Fort Dick, California

Fort Dick is a small unincorporated community in rural Del Norte County, California. Fort Dick is around five miles north of Crescent City, California, and around 15mi south of the California–Oregon state line. It is located on the U.S. Route 101 corridor on the Redwood Coast. A post office was set up in 1917.EtymologyFort Dick Landing dates back to the Civil War era and was named after a settler's log house "fort" built by whites to defend from the Indians. In 1888 a shake and shingle mill was moved there and the place renamed Newburg by the Bertsch brothers who owned the mill. With the establishment of the post office in 1896, the old name was revived.HistoryPre-Settler contactThe heavily forested coast territory surrounding Fort Dick was occupied and used by the Tolowa and Yurok tribes of Native Americans.Jedidiah Smith's party reaches Lake EarlHistorical records state that a party travelling with Jedediah Smith entered the area of Fort Dick and skirted the eastern edge of Lake Earl between June 14 to 16, 1828. During this time, not only did they explore the area, but they made clear contact, including trading and engaging in commerce with the Tolowa Indians on the 15th. Jedidiah Smith's party "skirted" the eastern shore of Lake Earl. Since his party was there in 1828, it predates the events that led the settler or farmer who owned the land called "Russell's Prairie" (later Fort Dick) by about twenty-five to thirty years.