in Ukiah, 1916 The region has been inhabited by the
Pomo for thousands of years. The modern area of Ukiah derives its name from the Pomo village (band) of Yokáya, meaning "deep valley" or "south valley".
Russian era Russian American company led by commander Ross visited Ukiah and the Russian River in 1750, during their exploration of the Alaskan Northwest and Hawaii. Eventually Point Cabrillo was visited and named by the Spanish explorers, although
Cabrillo only visited
San Diego Bay and never visited the point. The land was inhabited by Pomo natives who lived as hunter gatherers until the time. Some Chinese explorers visited as well during the early times of Chinatown San Francisco and the building of the railroad lines.
Mexican era was granted
Rancho Yokaya by Governor
Pío Pico in 1845. Ukiah is located within
Rancho Yokaya, one of several
Spanish colonial land grants in what their colonists called
Alta California. The Yokaya grant, which covered the majority of the Ukiah valley, was named for the
Pomo word meaning "deep valley." The
Pomo are the indigenous people who occupied the area at the time of Spanish colonization. Later European-American settlers adopted "Ukiah" as an anglicized version of this name for the city. Cayetano Juárez was granted Ukiah by Alta California. He was known to have a neutral relationship with the local Pomo people. He sold a southern portion of the grant (toward present-day
Hopland) to the Burke brothers. The first Anglo settler in the Ukiah area was John Parker, a
vaquero who worked for pioneer cattleman James Black. Black had driven his stock up the
Russian River valley and took over a block of grazing land at that locale. A crude
blockhouse was constructed for Parker so he could have shelter to protect the herd from the hostile indigenous local people, who resented the squatters on their land. Initially visitors could reach town only by
stagecoach, or private horses. A short rail line from San Francisco terminated in
Petaluma, nearly to the south. In 1870 the remainder of the trip to Ukiah took another two days by horse. In subsequent years the rail line was extended further northward to
Cloverdale. Although the stagecoach portion was reduced to , the community was still relatively isolated and slow to develop. Ukiah has been the hub of an agricultural and business community. Over the decades various commodity crops have been grown in the Ukiah Valley. They include pears, green beans, hops, apricots, and grapes. As part of California's
Wine Country, grapes have become the predominant agricultural product.
Hops were once a major crop grown around Ukiah. The beer flavoring agent was first grown there in 1868 when L.F. Long of Largo grew an initial experimental crop. Production continued well into the 20th century. A refurbished hop
kiln can be seen at the north end of Ukiah east of Highway 101, where many of the old fields were located.
20th century Ukiah's 20th-century population developed in relation to the lumber boom of the late 1940s. Logging of
redwoods was once a major industry. Activists have worked to preserve areas of redwood forest, which became endangered due to overlogging. Young people entered the area from the 1960s, seeking alternative lifestyles and, in some cases, artisan and rural living. ==Geography==