Peanut, California

Peanut, California
Unincorporated community
Peanut, California Show map of California Peanut, California Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 40°28′05″N 123°10′07″W / 40.46806°N 123.16861°W / 40.46806; -123.16861
Country	United States
State	California
County	Trinity
Elevation	2,500 ft (762 m)
Time zone	UTC−8 (Pacific (PST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−7 (PDT)
Area code	530
GNIS feature ID	264592[1]

Peanut is an unincorporated area in Trinity County, California, United States. Previously called Salt Creek,^[2][3] it is located on Highway 3, south of Hayfork,^[4] at an elevation of 2,500 feet (760 m).^[5]

As many as 100 people once lived there.^[6] In 2018, KQED reported that there were "just a few old horse barns and a few dozen residents nearby".^[3]

Prior to the arrival of settlers, the place that became known as Peanut was inhabited by the Wintu tribe.^[7]

In the late 19th century, the area was referred to as Salt Creek.^[2][6] It was a stopping point on the trail from nearby Weaverville to the California coast, offering fresh water and a natural spring.^[3] With its cool, mountainous climate, the area is inhospitable to growing peanuts.^[4]

The town used to be on Highway 36 until the highway was adjusted, straightening and improving the quality of its route – this was done to provide shorter travels between Red Bluff and the coast, and eliminate a detour into Eureka from Fortuna to Route 299.^[8]

In 1898, settlers in Salt Creek, which had a general store called Cuff's, decided to apply for a post office.^[9] At the time, the nearest post office was in Hayfork, a seven-mile journey by horse.^[2] The name "Salt Creek" was deemed unsuitable because of a United States Board on Geographic Names rule which required single-word town names.^[7]

According to California Place Names, the petitioners originally considered naming the town after Mrs. Cuff.^[9] When they discussed their application with the postmaster at Weaverville, A. L. Paulsen, he suggested the name "Peanut" instead because it was unique; no other post office in the directory had its name.^[6][9] The postmaster's own fondness of peanuts is also often cited as the reason for his choice.^[6][9][10] According to the memoir of Salt Creek schoolteacher Joe McKnight, Paulsen was eating peanuts when he suggested the name.^[2]

The petitioners added Peanut to their application as one of their choices.^[9] The United States Post Office Department approved the name Peanut on January 20, 1900.^[9]

Although the town was too small to have its own saloon, during Prohibition bootleggers from Peanut became well known locally for supplying high-quality liquor.^[6]

Peanut once had a sawmill which burned down in the 1940s,^[6] or mid-1950s.^[4]

In 1970, the owner of land where the town of Peanut once stood, Woody Smith of San Jose, put his 12-acre parcel up for sale.^[6]

Peanut became popular with tourists during the presidency of Jimmy Carter, a former peanut farmer.^[4] In 1979, a local resident told the Sacramento Bee that tourists came looking for the Peanut post office, because they wanted to "mail a post card with the Peanut postmark."^[4] They also said that road maps of the area often included Peanut purely due to the novelty of its name.^[4]