"History of Naval Auxiliary Air Base At Arcata Prepared by Officer at Station." This history will appear in installments. The air base contains 668 ac.; 325 ac. are federal prop and 442 ac. are county. The property was originally owned by Arthur Hoover. He utilized a portion of it as a private airport and the remaining was under cultivation in seed potatoes. The property was bought by Hum. Co. and then leased to the U.S. Gov. on June 25, 1942 with a maximum time limit of June 30, 1967. The U.S. Army built the runways and completed them in latter part of 1942. In early 1943 the army ceased all operations at the field and turned it over to the U.S. Navy which immediately went ahead with the constr. of housing, admin and maintenance facilities. From the very outset the navy planned the constr. of an auxiliary air station.