The Unfortunate Tale of Jimmy Carter and the 9-Ton California Peanut
In the spring of 1977, President Jimmy Carter, the former peanut farmer who had just taken office, was offered a big gift — if you can call it that — from the misty Northern California coast. A 9-ton redwood peanut. The roughly hewn goober had been strapped to the back of a logging truck, hauled across the country, and parked near the White House. It was offered to Carter amid a protest by loggers angry and anxious about his administration’s plans to expand Redwood National Park along California’s northern coast and eliminate their jobs. Alas, the Carter White House rejected the peanut.
The Unfortunate Accident and Renewed Attention
It was trucked back to the Humboldt County hamlet of Orick, where, for nearly half a century, it stood unmarked in a gas station parking lot, its story fading into obscurity as the town struggled and shrank. But in Humboldt County, the saga of the poor old peanut — which was obliterated in 2023 when a car slammed into it — has drawn renewed attention since Carter died last month at age 100.
Two days after Carter’s death, the front page of the Times-Standard newspaper, just below his obituary, carried the headline: “Former president outlived the Orick ‘peanut.’” At the Shoreline Fuel Mart, the longtime home of the languishing legume, an employee answered a phone call from a Times reporter this week with a sigh, saying: “Everybody keeps calling us about this.”
Carter’s Legacy and the Impact on Redwood National Park
Carter, whose extended public farewell concludes Thursday with a funeral at the Washington National Cathedral, was posthumously praised by the National Park Service for his “pivotal role in the story of Redwood National Park,” which he nearly doubled in size in 1978 despite heavy opposition from the timber industry. “This critical expansion included watersheds surrounding old-growth forests, ensuring they would be safeguarded for future generations to cherish,” Redwood National and State Parks officials said. “President Carter’s vision extended beyond the redwoods. His efforts remind us that leadership involves not only addressing the challenges of our time but also nurturing the earth for future generations.”
The Logging Industry’s Opposition and Protest
The creation — and Carter’s expansion — of Redwood National Park has long been a touchy subject along California’s rural, economically depressed North Coast, where the once-thriving logging industry cratered over the last half-century. Virtually all coast redwoods, the world’s tallest trees, grow in a narrow, fog-laden strip stretching from Big Sur to southern Oregon. By the time President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the legislation establishing Redwood National Park just outside Orick in 1968, more than 90% of the original redwoods had been chopped down. In the decade after the park’s creation, logging continued just outside its boundaries.
The Protest and the Fate of the Peanut
In 1977, the Carter administration proposed adding 48,000 acres to the park, with the new protected land — much of it already logged — to be purchased by the government. Lumber production and employment had already been declining, in part because most old-growth trees had been cut and because newly mechanized mills required fewer workers. But in Humboldt County, loggers railed against the proposed park expansion, which would lead to the elimination of at least 1,000 jobs. They carved the protest peanut and strapped it to a logging truck alongside a sign reading: “It may be peanuts to you but it’s jobs to us.”
The peanut was rejected by the White House, and it remained in Orick until that fateful day in June 2023 when a hit-and-run driver smashed into it. Now, only remnants of the once-iconic peanut remain, with plans to create a smaller replica in its memory.
In the end, the tale of Jimmy Carter and the 9-ton California peanut serves as a reminder of the complex interactions between politics, industry, and the environment, leaving behind a legacy that continues to resonate in the hearts of those who remember the peanut’s significance in a changing world.