Charlie Moon and the Chinese Expulsion from Humboldt County, Highlights from the Willow Creek – China Flat Museum

Tucked along the banks of the Trinity River, the Willow Creek – China Flat Museum has always been a quiet treasure — a place where old photographs, weathered tools, and the echoes of early settlers offer a glimpse into Humboldt County’s layered past. But this year, something new is stirring behind its historic walls. After a year of transformation led by a newly energized Board of Directors, the museum is stepping into the 2025 season with fresh exhibits, bigger ambitions, and an invitation for the community to rediscover the stories that shaped the region.

On Saturday, the museum will throw open its doors for a festive Opening Day celebration, unveiling displays that bring new voices and long-overlooked histories into the spotlight. Visitors can expect activities for all ages, a newly expanded bookstore, and first looks at exhibits that tell, for the first time, the harrowing and heroic stories of the area’s early Chinese immigrants and the explorers who mapped the rugged landscapes of Northern California.

For the next few days, we’ll be featuring some of the stories the museum has to tell. Today, information on the Chinese expulsion from Humboldt County and Charlie Moon.

1885 CHINESE EXPULSION AND CHARLIE MOON

[Image courtesy of the Willow Creek – China Flat Museum from the Clarke Museum Special Collection]

Chinese immigrants in the nineteenth century faced much discrimination from residents in Humboldt County, as well as throughout the entire United States. Early racism and stereotyping by fellow miners and union leaders led to job exclusion and legislation against the Chinese. Much of this was fueled by the idea that Chinese immigrants were taking jobs from whites. Nonetheless, large groups of Chinese were living and working throughout all settled parts of Humboldt and Trinity Counties. So much so that there were Chinatowns in most all settlements, in which opium dens, taverns, and brothels were common.

[Image courtesy of the Willow Creek – China Flat Museum from the Clarke Museum Special Collection]

In 1885, a Eureka city councilman was shot and killed by a Chinese gambler in Eureka. Angry whites promptly compelled all of the coastal Chinese to depart for San Francisco by boat, leaving only a few of their countrymen remaining in the hills of Humboldt County. Charlie Moon was one of these few.

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The Charlie Moon story can be found in
‘Traveling the Trinity Highway’ by Ben Bennion & Jerry Rohde [Image courtesy of the Willow Creek – China Flat Museum from the Clarke Museum Special Collection]

Charlie Moon left his home in China when he was 11, traveling in the hold of a ship until he reached San Francisco. He soon headed north with his brother and some other men who planned to work at the Klamath River mines. Believing that he was too young and small to work with them, the group left Charlie in Arcata, where he got a job cleaning up burned houses.

Then Tom Bair came along, taking Charlie to his Maple Creek ranch, where he learned to cook, keep a vegetable garden, and do other work. Charlie had firmly established himself at Bair’s second ranch, on Redwood Creek when, in 1885, a posse of 10 vigilantes from the coast came for him. Boldly, Tom Bair stood up to the posse claiming they would have to come through him and his shotgun to take Charlie Moon.

Charlie remained at the ranch for many, many years. He married Minnie, a local Chilula woman and raised a large family. He was one of the very few Chinese immigrants who remained a resident of Humboldt County after the expulsion of 1885.