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3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Deputies find missing woman ... Chinook salmon returns biggest since 1930s ... New University of Oregon president eyes graduation rate ... Deputies find missing woman ... Chinook salmon returns biggest since 1930s ... New University of Oregon president eyes graduation rate ... U.S. Grant didn't much like Humboldt "My Dear Wife, I have arrived in safety. I cannot say much in favor of the place. It is about what I expected before my arrival. You know what my opinions of it were." By BILL MILLER MailTribune.com By BILL MILLER Posted Dec. 11, 2011 @ 2:00 am By BILL MILLER Posted Dec. 11, 2011 @ 2:00 am If you go --> Budget shortfalls have forced California to close the museum and visitor center at Fort Humboldt, but you can still take a self-guided tour of the vast grounds. There is no admission charge. You'll... » Read more X If you go Budget shortfalls have forced California to close the museum and visitor center at Fort Humboldt, but you can still take a self-guided tour of the vast grounds. There is no admission charge. You'll also find an outdoor logging museum on the grounds, with locomotives and other logging machinery available for up-close inspection. Fort Humboldt State Historic Park is located at 3431 Fort Ave., in Eureka, Calif. » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2325,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> "My Dear Wife, I have arrived in safety. I cannot say much in favor of the place. It is about what I expected before my arrival. You know what my opinions of it were." On Jan. 5, 1854, after a two-day voyage north from San Francisco, a lonely Captain Ulysses S. Grant had arrived at Fort Humboldt. Separated from his wife and two sons for more than a year, Grant was having second thoughts about his military career. He had been posted along the Columbia River at Fort Vancouver, but now, instead of heading home to touch the son he had never seen, he was ordered to Fort Humboldt on the Northern California coast. Foggy year-round with temperatures rarely warmer than 60 degrees, winter winds and rain made this a gray and gloomy place. "I do nothing here but sit in my room and read and occasionally take a short ride," Grant wrote. "I have not been a quarter of a mile from my room for about one week. I am enjoying good health but growing more lazy every day for want of something to do." Established in the winter of 1852-53, the fort sat on a gently sloping plateau overlooking Humboldt Bay and the Pacific Ocean. On the swampy flatland below were a scattering of houses and lumber mills, with pines trees and Redwoods that still ran to the edge of the waterfront. Grant and his commanding officer, Colonel Robert Buchannan, didn't get along and the friction between them made Grant's life miserable. Buchannan was a stickler for military discipline and Grant, a well-drilled soldier, easy in manner and perhaps careless in dress, had little use for everyday military protocol. "Colonel Buchannan was an efficient officer but strict in petty details to the verge of absurdity," said A.P. Marble, Grant's aide, who accompanied him to the West Coast. This conflict may explain why, only a month after Grant wrote to his wife, he was ready to volunteer for the first available assignment away from the fort. He submitted his request but resigned from the army before it was accepted. The army abandoned the fort in 1870, leaving the buildings to gradually disintegrate. Not long after Grant died in 1885, a writer visited the fort and was shown the small house where Grant had lived. "Had it sustained a bombardment, it could not have suffered more," he said. "Only an occasional stud prevents the crazy roof from coming down." Once the property was donated to the city of Eureka, there was talk for years of restoring the fort, but nothing was done. By 1905, when the California Legislature declined to purchase the property, most of the buildings were gone and six years later only slabs and shingles remained. In 1955, California finally secured the property and over the next two decades turned it into a state park. There were some archeological digs, reconstruction of the hospital and surgeon's house, but plans to revive even more buildings never materialized. "I left the Pacific Coast very much attached to it and with the full expectation of making it my future home," wrote Grant. "But the war blasted my last hope." After four years of war and eight as president of the United States, Grant never saw Humboldt again. Writer Bill Miller lives in Shady Cove. Reach him at [email protected]. By BILL MILLER MailTribune.com By BILL MILLER Posted Dec. 11, 2011 @ 2:00 am » Comment or view comments Terms of Service /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Mobile Site Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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