Scotia, California facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Scotia
Census designated place
Main Street in Scotia
Scotia Location in California
Country	United States
State	California
County	Humboldt
Area
• Total	0.842 sq mi (2.179 km2)
• Land	0.746 sq mi (1.932 km2)
• Water	0.096 sq mi (0.247 km2)  11.3%
Elevation	194 ft (59 m)
Population  (April 1, 2010)
• Total	850
• Density	1,010/sq mi (390.1/km2)
Time zone	UTC-8 (Pacific)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP code	95565
Area code	707
FIPS code	06-70518
GNIS feature IDs	232715, 2611446

Scotia, formerly known as Forestville until 1888, is a census-designated place in Humboldt County, California. It is located on the Eel River along U.S. Route 101, 8.5 miles (13.7 km) southeast of Fortuna and 244 miles (393 km) north of San Francisco. Scotia has a population of 850 (2010 census).

Scotia is a company town founded by the Pacific Lumber Company (PALCO) to house workers for the lumber industry. The town was entirely owned by PALCO until 2008, following the corporation's declaration of bankruptcy. While it is home to hundreds of past or present lumber mill employees and their dependents, a process is underway to divide the homes into lots for sale.

History

Scotia was founded in 1863 as Forestville. It was renamed 25 years later because another community in California had a similar name. It is said that because it was populated by many residents who originated from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the name Scotia was chosen by a coin toss, the alternative of course being Brunswick. At the time of its founding, Scotia was just one of many company towns across the Pacific Northwest, many of which closed down during the Great Depression. Early economic development started in 1883 when the Pacific Lumber Company started construction on a mill and housing. Scotia, however, was one of a relative handful of company towns to survive this period. Most of the existing houses were built between the 1920s and 1950s.

The first post office at Scotia opened in 1888. The Humboldt Bay and Eel River Railroad connected Scotia to Humboldt Bay in 1885. This railway became part of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway subsidiary San Francisco and Northwestern Railway in 1903 and was linked to the national rail network by completion of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad in 1914.

The town was formed following the winter flood of 1861-1862; that flood level was not observed again until 1955. The Eel River crested at a gauge height of 72 feet (10.1 feet higher than 1955) on 23 December 1964. Eighteen-million board feet of redwood logs and 23-million board feet of lumber were washed out of the Scotia sawmill and scattered along the lower river and Pacific coast to the mouth of the Columbia River.

The 1992 Cape Mendocino earthquakes caused widespread damage in Humboldt County, including Scotia, because there were three major earthquakes in less than a 24-hour span. The first was a magnitude 7.2 quake at 11:06 p.m. on April 25, causing mill damage that took months to repair. The second quake at 12:41 a.m. on April 26, caused the most damage.

A fire, starting in Hoby's Market, exploded, burning the entire shopping center down. Fire crews, who were en route to North Court in response to a gas leak from a house falling and breaking a gas line, fought the fire the rest of the night, but the entire shopping center was a loss. This earthquake cause extensive damage to the North Court area of Scotia with numerous homes damaged. Pacific Gas & Electric responded to repair the gas line in North Court while all the residents were sequestered on a grassy hill the entire night. The third quake at 4:26 a.m. on April 26, measuring 6.7, compounded damage from the previous two quakes. The town was without water and electricity for some time. PALCO rebuilt the entire shopping center.

Demographics

2010

The 2010 United States Census reported that Scotia had a population of 850. The population density was 1,010.0 people per square mile (390.0/km²). The racial makeup of Scotia was 674 (79.3%) White, 3 (0.4%) African American, 35 (4.1%) Native American, 3 (0.4%) Asian, 9 (1.1%) Pacific Islander, 90 (10.6%) from other races, and 36 (4.2%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 150 persons (17.6%).

The Census reported that 848 people (99.8% of the population) lived in households, 2 (0.2%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized.

There were 265 households, out of which 161 (60.8%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 140 (52.8%) were heterosexual married couples living together, 42 (15.8%) had a female householder with no husband present, 30 (11.3%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 41 (15.5%) unmarried heterosexual partnerships, and 2 (0.8%) homosexual married couples or partnerships. 35 households (13.2%) were made up of individuals, and 4 (1.5%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.20. There were 212 families (80.0% of all households); the average family size was 3.44.

The population was spread out, with 322 people (37.9%) under the age of 18, 84 people (9.9%) aged 18 to 24, 277 people (32.6%) aged 25 to 44, 144 people (16.9%) aged 45 to 64, and 23 people (2.7%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.1 males.

There were 273 housing units at an average density of 324.4 per square mile (125.3/km²), of which 265 were occupied, of which 0 (0%) were owner-occupied, and 265 (100%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0%; the rental vacancy rate was 1.5%. 0 people (0% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 848 people (99.8%) lived in rental housing units.

Visitor attractions

Scotia museum

The Scotia Museum contains artifacts, photographs, and exhibits. The Fisheries Center allows visitors to view various types of the area's native fish and experience a setting that is remarkably similar to their natural environment.

Climate

Scotia has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Csb) according to the Köppen climate classification system.