THE CARSON MANSION

By Michael M; Lacey G; & Ashley W.

William Carson was born at New Brunswick , Canada on July 15,1825. He sailed around Cape Horn to San Francisco. He came in search of gold. In 1851 He arrived in Humboldt County. In 1852 William bought a team of oxen to cut down huge redwood trees. At that time redwoods were everywhere in Eureka. By 1854 Carson had built his own lumber which he called the Muley Mill. He felt like a father to the mill men and he took care of them. Carson is famous for his way of cutting down redwoods. He invented the only way to cut them down,at the time. They shipped the wood to San Francisco to build houses. In 1863 Carson entered into partnership with John Dolbeer, a fellow lumberman. Dolbeer invented a "Steam Donkey" engine which was able to pull the logs from the hills down into the water where it would float in the bay to the mill. Carson was the first mill man to lower the work hours. The work hours used to be 12 hours a day! He changed them to ten hours a day and they only had to work till noon on sundays. In 1864 Carson married Sarah Wilson who was also from New Brunswick. In 1871 Carson moved into a house near his mill. It was moved to make way for the now famous Carson Mansion. Work on the mansion began in 1884. Two year's later in 1886 the Carson couple moved in. In his mansion there is wood that his ship had brought from all over the world.

This was Carson's first house that was moved to make room for the Carson Mansion and is now a bed and breakfast.

The Pink Lady was built as a wedding present for William Carson's son Milton. It was built directly across the street from the Mansion. Carson gave the Episcopal money to build a nice new church. In Carson's life he had 5 children with his first and only wife Sarah.In 1904 Sarah Carson died. Eight years later Carson died of pneumonia. 2000 people came to his funeral . He was buried at the Murtal Grove cemetery. Carson left the city of Eureka $50,000. The city used the money to build Carson Park at Buhne and H st. They also built Carson Memorial Building at Harris & J street's. In 1950 the Carson Mansion was sold to some men who invented the Ingomar Club. The mansion cost $35,000. The club was named after his favorite person in a play. For the upkeep of the club they paid $1,000.