Eureka City Map Poster

About Eureka

Eureka's Pacific coastal location on Humboldt Bay, adjacent to abundant redwood forests, provided the reason for settlement of this 19th-century seaport town. Before the arrival of Euro-American settlers, including farmers from Iowa and homesteaders from Wisconsin (via the Oregon Trail), local Native American tribes such as the Wiyot and Yurok were among those living in what is now Eureka. The first Europeans venturing into Humboldt Bay encountered these natives; a whaling party in 1812 reported encountering hundreds of native inhabitants near Lovers' Point who may have been Wiyot or another tribe indigenous to this area.[15]The bay was named "Bahia de los Pinos" by Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno when he explored it in 1602;[16][17] his subordinate Juan José Pérez Hernández wrote that they were able to anchor some distance away due to a lack of wind.