The Pomo Indians were the first to live in this beautiful "water coming down place," and they gave it the name Gualala. We understand their original pronunciation was almost identical with the one we use today. Between then and now, many people came from many parts of the world, and each gave the name their own variations.

General Rafael Gracie was given a land grant extending from the Gualala River north to Mal Paso creek, a grant of about 62.5 square miles. He grazed cattle, then sold the land for $10,000. He may have been lucky, for later his grant was deemed invalid by the courts. But even before the court decision, homesteaders had been moving into the area, most of them farmers.

About 1861 a man named Cyrus Robinson and his wife Elizabeth filed a homestead for all the area that is now Gualala. They built a hotel, a saloon, and a ferry. They also had a post office, a Western Union, and a stage stop for the Wells Fargo Express. Within a year they sold land to a man who would build a lumber mill. The mill was located at the mouth of Mill Gulch, now known as China Gulch. The Mill Company started a company store that operated until the mid-1960s, when it burned, along with a warehouse, water tower, and stairs down to the river.

The Robinsons put a stipulation into the contracts for every piece of land they sold; the new owner agreed not to permit any hotel or bar on the land. Tourists began to arrive in 1860. By the late 1880s Gualala was a major commercial hub for the entire area. People came for miles to sell their produce and buy supplies. By 1895 there was a dancing school, a Municipal Brass Band, and an Opera House in Gualala.

In 1865 the Robinsons put an apron chute at Robinson's Landing for getting cargo to and from the schooners, but they had chosen a bad location. Soon after, a man named Morton Bourn started his own landing 2½ miles north and in a better location, where there was protection for the ships. Soon the mill bought land from Morton Bourn so they could extend their railroad from Robinson's landing to Bourn's landing.

In the early days it took two days to travel the 40 miles from Jenner to Gualala. By 1877 a railroad line was built connecting Duncan's Mill to Sausalito. From there, passengers could take a ferry to San Francisco. Because of the railroad, a daily stage service was started between Mendocino and Fort Ross on the coast, and between Fort Ross and Cazadero. From Cazadero passengers took a narrow-gauge railroad to Duncan's Mill. This meant that a passenger could travel from Gualala to San Francisco in one long day.

In 1892 the first bridge was built across the Gualala River. That put the ferry out of business. The bridge fell down during the 1906 earthquake. It was repaired and lasted until 1919, when it fell for the last time. It was replaced by a steel bridge which lasted until 1958 when a new bridge was built.

The coastal road was started in Mendocino County about 1920. The automobile had arrived. There weren't many automobiles before 1940, so Highway 1 remained a dirt road with 18 gates that had to be opened and shut between Jenner and Gualala. One local young man (the owner of Seacliff) was paid a penny for each gate he opened and closed each time his family went to or came from town! Horses were still useful, as cars couldn't make it through the mud during the winter, or up steep grades. By 1940 the State of California took over the coastal highway.