Astronomers of Humboldt

The club was founded on January 6, 1957 and was incorporated on February 9, 1959. The Humboldt State University Fickle Hill Observatory was originally constructed by members of the club and later donated to the University in the late 60's. In the late 80's, the club also helped build the two observatories at College of the Redwoods and Kneeland School. Club members and their equipment are available as a public service for educational and charitable groups, youth summer camps, and private events.

On January 6, 1957, a group of local amateur astronomers and telescope makers got together for the first meeting of the Astronomers of Humboldt. Fewer than 10 persons were present. The meeting was called to order by its founding father, 79 year old Abe Barnwell, at Abe's old Barnwell Foundry Building on Myrtle Avenue in Eureka. Abe liked to dabble in telescope making and was an extraordinary craftsman, but he passed away before the second Astronomers anniversary party.

On February 9, 1959, Articles of Incorporation were filed with the Secretary of State's Office forming a nonprofit corporation.

The Astronomers of Humboldt have a long and honored history. Members originally met at the Barnwell Foundry for indoor meetings or up the hill at Kneeland on the Henri Rousseau ranch for observing.

In the late 50's, Rod and Lee Ann Gossard, Bill and Margaret Abbay, and Stewart and Edna Herriott bought sixty acres of land up Fickle Hill Road above Arcata and then did a four way lot split. Each family took a parcel and the three families and members of Astronomers of Humboldt began at once building an observatory on the remaining 3.3 acre parcel. The site chosen for the main building was, at that time, a jungle of trees and brush, growing through a cris-cross of downed trees and logging slash. Using only hand tools, the Astronomers cleared the land and laid the observatory foundation.

To further its expressed objective of stimulating interest the study of astronomy, the astronomers soon contacted Humboldt State College staff. Before the club was more than a year old, the directors invited a member of the college faculty, the then Associate Professor of Physics, Dr. E. Charles Parke, to become an additional Director. Professor Parke accepted and the by-laws were soon amended to provide that each elected Board of Directors round out its number by inviting a faculty member from Humboldt State College. This post was held by Dr. Parke from 1959 until he was no longer physically able to participate in the mid-1980's. At meetings in the 1960's and continuing into the 1970's, club members took turns giving presentations on such topics as current discoveries in astronomy and telescope making. The minutes show that one presentation topic in particular at the meeting on February 25, 1967 was about local Native American, especially Karok, view of the heavens and earth, the sky being a net flung there by God and they had stories of how the moon got its bear and how other heavenly bodies came to be. In addition to ancient astronomy, physics and modern astronomy, the minutes indicate significant interest by several members in UFOs and ways of communicating with extraterrestrial civilizations. In the early days many meetings were held at the Barnwell Foundry. Mrs. Barnwell would pull a rope in her house to ring a bell in the Foundry when freshly baked hot cookies were ready to serve at the conclusion of the meetings.

The Minutes of the May 1, 1960, meeting stated that President Gossard was drawing up plans for the dome and building for the observatory. Construction of the Fickle Hill Observatory was funded entirely by club members' own contributions. No electric power was available at the site in the early 60's, so all of the construction work itself was performed with hand tools, except that the members had the use of a member owned shop to fabricate the arches and the sill for the dome. In preliminary stages, work proceeded slowly, but by the end of 1962 the dome and observatory framing were in place and, according to club minutes, by the end of 1963 the observatory was nearing completion. Photos dated January 12, 1965, show the observatory construction complete.

The club was in need of some quality telescopes and the college was in need of an observing site. Humboldt State College had a 12" government surplus telescope lying around collecting dust, so in May, 1965, the college granted permission to install the college's 12" telescope at the observatory and HSC students began using the observatory.

In March 1967, an agreement in principal was entered into between Astronomers of Humboldt, Inc, and HSC for lease of the observatory site. William N. Abbay III was president of A of H at the time and Dr. Peithman was Chair of the Physical Sciences Department at HSC.

Minutes of a November, 1968 meeting indicate that plans were being drawn up for a second building with a roll back roof next to the observatory dome to house additional telescopes, the cost of construction being just over $1,400. Construction began in early 1970.

Minutes of November, 1969 indicate that an agreement had been reached to deed the observatory and 3.3 acres and all improvements over to HSC. Bill Abbay, Jr., Stewart Herriott and Rod Gossard represented the club and Dr. Charles Parke and Dr. Lester Clendenning of the Physics Department, represented HSC in those negotiations. A Gift Grant Deed was executed by William N. Abbay, Jr., R. Rodney Gossard, and Stewart M. Herriott to Trustees of the California State Colleges, dated November 23, 1970 and recorded on December 10, 1970.

