and you had to have the little veil on top of your head, and a lot of kneeling and getting up..."
We peer over a fence at a tidy green house about a block away, with a tall tree standing beside it. "That was our family home, right there," Dowdy says. "And that Ponderosa Pine, when my dad planted it, I thought, 'I'm bigger than a tree,' so that's how much it's grown." In the late 1968, the Iron King mine closed, and most people moved away, looking for jobs. Dowdy's family stayed, and purchased the house they lived in from the mine for $750.
But before the mine closed, Dowdy remembered a time when she was in either 3rd or 4th grade, when there was a lot of rain. Dowdy described how the tailings from the mine got flooded and broke loose, creating the crack we still drive by on Highway 69 today. The mud from the crack filled the flats, which was the area just below the mine. She said it was quite exciting for the children, who were released from school for the day.
When Dowdy graduated from the 8th grade, there were just eight students in her graduating class. Anne Logan, Dowdy's lifelong friend, remembers coming up from Phoenix to attend the ceremonies. "I came up from Phoenix and went to her 8th Grade Graduation, and I remember how - cause we had over 100 students in Phoenix in the eighth grade - and it was so neat to go to her class and watch them."
Dowdy's childhood home, just one block from "Uptown". It looks so nice because it's filled with love, Dowdy explains.
Later, since the Humboldt high school had burned down (suspected arson) many years before, Dowdy attended Mayer High, and graduated with a class of 13 students.
Now, Dowdy surveys the town ruefully, remembering the good days of Humboldt, and the tough times too. In her lifetime, she saw the community go from a busy township to nearly a ghost town. Now, with the 2004 voter-approved merging of Dewey-Humboldt, and its incorporation into a city, she anticipates growth and changes again.
"I think it will start bloomin' again," Dowdy says of Humboldt. "Things will start happening. Maybe not so much up here... Look across there, look at all those houses. When I was growing up, there were no houses over there. My cousin came from Anaheim, and took us down to the river on his motorcycle, and he was going, 'Betsy, isn't that beautiful out there?' and I said, 'No,' because I was so lonely, all my friends had moved away, I said, 'I want there to be houses, all over, and people.' " She pauses with a wry smile, "So my wish came true."
Dowdy isn't sure she likes seeing her town grow up. There are issues with water - will there be enough for all the new people? And will they change the town into something unrecognizable?
Dowdy remembers the Humboldt of her childhood.
"As I grow older, I don't like it. When I was young, I loved it. New people, new faces. I was just wantin' people. But now, I'm getting older and I say there's enough, y'know."
Logan moved back after living in Phoenix for 29 years. "And I came back because I wanted to come back to where it was rural, where I grew up as a kid, and it's changing too fast already, and I haven't been here long. I want to see the Young's Farm stay rural, I want to see the riparian area saved, and I am so worried that this development they're talking about is going to destroy the riparian area, and it's going to be a huge loss for everybody."
Dewey-Humboldt is a brand spankin' new town, and the struggle to balance a rural lifestyle with new development is going to be a tough issue to tackle. Growth is inevitable. Yet, according to the town website, the Council is committed to maintaining the rural flavor of the area, with most residential lot sizes ranging from .5 - 1.6 acres. But, can they really meet that goal?
And, will the historic buildings in "uptown" Humboldt ever be filled again with shops and neighbors and fun and laughter? Or will they remain monuments to times gone by, empty except for the "For Rent" signs and the fond memories of Dowdy and Logan and other locals who have weathered the economic ups and downs in Humboldt?
It's important to remember that history has not ended in Humboldt, it's just that a new history is being written. A history which later generations will reflect on and reminisce about. And that history will surely be passed down and shared with Dowdy's children and grandchildren and their friends and relatives and neighbors.
Next week: Of Smelters and Rivers and Buzzards...
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