A post office operated at Ettersburg from 1902 to 1906 and from 1915 to 1965. The name comes from the ancestral home of homesteader Albert F. Etter.
Development of Ettersburg
Albert's German-born mother, Wilhelmina Etter was skilled at cultivating plants, and Etter showed a talent for hybridizing plants in childhood, working with apples, peaches, dahlias, and strawberries by the time he was twelve. He attended public school and by the end of his teens was looking out for a site where he could continue his plant-breeding experiments. On a fishing trip to the Mattole River Valley, he found a section of land above Bear Creek and in 1894 he staked a claim to it. This area along the Pacific coast in the King Range has wet winters and hot summers, and Etter later attributed his success partly to his choice of location. The site where Albert developed his ranch was subsequently named after him, first as Etter and then as Ettersburg. Etter managed the ranch with three of his brothers, George, Fred, and August; and another four of his siblings also lived nearby. While Etter focused on plant breeding, his brothers oversaw other kinds of farming and stockkeeping operations. The ranch holdings, operated under the business name Etter Brothers, eventually reached 800 acres in size. Although the Etter Brothers firm and the Ettersburg Experimental Place became internationally known among plant breeders, and Etter renowned as "the Luther Burbank of Humboldt County", they never made more than a modest living from the land. For one thing, they were far removed from the main trucking and rail routes, and for another, new plant hybrids were not protected by the patent system until 1930.
Geography
Ettersburg is located west-northwest of Phillipsville, at an elevation of. Nearby cities are: Shelter Cove, Redway, Garberville Benbow,, Weott, Redcrest, Alderpoint. According to the USGS Site Map, the city has a drainage area. Ettersburg is in the Lost Coast region which includes Pacific Ocean coast, and several rivers. The location of Ettersburg on U.S. 101 is northwest of Sacramento and north of San Francisco. The next big city is Eureka, principal city and county seat of Humboldt County. The city is only away with access the coast and increases in elevation slightly as it spreads north, south, and especially to the east. The city then gives way to hills and mountains of the rugged coast range, which quickly exceed in elevation.
Climate
Ettersburg experiences mild to warm and dry summers with some rainy days, with not many average monthly temperatures above. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Ettersburg has a cold-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csc" on climate maps. There are cool winters during which intense rainfall occurs. It has warm, dry summers with moderate rainfall through the summer months. Snow in Ettersburg is very rare, occurring every 20–30 years in winter months. Average January temperatures are a maximum of and a minimum of. Average August temperatures are a maximum of and a minimum of. The record high temperature was. The record low temperature was. Average annual precipitation is. There are on average 120 days with measurable precipitation which makes Ettersburg a Mediterranean climate. Ettersburg's Köppen classification and climate is similar to locations such as parts of Balmaceda, Chile, in high elevations of Corsica, Haleakala Summit in Hawaii and the Cascades or Sierra-Nevada-ranges.
Education
Ettersburg once had an Elementary school from 1980 to 2012 serving 3 Grades. The next school district is either in Shelter Cove, Whitehorn or in Garberville.
