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==History== [[File:Trinidad School in 1913.jpeg|left|thumb|Trinidad School on January 2, 1913. It was built in the early 1870s and used until 1914. (From Boyle Collection, [http://library.humboldt.edu/humco/index.html Humboldt State University Library])]] The [[Yurok]] people established the village of [[Tsurau, California|Tsurai]] on bluffs overlooking Trinidad Bay in prehistoric times. They occupied the village for thousands of years before vacating it in 1916.<ref name=oldindian>{{cite web |url=https://ohp.parks.ca.gov/ListedResources/Detail/838 |title=OLD INDIAN VILLAGE OF TSURAI |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=ohp.parks.ca.gov |publisher=[[Government of California]] |access-date= March 16, 2024}}</ref> The first [[White people|European]] sighting of Trinidad Harbor was in 1595 by the [[Manila galleon]] [[Sea captain|captain]] [[Sebastian Rodriguez CermeΓ±o]], who did not make landfall. The next European visit was by [[Bruno de Heceta]] and [[Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra]] of the [[Spanish Navy]]. Their two ships anchored in Trinidad Bay on June 9, 1775. On June 11, 1775, which was [[Trinity Sunday]], Heceta and his men conducted a formal act of possession, claiming the bay for [[King of Spain|King]] [[Charles III of Spain|Charles III]] of [[Spain]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Tovell |first= Freeman M.|title= At the Far Reaches of Empire: The Life of Juan Francisco De La Bodega Y Quadra |publisher= University of British Columbia Press|year= 2008|isbn= 978-0-7748-1367-9|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=E8_LXicsIlEC |pages= 22β23| access-date = December 3, 2012}}</ref> At the place where they erected a wooden [[Christian cross]], a carved [[granite]] cross bearing the inscription ''Carolus III Dei G. Hyspaniorum Rex'' ("In the name of King Charles of Spain") was installed in 1913.<ref>{{cite book |last= Tovell |first= Freeman M. |title= At the Far Reaches of Empire: The Life of Juan Francisco De La Bodega Y Quadra |publisher= University of British Columbia Press |year= 2008 |isbn= 978-0-7748-1367-9 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=E8_LXicsIlEC |pages= 22β23}}</ref><ref name="Obama 2017/01/12">{{cite web|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/12/presidential-proclamation-boundary-enlargement-california-coastal|title=Presidential Proclamation -- Boundary Enlargement of the California Coastal National Monument|date=January 12, 2017|website=Obamawhitehouse.archives.ogov|access-date=November 1, 2017}}</ref> The Spaniards named the area "''La Santisima Trinidad''" ("The Most Holy Trinity"). Heceta and Bodega were the first Europeans to locate and describe the village of Tsurai.<ref name=oldindian/> The area was under the control of the [[Kingdom of Spain]] until [[Mexico]]'s independence in 1821, when it became part of Mexico. The [[Russian-American Company]] started using Trinidad Bay as a base for [[sea otter]] hunting around 1806. They considered a permanent outpost there but instead established [[Fort Ross, California|Fort Ross]] near [[Bodega Bay]] in 1812.<ref>{{cite book |last= Owens |first= Kenneth N. |title= Empire Maker: Aleksandr Baranov and Russian Colonial Expansion into Alaska and Northern California |date= 2015 |publisher= University of Washington Press |isbn= 978-0295805832 |pages= 211β231 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Xb_XCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA211 |access-date= 1 September 2024}}</ref> The [[United States]] conquered [[California]] during the [[Mexican-American War]] in 1846, and California became a [[State (United States)|U.S. state]] in 1850. American settlers arrived in Trinidad Bay on the ship ''James R. Whitting'' in 1850 and founded the town, renamed Warnersville in honor of R. V. Warner, one of the settlers.<ref name=CGN /> The first [[post office]] opened in Trinidad in 1851.<ref name=CGN>{{California's Geographic Names|159}}</ref> Trinidad was the original [[county seat]] of the eponymous [[Trinity County, California|Trinity County]] from 1850 to 1851, and of [[Klamath County, California|Klamath County]], one of California's original counties, from 1851 to 1854. In 1854 Trinidad became part of the newly created Humboldt County after its creation in 1853 with its county seat in [[Eureka, California|Eureka]]. Klamath County was finally dissolved in 1874. During the [[American Civil War]] (1861β1865), California volunteers fighting the local [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] in the [[Bald Hills War]] were stationed at Camp Trinidad in Trinidad beginning in July 1863 to protect both the town and the coast road from Native American raids. In October 1863 they were moved {{convert|4|mi}} north to Camp Gilmore.<ref>[http://www.militarymuseum.org/TrinidadCamp.html Historic California Posts:Trinidad Camp], The California State Military Museum, accessed December 3, 2012</ref> Trinidad was [[Municipal corporation|incorporated]] on November 7, 1870,<ref name=citiesbyincorp/> as a city of the [[State of California]].