ABSTRACT
Del Norte County – in California’s northwest corner – is a quiet region of towering redwoods, rugged coastline, and clear, free-flowing rivers. Known for weathered barns, fishing boats, and pristine forests, the region draws visitors seeking calm in a world of change. The shadows beneath its redwoods are particularly evocative of tranquil constancy. Some of these titans have stood for a thousand years or more; they were seedlings when Rome fell. Dwarfed by them, it is easy to imagine that history might involve little change over time. Yet to those who know the region’s nineteenth-century past, the crack of a single falling branch can recall cataclysmic upheaval.
