Tracey Barnes-Priestley: Hi, I'm Tracey Barnes-Priestley, this week on "What's on your Bucket List?"

we join a curious couple as they learn about the Native American history of Humboldt Bay from one of the Wiyot Tribe's most revered members.

Then just across the bay, the daughter of a railroad man gets a one-of-a-kind ride she's been wanting since she was a little girl, coming up next on "What's on your Bucket List?"

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Tracey: I met our first guest at the Madaket Dock on Humboldt Bay.

Tracey: We could not have asked for a better day for what we are about to do on this segment of "What's on your Bucket List?"

This is my guest Susie Jennings.

What are we doing today?

Susie Jennings: We are going on a tour on the beautiful old Madaket out to see the island.

So we're very excited about that.

Tracey: Good.

We are very excited as well.

You have a certain spirit about you.

Yes?

Susie: Yes.

Tracey: Yes.

Susie: Yes.

My husband and I are lifelong learners and lifelong travelers and we are curious about just about everything.

Tracey: We're not going to be disappointed today with this one.

Susie: No, I don't think so.

Tracey: You are a retired teacher and administrator, correct?

Susie: That's correct.

Tracey: In Southern Humboldt?

Susie: In Southern Humboldt.

Thirty-three years in that district.

Tracey: Yeah.

And your husband's a retired?

Susie: State park ranger.

Tracey: Now, technically, you were the one who filled out the application and submitted it, but at every step of this process you've said you'd really like John to come along because you like to share your adventures.

Susie: We love sharing experiences and we feed off each other's interests and questions and curiosities.

Tracey: Now, one of the things I really enjoy about doing this show is that I've seen how it propels members of our audience to try things they've never done before, to kind of get out of their comfort zone.

What was it about this particular idea that you thought, "Well, I really want to do that, but I'm not sure how?"

Susie: That's a big part of it.

We wanted more information.

We've been--years and years ago we've been on the Madaket, but we're really particularly interested in what the history of the islands are and what the current uses are.

Yeah.

Tracey: Shall we go?

Susie: Let's go.

Tracey: All right, let's.

Susie: All right.

Tracey: Susie and I were excited to finally board the Madaket.

And I took the opportunity to speak with our captain.

Tracey: Thank you so much for having us.

Leroy Zerlang: It is our pleasure.

Tracey: Oh.

Well, you made it all happen.

This is Leroy Zerlang who's the captain of the Madaket, but you're also the backbone of reviving and making it alive.

Leroy: I've been with the boat for 54 years now.

Tracey: Oh my goodness.

Leroy: And I started out washing it.

And in 1983, it was bought by the Maritime Museum that my father founded.

Tracey: Oh, I did not know.

Leroy: And we take care--the Zerlang family and a lot of other people take care of the Madaket for the community and we appreciate people riding it because that's what keeps it alive.

Tracey: Now, this boat, it has a pretty illustrious history, right?

Leroy: Built in 1910, built on Humboldt Bay, never left Humboldt Bay, originally she was called the Nellie C., in 1934 she was sold and renamed the Madaket, oldest passenger-carrying vessel in continuous service in the United States, 112 years old, coastguard certified vessel in immaculate condition, and a Humboldt Bay treasure.

Tracey: And I want to thank you so much.

Leroy: Thank you.

It's always our pleasure to work with Wiyot Tribe.

Tracey: Our guide for the day was Dr. Cheryl Seidner, former tribal chairwoman and current cultural liaison for the Wiyot Tribe.

We boarded the Madaket, and I introduced her to our enthusiastic guests.

After the required safety demonstrations, Captain Zerlang sounded the horn, and we were underway.

♪♪♪ Cheryl Seidner: Well, you're riding on Wigi.

That's the name of the bay.

Susie: How do you spell that?

Cheryl: Well, you got to remember we do not have a written language.

Tracey: That's right.

Cheryl: So we had to go to a linguist and they came up with the name -- Susie: Aren't you original?

Yeah.

Cheryl: W-I-G-I.

Susie: Okay.

Tracey: And say that again please.

Cheryl: Wigi.

Tracey: Wigi.

Susie: Wigi.

Tracey: Okay.

Cheryl: And so the island was dubbed Indian Island.

And when we got most of the island back except for 10%, which is privately owned, we--the tribe decided to move to a village name which is not the name of the island for sure, but we took the village name of Tuluwat.

And so Tuluwat is the new name of the island.

And us old birds have to remember that 'cause we--I keep calling it Indian Island.

We were moved three times, once to Round Valley, once to Hoopa area, and once to Smith's River, and we kept coming back, and so finally the government said, "Leave them alone 'cause they keep coming home.

