> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.raincrossgazette.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Camping With Hoover: A Riverside Family's 1928 Summer - URL: https://www.raincrossgazette.com/camping-with-hoover-a-riverside-familys-1928-summer/ - Published: 2026-09-20T12:00:52.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-20T12:00:51.000Z - Description: Ninety-eight years ago, E. N. Fairchild's family vacation to the Redwoods turned into a front-row seat to history. - Author: Glenn Wenzel - Tags: History This coming Tuesday marks the official start of fall and, therefore, the end of summer. For many, summer ended with Labor Day weekend or the time when the kids returned to school. This is also a time when many look back, reflect on their summer vacations, and recount the highlights. Ninety-eight years ago, a Riverside resident and his family returned to Riverside after a three-month vacation with exciting news to share. Edward Noble Fairchild, his wife Emma and their two-year-old son Jim departed from Riverside on Tuesday, June 12, 1928, for an automobile trip to camp for the summer at Richardson Grove in the Redwoods of Humboldt County. E. N. Fairchild was a prominent Riverside photographer. He was born on May 1, 1877, in Greeley, Colorado. In his early years, he moved around and never settled in one place for long. By 1910, he was living in Riverside with his mother on Chestnut Street. In 1915, he was in San Francisco as an official photographer at the Panama-American Exposition. He returned to Riverside briefly in 1916 and worked with Fred W. Twogood. By 1918, Fairchild was in Santa Barbara, working as a motion picture operator at the Mission Theater. He also lived in Portland, Oregon, and Chico, California, during his wandering years. Fairchild returned to Riverside in 1921 and again lived with his mother until 1923, when he married Emma Buckley, a teacher at Lowell School in Riverside. Emma also came from Greeley, Colorado. The couple lived at 960 11th Street (between Almond and Chestnut). Their son, James, was born on July 27, 1926. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/09/1--Fairchild0028-2.jpg) Photo of Fairchild Home at 960 11th Street with young son Jim on a tricycle in front and family auto in back. | Author's Collection Leaving their home on 11th Street, the family traveled by car, most likely following Highway 101 for much of the journey. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/09/2--RM-1928-CA-NV-AUTO.jpg) 1928 California Map showing main roads at the time Undoubtedly, they camped along the way, as the approximately 620-mile trip took a good number of days. Sometime on their trip, they stopped in at the studio of a fellow photographer, C. Warren Howe, near Miranda, California. A family photo shows Emma, young Jim and the family car in front of the Howe Studio. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/09/RG-Feat-Image-Template-17.jpg) Photo of the Studio of C. Warren Howe, Camera Pictorialist. | Author's Collection Arriving at Richardson Grove, the family set up camp for a summer of exploring and relaxing. A friend of Fairchild's, Edwin Freeman, was the concessionaire of Richardson Grove. Freeman, like Fairchild, had been born in Greeley, Colorado. They both had been photographers at the San Francisco Panama-American Exposition. In a letter to Riverside, Fairchild described their camp. Richardson Grove, our home this summer, is 200 miles north of San Francisco on the Redwood highway. It is a delightful place to spend a vacation. The huge trees, their branches reaching to the sky like a big umbrella, keep out the sun. We have a comfortable camp in about the center of the park. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/09/4-In-Redwoods.jpg) Photo of E. N., Emma and Jim on a fallen Redwood log along a path in the Redwood Forest. | Author's Collection In late July, Freeman told his friend E. N. Fairchild that presidential candidate Herbert Hoover would soon visit the Bull Creek campground. Freeman and California State Ranger Glenn Thompson coordinated the overnight visit. Initially told that there would be thirty people in the party, Freeman was informed shortly before their arrival that the party had grown to fifty. He hurriedly scoured for more food and beds, procuring twenty extra cots from the Humboldt County Camp Fire Girls. Fairchild was invited to assist. In the same letter to Riverside, Fairchild detailed his experience. It was my good fortune to assist in this and participate in the work and enjoyment of the camp as well as making photos…I also made some movies of our distinguished guest. The camp site was a most beautiful spot in the heart of the richest body of timber in the country…It was an impressive sight, to see the group sitting on logs around the huge camp fire, Mr. Hoover one of them, quietly smoking his pipe. Jokes and stories were told by members of the party; singing and a general good time. Of course the photographers had their run. Flashbulbs were popping here and there, and six movie cameras clicked their records as the flares burned. Words failed everyone to express their feelings as they stood about gazing up into the trees. Breakfast was served at 6 o'clock and in a little while the party was on the way to Eureka. Hoover and his party of approximately 50 people arrived at Bull Creek on Sunday, July 29, slept on cots under the stars, and departed the next morning. In the days before cell phones, the party was cut off from communications with the world for the night. The nearest telephone was 24 miles away, and that station shut down at 4 p.m. Yet Fairchild managed to get some of his photos out, and two of them appeared the next day in the Humboldt Times. Upon returning to Riverside in mid-September, Fairchild reported to the Riverside Daily Press: Our vacation was not without thrills. Between fighting forest fires that threatened the redwood forests, and "shooting" the next president of the United States, we had quite a thrilling summer. I was fortunate in getting a number of pictures of Herbert Hoover. These I will print up in a few days and put them on display in one of the store windows. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/09/5--Fairchild--1-Ed-and-Gene-Thompson-near-tree_0001.jpg) Fairchild Photo #1 showing Hoover in the middle with the white hat with a dark band. Behind him are two boys, sons of Edwin Freeman and Genn Thompson. | Courtesy of Nancy Luria, granddaughter of E.R. Freeman ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/09/6--Fairchild--2-vertical-men-eating_0001.jpg) Fairchild Photo #2 showing the Hoover Party eating at Bull Creek. | Courtesy of Nancy Luria, granddaughter of E.R. Freeman ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/09/7--Fairchild--3-Men-eating_0001.jpg) Fairchild Photo #3, another photo showing the Hoover Party eating at Bull Creek. | Courtesy of Nancy Luria, granddaughter of E.R. Freeman ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/09/8--Fairchild--4-meal-setup_0001.jpg) Fairchild Photo #4 showing Meal Setup at Bull Creek. Ranger Glenn Thompson and son, Gene, at the center table. E. R. Freeman and son, Eddie, at the right. | Courtesy of Nancy Luria, granddaughter of E.R. Freeman ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/09/9--Fairchild-Photo--7_0001.jpg) Fairchild Photo #7 showing camping cots at Bull Creek. | Courtesy of Nancy Luria, granddaughter of E.R. Freeman ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b3/b2/b3b29e3b-298e-485f-86ca-3034c21e3784/content/images/2026/09/10--Fairchild-photo-campfire_0001--1-.jpg) Fairchild Photo showing Hoover Party gathered around campfire at Bull Creek with photographers in foreground. | Courtesy of Nancy Luria, granddaughter of E.R. Freeman Many people come back from their summer vacations with great stories and photos to share. But how many can say they met and "shot" a future President of the United States? Edward Noble Fairchild could brag about his Redwood trip in the summer of 1928, when he met Herbert Hoover and photographed him and his traveling party. For a short 6-minute movie by Fairchild from his 1928 trip, visit [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/cubanc%5F000157).