Fort Dick, California
Fort Dick is a small unincorporated community and census-designated place in rural Del Norte County, California. Fort Dick is around five miles north of Crescent City, California, and around south of the California–Oregon state line. Its population is 912 as of the 2020 census, up from 588 from the 2010 census. It is located on the U.S. Route 101 corridor on the Redwood Coast. A post office was set up in 1917.
Etymology
Fort Dick Landing dates back to the Civil War era and was named after a settler's log house "fort" built by Whites to defend from the Indians. In 1888 a shake and shingle mill was moved there and the place renamed Newburg by the Bertsch brothers who owned the mill. With the establishment of the post office in 1896, the old name was revived.History
Pre-Settler contact
The heavily forested coast territory surrounding Fort Dick was occupied and used by the Tolowa and Yurok tribes of Native Americans.Jedediah Smith's party reaches Lake Earl
Historical records state that a party travelling with Jedediah Smith entered the area of Fort Dick and skirted the eastern edge of Lake Earl between June 14 to 16, 1828. During this time, not only did they explore the area, but they made clear contact, including trading and engaging in commerce with the Tolowa Indians on the 15th. Jedidiah Smith's party "skirted" the eastern shore of Lake Earl. Since his party was there in 1828, it predates the events that led the settler or farmer who owned the land called "Russell's Prairie" by about twenty-five to thirty years.The camp site of June 14 was on Elk Creek, one-fourth of a mile west of the junction of U.S. 101 and the Elk Valley road. Exactly one month later, while eating breakfast the morning of July 14, 1828, Jedediah's party was attacked by at least one hundred Native American Indians. Everyone in the party except for Jedediah and two companions died in the ambush. They escaped and headed directly to Fort Vancouver.
Shipwrecks near Fort Dick and Crescent City
The coastal waters near Crescent City and north are notoriously treacherous. Over the years, there have been many ships sunk in the ocean close to Fort Dick and Crescent City.- 1850 - Paragon sunk
- 1851 - Tarquin
- 1855 - Steamer America burned in the harbor at Crescent City en route to Oregon and Washington
- 1865 - The Steamer Brother Jonathan hit an uncharted reef near Point St. George.
- 1941 - SS Emidio, an oil tanker, was shelled and torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. This was the first ship sunk by the Japanese off the American Pacific coast in World War II.
Demographics
| Race / Ethnicity | Pop 2020 | 2020 |
| White alone | 669 | 73.36% |
| Black or African American alone | 1 | 0.11% |
| Native American or Alaska Native alone | 102 | 11.18% |
| Asian alone | 10 | 1.10% |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone | 0 | 0.00% |
| Race and ethnicity in [the United States census|Other race] alone | 7 | 0.77% |
| Mixed race or Multiracial | 50 | 5.48% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 73 | 8.00% |
| Total | 912 | 100.00% |
The 2020 United States census reported that Fort Dick had a population of 912. The population density was. The racial makeup of Fort Dick was 677 White, 1 African American, 103 Native American, 12 Asian, 0 Pacific Islander, 34 from other races, and 85 from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 73 persons.
The whole population lived in households. There were 357 households, out of which 71 had children under the age of 18 living in them, 185 were married-couple households, 32 were cohabiting couple households, 60 had a female householder with no partner present, and 80 had a male householder with no partner present. 92 households were one person, and 48 were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.55. There were 231 families.
The age distribution was 185 people under the age of 18, 44 people aged 18 to 24, 216 people aged 25 to 44, 256 people aged 45 to 64, and 211 people who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 46.0years. For every 100 females, there were 91.6 males.
There were 393 housing units at an average density of, of which 357 were occupied. Of these, 291 were owner-occupied, and 66 were occupied by renters.