They know--they're like salmon.

They know where their home is."

And we keep coming home.

Tracey: Cheryl pointed out the Egret rookery noting that some people have an incorrect belief about its origin.

Cheryl: They said that Egrets are the souls of the Wiyot people who were murdered here in 1860 and they said that represents all.

As well I guess it could be, but that rookery wasn't there until the Dakhót put it there.

Tracey: Is that right?

Cheryl: So Dakhót is a newcomer, or some people call it white people.

Tracey: So how much in terms of the Wiyot territory?

What was the overall?

Cheryl: From Little River, which is the south to Trinidad, north in McKinleyville, all the way down to Matt--down to Mattole, and we go into Chalk Mountain in the foothills and we go up to Berry Summit.

Tracey: All the way up to Berry Summit.

And what part did the islands play in your culture?

Cheryl: That's our creation story.

That's where we came from, right there.

Tracey: Gave me goosebumps.

Cheryl: Yeah, my mother is the one who told me about the story of Indian Island and see of Tuluwat.

At that time it was Indian Island.

And she told me of the massacre and how our family survived.

The baby found on the island was her great grandfather.

Susie: Wow.

John Jennings: I see.

Susie: Wow.

And was that the only survivor?

Cheryl: Oh, no.

There were a few more.

Not many more, but a few more.

But they were having the world renewal ceremony at the island, and people, the hostile people, decided that they were going to come out, 'cause that's when all the tribes were together.

The Yuroks, the Hoopas, and the Koruks, and maybe some Tuluwats came down 'cause world renewal ceremony was for the world, so everybody was participating.

Tracey: Was inclusive.

Cheryl: And we invited--not invited, but no one was turned away.

White people, whoever, were not turned away, and so that's what they did.

And so there was a big group of Native American people on the island.

And what happened was that they came in and they killed everybody, as many as they could, and they didn't use guns, they didn't use rifles, they didn't do anything, they used clubs and axes.

Susie: Was it like a militia group?

Cheryl: Well, that's what they said.

So you scalp so many.

You get $5 for a male scalp, a couple bucks for a female, and a couple dollars for a child.

Only people remember is the massacre on the island.

They don't remember the massacre at the mouth of the river, Eel River.

Susie: The same day?

Cheryl: Was in the same 24 hours.

And there was another one.

Now, I can't remember where the other one was, but there was three of them, and they nearly wiped out the Wiyot Tribe.

We're tough.

Tracey: It was that coordinated.

Cheryl: We're tough, man.

We came back with a vengeance.

Tracey: You have to be unfortunately.

Cheryl: And you want to know why people are hostile and you want to know why Native Americans are hostile.

Not only were--our land was taken from us, wherever it is in the United States, but that--again, that's a long time ago.

That happened a long time ago.

We're living in today's society.

We need to be able to continue to be gracious and to be kind and thoughtful too for one another.

You can't live in the past, you got to go forward, and you got to mend bridges if they need to be mended, and then you just don't worry about the past.

Past is over with.

You got to be here and now and be present.

Tracey: The Wiyot Tribe has certainly moved forward.

Through massive fundraising, the tribe eventually bought back the 1 1/2 acres where their village once stood.

Then in 2004, Eureka passed a resolution to return another 40 plus acres, but history was truly made in 2019 when Eureka finally returned approximately 200 acres.

Nearly all of Tuluwat Island was once again home to the Wiyot people.

And though the tribe had begun restoring their ancestral lands years before, Cheryl described the remaining work as, Cheryl: Massive, millions of dollars to clean up.

And we had--and some parts of the island we had to wear hazmat suits.

Tracey: Oh, really?

Cheryl: Oh, yeah.

And you can only go down so far because this is a sacred site, burial sites there and things.

So we had to be very careful.

Tracey: When then was the first world renewal after it was cleaned up?

Cheryl: 2015.

Tracey: What was that like, Cheryl?

Cheryl: Oh, it was fabulous.

We started off here on the island, then we went down to Pitmock, which is on South Jetty.

Tracey: South Jetty, okay.

Cheryl: And then we came to the reservation to finish it off.

It was good.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Tracey: Cheryl told us the tribe hopes to put a ceremonial house on the island with a dressing area for the dancers, perhaps a large kitchen, and also a small house for the caretaker.

Susie was also curious about the flag flying above us.

Cheryl: I designed that.

So.

Tracey: You did?

Cheryl: Well, I did design all of it.

The old--the middle center part of that is the logo for the tribe, and then we put Wiyot Tribe around it, and then that's my basket cap designed around the outer edge.

