Laytonville, California
The small town of Laytonville is located in the center of Long Valley,
about halfway between Eureka, California, and Santa Rosa, California. Laytonville has a population of about 2,000 people. It is surrounded by Fir and Redwood forests, which naturally makes its principal industries logging and ranching. It is reached by driving north from San Francisco following Highway 101 through Marin, Sonoma, and Mendocino Counties, passing through miles of vineyards, farms, orchards, and eventually winding up into the picturesque Pacific Coast Mountain range. Laytonville is the highest community located on the 101 corridor with an elevation of approximately 2,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Ocean is located only 26 miles west of the town. The Cahto Indian Rancheria is located only 2 miles west of the town on the Branscomb Road.
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The Town of Laytonville, California
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The Town of Laytonville was established in the year 1874 when a blacksmith
named Frank Layton open a shop in the valley. He came from the nearby town
of Cahto where he had been the town blacksmith, but an argument with the
town fathers caused Layton to move his business a few miles east on the
Westport-Dos Rio Road (now Branscomb Road). The decision of the Wells Fargo
Stageline to stop at Layton's Blacksmith Shop instead of in the town of
Cahto soon attracted other businesses into the small, but growing community
now called "Lick the Skillit and Spat Out." A coin toss between
a rancher named Wilson and Layton soon changed the town name to Laytonville.
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The Blacksmith Shop of Frank Layton - c1880
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The loss of the blacksmith eventually rang the death knell for Cahto, as
one by one the other businesses moved down the valley to Laytonville. By
1860 the town had opened it's first school, a general store, a hotel, a
church, and bar soon followed. In 1880 a post office opened in Laytonville,
and in 1917 the Redwood Highway (Highway 101), built with convict labor,
connected the town north and south to the rest of California.
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Main Street (Highway 101), Laytonville (today)
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