By mid-1990's the records show that the observatory dome housed a 14 inch telescope and the rollback roof building housed a 14 telescope and six 8 inch telescopes. The dome now houses a 16 inch telescope with full computer controls.

Following retirement of active members of the HSU physics staff, Robert O'Connell, astronomy professor at College of the Redwoods and Weldon Benzinger, now retired physics teacher at Eureka High School, and club member since he was in high school, began taking a more active leadership role in the club. Bob O'Connell served several times as president and Weldon served as treasurer. Bob O'Connell, especially, took a very active role in community involvement and public observing sessions. Bob O'Connell came up with the idea of building two more local observatories—one at the CR campus the other at Kneeland School. He enlisted members of Astronomers of Humboldt to contact local businesses to gather materials for the construction project. Pacific Lumber Company was a big contributor. The Construction students at CR built the two new observatories from identical floor plans.

Over the years the club has been very active in organizing public observing sessions when astronomic events are of public interest and other times, giving presentations to service clubs, local school children, disabled adult and youth camps, the state parks, scouts, and different youth organizations. Club members are always available to help the general public learn how to use their telescopes and teach the wonders of the universe. Members of the general public are always welcome at their meetings. Public observing sessions are held in the Winter months at the Gazebo in Eureka during Arts Alive, on the first Saturday of the month.

Some of the club highlights in recent years include using CR's 17.5" Dobsonian reflector to spot Halley's Comet while it was still way out past Jupiter on its inward return in 1985, the "expedition" to Baja California for the July, 1991 total solar eclipse attended by almost every member of the club, the numerous annual all night Messier Marathons in March or April of each year, spotting five of Saturn's moons and splitting the rings into the Enke and Cassini divisions at a public observing session at Benbow in 1988 using CR's 8" refractor, an occulation of a bright star through the rings of Saturn, finding Pluto, photographing Comets Hyakutaki and Hale-Bopp, spotting over 300 meteors per hour at one of the annual all night Perseid Meteor Showers viewings at Horse Mountain, and the 2005 Mars Public Observing at Kneeland Airport that saw one of the biggest public turnouts of any in our club's history. Approximately 1,500 showed up and cars were parked almost a mile down the road to the Bridgeville road intersection. This crowd was matched by the public viewing of the May 2012 annular eclipse and closely followed by the June 2012 transit of Venus.

In recent years, the club has been headed by Rey Kleinsasser of Crescent City, Jeff Schmitt of Arcata, Jon Hafstrom of Eureka, Russ Owsley of Eureka, Grace Wheeler of Eureka, and Mark Mueller of Eureka. Currently Brent Howatt of Eureka is the president; Mark Wilson of McKinleyville is vice-president; Ken Yanosko of Arcata serves as secretary; and Catrina Howatt of Eureks and Robert Zigler of Hydesville are co-treasurers.

Of historical note, Dick Lund and Harold Connerly served as treasurer for many years, which was commonly believed to be by reason of them not showing up for the election nominating meeting. In addition to Weldon Benzinger, another long term member of the club from the mid 60's is Russell Milton of Somes Bar (physics graduate from HSC and meteor enthusiast). Other members from the early 60’s include Gary Fitzpatrick, Tim Betts, Dennis Draper, John Wentworth, Gary Karshner, Jim Harriott, Paul Henrickson, Russell Milton, Mike Lowder, Roger Fike, Leonard Jackson, Don Wood, Mike Salstrom, Glenn and Donna Houston, Eric Van Stryland, and Dennis Guckeen.

In February, 2009, the Astronomers of Humboldt celebrated their 50th anniversary at River Lodge in Fortuna. The guest speaker was Dr. Debra Fischer, a discoverer of and world reknowned expert on exo-planets. Over 150 people attended.

Charter club member and one of the original builders of the Fickle Hill Observatory, Lee Ann Gossard, was present. For many decades she and her husband Rod brought the cake to the annual club potluck. She is the sole surviving honorary lifetime member of the club.

The Kneeland School Observatory is now owned by Kneeland School and houses two telescopes still owned by CR, a 14 inch Celestron telescope and a 6 inch refractor. In 2008, The Astronomers of Humboldt entered into an MOU with Kneeland School for use of their facilities to conduct its monthly meetings, which are held on the Saturday night nearest the dark of the moon.