<ref>City of Trinidad Website https://trinidad.ca.gov accessed December 3, 2012</ref> On December 31, 1914, the largest recorded [[ocean wave]] ever to hit the [[West Coast of the United States|United States West Coast]] struck [[Trinidad Head]], a rocky [[promontory]] surrounded by sea [[Stack (geology)|stacks]] sheltering Trinidad Harbor. At 4:40 p.m. local time, [[United States Lighthouse Service]] [[lighthouse keeper]] Captain Fred L. Harrington at [[Trinidad Head Light]] observed a huge wave {{convert|200|yd}} offshore approaching the bluff on which the [[lighthouse]] stood. He reported that the wave, which appeared to him to reach the height of the lighthouse's lantern {{convert|196|ft}} above [[sea level]], washed completely over {{convert|93|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} Pilot Rock offshore, then broke over the top of the {{convert|175|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} bluff, submerging the area between the lighthouse and the bluff, with water reaching the lighthouse's balcony. His report that the wave crested at a height equal to that of the lantern and that water reached the balcony suggests a possible wave height of {{convert|200|ft}}. The wave's impact shook the lighthouse and extinguished its light, although Harrington restored service in four hours.<ref>[https://briantissot.com/2014/12/31/the-giant-200-foot-wave-at-trinidad-california/ "The Giant 200-Foot Wave at Trinidad, California"], 'Dr Abalone', December 31, 2014</ref><ref name="TrinidadHeadWave1913">{{cite news |title=Marine Exchange Shipping News |work=The San Francisco Examiner |issue=Coast News Notes, Eureka, page 17, column 5 |publisher=The San Francisco Examiner newspaper |date=January 9, 1914 |ref=SFExaminerTrinidadHeadWave1913 |page=17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Trinidad Head Lighthouse Trinidad California Landmark|url = http://www.trinidadcalif.com/trinidad-lighthouse.html|website = www.trinidadcalif.com|access-date = November 4, 2015|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150910113513/http://www.trinidadcalif.com/trinidad-lighthouse.html|archive-date = September 10, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Fradkin">{{cite book | last =Fradkin | first =Philip L. | title =The seven states of California: a natural and human history | publisher =University of California Press | date =May 12, 1997 | location =Berkeley, California | pages =474 | isbn = 978-0520209428}}</ref><ref name="HCCV">{{cite web | title =Trinidad Head Light | work =Lighthouses of Humboldt County | publisher =Humboldt County Convention & Visitors Bureau | url =http://redwoods.info/showrecord.asp?id=3766 | access-date = March 25, 2012 }}</ref> A California Sea Products Company [[whaling]] station operated in Trinidad from 1920 to 1926. During its operations, 1,140 whales were killed and processed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Trinidad Whaling Station Trip (1926) |url=https://www.sdnhm.org/about-us/history/trinidad/#:~:text=The%20Trinidad%20whaling%20station%20operated,one%20Gray%20and%20several%20Finbacks. |website=San Diego Natural History Museum}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Shore Whaling at Trinidad, California in the 1920s. |url=https://briantissot.com/2016/01/15/shore-whaling-at-trinidad-california-in-the-1920s/ |access-date=February 23, 2023 |website=Briantissot.con}}</ref> Trinidad resident Henry A. Boyes was a [[United States Marine Corps]] [[First sergeant#United States Marine Corps|first sergeant]] with the [[5th Marine Regiment (United States)|5th Marine Regiment]] during [[World War II]] (1941β1945). His service was described by [[Eugene Sledge]] in the 1981 book ''[[With the Old Breed|With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa]]''.<ref>Sledge, Eugene, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, 1981, Presidio Press, Novato, California, {{OCLC|12197607}}, p. 213</ref> A portion of Trinidad Head totaling {{convert|46|acre|abbr=off}} was transferred to the City of Trinidad in 1983 with the condition that the property be maintained for public recreation. The southern {{convert|13|acre|abbr=off}} of the promontory, including Trinidad Head Light, remained under [[United States Coast Guard]] ownership until 2014, when the Coast Guard transferred it to the [[United States Department of the Interior]]'s [[Bureau of Land Management]]. The city rezoned its portion of the promontory as "open space," and in 1984 it opened a trail running around Trinidad Head.<ref name="TS 2015-04-11">{{Cite news|last=Faulkner|first=Jessie|date=April 11, 2015|title=Feds seek input on managing Trinidad Head lighthouse|url=https://www.times-standard.com/general-news/20150411/feds-seek-input-on-managing-trinidad-head-lighthouse|access-date=June 26, 2021|work=Times-Standard|language=en-US}}</ref> In January 2017, the [[United States Congress]] added the Bureau of Land Management's portion of Trinidad Head to the onshore area of the [[California Coastal National Monument]].<ref name="Obama 2017/01/12"/> [[President of the United States|President]] [[Barack Obama]] used his executive power under the [[1906 Antiquities Act]] to designate the Bureau of Land Management's portion of Trinidad Head as a unit of the [[National monument (United States)|National Monument]].<ref name="LAT 2017-01-12">{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-coastal-national-monument-20170112-story.html|title=Obama adds six sites to California Coastal National Monument|first=Bettina|last=Boxall|date=January 12, 2017|access-date=November 1, 2017|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>
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