On December 15, 1854, the Union Wharf and Plank Walk Company[1] built a pier into Humboldt Bay near Arcata to load lumber schooners.

[2] The wooden rails were faced with iron and a small steam locomotive, named the Black Diamond towed lumber out onto the pier from the 1872 Dolly Varden mill owned by Isaac Minor.

[2] The old side-wheel steamer, the Gussie McAlpine was replaced by a sternwheeler, named the Alta and the company kept adding track to local mills.

[6] The first known Humboldt County railroad accident with injuries occurred on September 13, 1896, when seven people were killed and 23 injured by a train falling through the Mad River truss bridge.

[9] On October 23, 1914, the region was linked to the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time by the completion of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad (NWP) which also assumed control of the California and Northern.

[2] On 3 June 1954 the railroad celebrated its centennial with an excursion for 300 Humboldt County residents plus 338 railfans from Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, and distant parts of California.

[8] The average daily car loadings were enough to place the road among the highest paying railroad properties per mile in the United States.

[13] Service on other parts of the system was briefly resumed in 1994 by the North Coast Railroad but ceased permanently after landslides led to the closure of the entire Humboldt County portion of their track in 1998.

[14] Although little progress has been made on the trail, the Blue Lake Chamber of Commerce sponsors an annual parade celebrating the history of the railroad.