On a fishing trip to the Mattole River Valley, he found a section of land above Bear Creek and in 1894 he staked a claim to it.

[4] This area along the Pacific coast in the King Range has wet winters and hot summers, and Albert later attributed his success partly to his choice of location.

The ranch holdings, operated under the business name Etter Brothers, eventually reached 800 acres in size.

[6] For one thing, they were far removed from the main trucking and rail routes, and for another, new plant hybrids were not protected by the patent system until 1930.

The city is only 15 miles (24 km) away with access the coast and increases in elevation slightly as it spreads north, south, and especially to the east.

Ettersburg experiences mild to warm (but not hot) and dry summers with some rainy days, with not many average monthly temperatures above 70 °F (21 °C).

Ettersburg's Köppen classification and climate is similar to locations such as parts of Balmaceda, Chile, in high elevations of Corsica, Haleakala Summit in Hawaii and the Cascades or Sierra-Nevada-ranges.