Leroy: You folks on board today have done something that most people that have lived in this community have never done.

You have just circle-navigated the Tuluwat Island.

Tracey: All right.

Susie: All right.

Tracey: Thank you, Leroy.

all: Cheers.

♪♪♪ Tracey: We've just had an incredible cruise.

John: Yes, ma'am.

Tracey: What did you think?

Susie: We learned so much from Cheryl.

We got to learn about her culture, their history, their future, and we're just so grateful to you for putting it together because it was not easy and to Cheryl for coming and spending the morning with us.

Thank you so much.

Cheryl: I've never been on anybody's bucket list before.

This is a new experience for me.

all: What's on your bucket list?

♪♪♪ Tracey: On the other side of the bay, our next guest shares with us her lifelong love of trains.

Tracey: We are here in a place that I didn't even know existed until our wonderful guest Irma Silva applied to be on the show.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Where are we and what are we checking off your bucket list?

Irma Silva: Oh, I get to ride a motor car.

Tracey: A motor car.

So this has been an education for me because I read that and I thought, "Well, a motor car?

Did she just get her driver's license?"

What's a motor car?

Please explain.

Irma: Okay, a motor car used to be what the railroad used to take their crew out to repair the railway systems, and depending on what size; there were small ones, there was like a six-seater.

And they would pull any supplies that they would need like rails, and posts, rocks, depending on what was going on.

Tracey: One of the things I loved about your application and about this particular request is it's so personal to you, and that's a real bucket list treat.

You brought along this wonderful photograph.

Tell us a little bit about what it is for you.

Irma: So basically that's the Alton Station of the NWP line.

My dad was the foreman for that particular area.

We lived on the top, which was great place to live, by the way, and then the station master ran the station back here.

The main line was in front.

There was a spur that went, like, toward 36 where Scotia ran their logging trains there.

Tracey: But now in all those years with your dad working on the railroad--'cause you lived in a few places, right?

Like, where?

You lived--did you say Older Point?

Irma: Yeah, Older Point.

The station master there, Mr. Christie, said, "You know, the girls are getting bigger.

It's time to move into the city."

So the big city was outed compared to Older Point.

And we started school there.

Tracey: So did you get to ride on other trains, but just not the speeder car?

What?

Irma: Right.

One of the privileges that you got because you worked on the railroad is they gave you a discount or a free pass, I don't know which one was, that you could ride their passenger cars, and so we took a lot of trips on the big ones from then, but I always wanted to ride a speeder car and be--and dad was--I guess must have been a really rule person and he said, "No, it's not allowed."

So I never got to ride a speeder.

Tracey: He wouldn't even break the rules for his sweet, little girl.

Irma: Nope.

Tracey: Well, I'm looking forward to it.

Thank you.

Irma: You're welcome.

Tracey: And I think we should get you going.

Irma: Okay.

Tracey: All right.

Tracey: Irma and I took a few minutes to explore a very special train.

Tracey: So this particular train has real significance for you, right?

Irma: Right.

This is one of probably a couple that Pacific Lumber Company--we called it the logger train.

It was off a spur from 36.

It went up 36 and emerged into the NWP's mainline, and from there the logs were shipped mostly to Scotia.

Tracey: I can't imagine what that must have been like.

Irma: Yeah.

And so you got a really good view of the locomotive engineer because it was up high and because you had a platform.

You were really close.

It wasn't like I'm up here, down here.

Tracey: Yes.

Yeah.

So I guess you've been in there.

Irma: I have in the past.

I usually require a little stool and I didn't bring it.

I have very fond memories of sitting out there watching the train.

You didn't have TV too much and you didn't have anything else, so you watched the trains go by.

Tracey: That makes--now, that makes so much sense.

Tracey: Irma couldn't resist.

She climbed aboard and made herself comfortable in the engineer's seat.

Irma: There you go.

Tracey: That's great.

Irma: Okay, where's those guys?

Who said guys--women can't drive trains?

Tracey: Somehow, I wasn't surprised when Irma rang the bell.

For some background on trains in Humboldt County, I spoke with Bruce Seivertson, community outreach liaison for the Timber Heritage Association.

Tracey: Well, I am so impressed by what you and a host of dedicated, hardworking volunteers have managed to pull together.

And how many years has the--have you been working on this now?

Bruce Seivertson: Well, we've been out here 12 years and prior to COVID, we put in an average of 10,000 hours, volunteer hours.

We're an all-volunteer group.

We've restored the buildings.

All these buildings date from 1890s.

Tracey: Now, we are on the dining car, which I understand has been restored by everyone.

Bruce: Yes, it has.

