Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve

 A Brief Historical Summary

The land that became Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve in Sonoma County, California, has a story all its own. Situated in the middle of a lumbermill area along the Russian River, the giant redwoods could well have come under the ax of any one of a number of milling companies if James Armstrong had not come along. But he did. 

On May 1, 1860, R. B. Lunsford established a camp on some flat land on the north bank of the Russian River, about fifteen miles from the river’s mouth. He came to cut redwood trees to make fence rails, shakes, and rough timbers. The camp grew into the community later known as “Stumptown.” In 1867 a 25 year old Swiss immigrant named George E. Guerne arrived in Stumptown. He purchased land in the area and built and operated a sawmill. Before long, Stumptown was renamed for him as its most important resident and has been known ever since as Guerneville.

In 1867 Thomas H. Stone established claim to 240 acres of redwoods in the Big Bottom Valley three miles north of Guerneville. Those 240 acres were the heart of what is now Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve. Two years later, he sold it to William N. Simmons for $500. Mr. Simmons sold it to A. C. Laud four months later, and in 1872 it was sold to H. T. Hewitt. On October 28, 1874, soon after he relocated his family to California from Ohio, James B. Armstrong, in partnership with Joseph Estepp, paid $8,000 for the property. This partnership was dissolved when Armstrong paid $4,232.50 to Estepp on June 12, 1875, for his share of the property. On August 30, 1875, Armstrong bought 160 adjacent acres from Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Bachelder for $2,200. Then, on January 15, 1876, Armstrong purchased an adjoining 40 acres from Willard H. Williams for $$1,500. Those original 440 acres were given to his younger daughter, Kate, for “one dollar, love, and affection” in 1878.

Just when James Armstrong decided to preserve some of his redwoods from lumbering is unknown, but it appears to have been soon after his original purchases. Two more purchases, one of 120 acres in 1884 and one for 40 acres in 1886, completed a 600 acre parcel for which James Armstrong made big plans. In 1890, those additional 160 acres adjacent to the original 440 acres, were also given to his daughter Kate.  Together, that property was comprised of 400 acres of  redwood parkland and a 200 acre parcel that James Armstrong planned for a Natural Park and Botanic Garden to be preserved and operated for public use. At that time James Armstrong became a serious conservationist and started committing his ideas to paper. He also required his son, Walter, to sign a quitclaim so he would have no future claim to those 600 acres. Walter, in 1890, made his quitclaim to Kate, who was still the legal owner of the property. 

Meanwhile, in 1891 Armstrong wrote a thirteen page document titled Armstrong’s Woods: A Natural Park and Botanic Garden. He called it a Deed of Gift to trustees whom he designated. They included Luther Burbank, Charles Howard Shinn, E. J. Wickson, Robert Underwood Johnson, and Kate Armstrong. Three of those men were well known agriculturists in California, holding important positions in their chosen fields of expertise. Armstrong’s second wife, Jessie, who made her quitclaim after the writing of that document, gave written acknowledgment to the trustees of having no interest in the 600 acres, the property which was still legally owned by her step-daughter Kate.

Kate Armstrong died in 1898, leaving all of her estate, which included her redwood acreage, to her sister, Lizzie. Lizzie Armstrong then became the legal owner of these redwoods and was also the executrix for her father’s estate when he died in 1900. In his will, written in 1895, James Armstrong’s bequest to his son, Walter,  was contingent upon Walter’s giving up, in writing, claim to every other part of the Armstrong estate. Lizzie was given responsibility for seeing that a $100,000 endowment was set aside for the Botanic Garden. 

However, something went amiss with those plans. Perhaps James Armstrong’s estate did not have $100,000, but we have no way of knowing, because the probate files are missing the usual inventory and final settlement. For whatever reason, after her father’s death in 1900, Lizzie divided her own holdings with her brother, Walter, in 1905. This included an undivided half interest in the 600 acres James had planned for his Natural Park and Botanic Garden. The partnership only lasted a few years, but during that time Lizzie and Walter sold some of the property earmarked to be the Botanic Garden. Seeing the end of the Botanic Garden plan, the trustees, named by Armstrong in his 1891 document, drew up papers withdrawing their interest in the land, giving it all back to Lizzie and Walter, who were the legal owners at that time. 

By 1907 Lizzie and Walter dissolved their partnership and divided the property into “his” and “hers.” At that point, Lizzie gave Walter 195 acres of what was to become Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve. Then, in 1908, Walter sold his 195 acre parcel to Harrison LeBaron, who had been a close friend of his father. The following year Lizzie sold 4.6 acres of the parkland property that she owned to H. Clyde Ayers and his wife, Bertha, reducing her share of the parkland to a little over 200 acres.  

After an unsuccessful attempt in 1909 by Lizzie Armstrong Jones and Harrison LeBaron to have the state purchase the 395 remaining acres for a state park, it was thought the redwood grove was going to be privately purchased for its lumber. Lizzie and the LeBaron Estate again vigorously promoted public purchase of the land, and after a successful vote in the election of 1916, Sonoma County purchased the land for $80,000 for a county park. The purchase was contingent on an agreement that Lizzie and the LeBaron family each put up $5,000 of the purchase price as a donation.

  The county park was deeded to the State of California in 1934, and it became part of the state park system along with the purchase of Sonoma Coast State Beach. It was opened to the public as Armstrong Redwoods State Park in 1936. The redwood park was eventually expanded to 805 acres by  the state. Camping and hiking were permitted anywhere in the park until 1964, when it was designated a State Reserve to protect the fragile redwood environment. Camping has since been prohibited in the park, and hikers are now restricted to the trails. In 2008 the park was renamed Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve.

Over the centuries, the redwood park area was subject to fires, either from natural causes or from the Indians who summered there. The last fire in the redwoods might have been as late as September 1923, when a fast-moving fire caused much damage along the Russian River and threatened Guerneville and the redwood park. Present-day visitors can view many unusual examples of redwood trees’ resistance to this damaging force of nature.

• Doris M. Dickenson
• March 2010

Bibliography:

1. Finley, Carmen J. and Dickenson, Doris M., Colonel James B. Armstrong, His Family and His Legacy, (Guerneville, California: Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods, 2008).
2. McKenzie, John C., Colonel James B. Armstrong and His Redwood Park, (Santa Rosa, California: Annadel Press, 1995).
3. Potthast, Chazz, SPR1 Russian River District, Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve Unit History, 1874-1876, 1913-1917.
4. Wright, Karen Elise, comp., Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve Resource Inventory, (Dept. of Parks and Recreation, District 2, 1975) 27, 29,30.