It's been restored, and we continue to work on it, but we've rewired it so that all electricity work, have been working on the windows themselves.

Tracey: Then Bruce gave us a tour through some of the cars in various stages of restoration.

Irma: Well, that's actually not as big.

It's bigger than I thought.

Tracey: Look at the kitchen.

Bruce: This is where they cooked for the train.

Cooked everything for the train and, you know, they took on ice.

So this is an icebox, literally an icebox.

And they put ice down into the well.

Even have an ice cream scoop.

Tracey: Which meant they kept the icebox nicely.

Bruce: Oh, yeah.

Tracey: Yeah, nice and icy.

Bruce: Yep -- that was it.

Icebox doors.

People liked that.

Tracey: And they did it all while moving.

Bruce: And this is the parlor car.

Tracey: Oh, look at this.

Bruce: It's one of the three restored cars that we have out here.

And we're constantly working on these cars.

The next process is painting the exterior of them.

Tracey: Oh, it's beautiful.

Bruce: Again, this was used as a sleeping car for crew workers at one point.

Tracey: Oh, so they stripped it of everything and painted it.

Bruce: So this was stripped of everything and was painted inside.

Tracey: Oh, it's gorgeous.

Ah, what a way to travel.

♪♪♪ Tracey: Well, thank you for the tour.

This has been wonderful.

Tracey: Finally, it was time for Irma to ride in the speeder car.

Her engineer for the day was Bernie Christian.

Irma: Oh, okay.

Okay.

Did they always have seatbelts?

Okay.

Tracey: Well, bon voyage.

Irma: Bye.

Tracey: Have fun.

Irma: Thank you.

Bernie Christian: Now, did your father drive speeders?

Irma: Yeah, he had one.

He had--well, actually the railroad had one.

Tracey: And with that, Bernie fired up the speeder.

Bernie: This one came from Shively.

So he very well could have run this at one time.

Irma: Oh, okay.

♪♪♪ Irma: How fast can it go?

Bernie: This will do about 40.

Irma: Oh, okay.

Bernie: I don't like to go that fast.

In fact, I prefer about 20 miles per hour.

Irma: You definitely have a different view.

Bernie: Yeah.

Irma: So what makes it--you guys run on what?

Gas, propane or what?

Bernie: Gas.

Irma: Gas.

Bernie: It's got a little engine up here about the size--half the size of a Volkswagen engine.

Irma: Oh, okay.

Bernie: The click-clack, click-clack you hear, that will put me to sleep sometimes.

Irma: Yeah, I bet it does.

You can actually reach out and touch stuff.

Bernie: Yeah.

Irma: Now, did this have a whistle or any kind of a sound?

Bernie: That's it.

Irma: Okay.

And it is a low tide.

Bernie: Yep.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Irma: How long did it take you to learn how to drive this thing?

Bernie: About 5 minutes.

Irma: Oh, okay.

Bernie: Have you driven a car with a clutch?

Irma: Oh, yeah, that's how I learned how to do that.

Bernie: Okay.

Then why don't you get over here?

Irma: Oh, okay.

Tracey: Bernie had a little surprise for Irma.

She was going to try her hand at driving the speeder.

♪♪♪ Tracey: He showed her how to shift and use the brake, and then they were off.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Tracey: Finally, Irma's ride was over and it was time to return to the museum.

The only way to do that was in reverse.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Irma: I didn't think I was going to get to drive it.

Let me tell you it was a white-knuckle experience.

Tracey: Was it?

Irma: Yes.

I haven't driven a clutch.

I was trying to figure it out.

It's been like 30 to 40 years since like-- Tracey: How many speeds does it have?

One?

Irma: Oh, I don't know.

Tracey: I mean, did you just forward and reverse?

Irma: Well, I tried to follow directions.

I have no idea.

Tracey: It doesn't have a steering wheel?

What does it-- Irma: No.

You have your clutches.

And it's not on your normal clutch foot, it's this foot.

Tracey: Oh, okay.

Irma: And then it has a forward, a throttle, and I can't remember what else, and stuff, but it was like--and then did you see it when I speeded up and let it go?

It was good though.

It was-- Tracey: Was it everything you imagined?

Irma: And then some.

Tracey: Was it?

Irma: Yes.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, everybody.

We did it.

Tracey: Well, now you've checked it off your bucket list?

Irma: Yes.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Tracey: Thank you.

All right.

Irma: Ha ha ha.

♪♪♪ Irma: So what's on your bucket list?

Tracey: To watch this and other episodes, go to keet.org.

Now, what's on your bucket list?

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Irma: You guys are really bossy, aren't you?

Ha ha ha ha.