The town was incorporated on February 20, 1906, and, because of the Eel River, became known for its agricultural prowess in vegetable crops, berries and fruits, and for the fresh fish from the river. Although agricultural industry was expanding, the lumber industry is what started the town, and would continue as the main source of local income for some time to come. Rohnerville (formerly Eel River Township), a town founded to service the many gold miners inhabiting the mountains to the north and east, was competing with Fortuna to be the leading township in the area. The miners would come by ship to Eureka, and then head up the Eel River to the junction with the Van Duzen River, from whence the miners headed east up the Van Duzen River Valley into Trinity County. Rohnerville was at this junction, and looked to prosper from selling supplies to the miners. But when it was decided that the railroad would be routed through neighboring Fortuna, it set both towns' fate. The Eel River and Eureka Railroad was built in 1884 to provide Humboldt Bay shipping access to the lumber mills and farms of the lower Eel River. Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway reorganized Fortuna's railroad as the San Francisco and Northwestern Railway in 1903, and then completed the Northwestern Pacific Railroad to San Francisco in 1914. Fortuna became the rail hub for smaller communities like Alton, Fernbridge, Ferndale, Hydesville, Newburg, Port Kenyon, Rohnerville, and Waddington. Fortuna was the location of one of two secondary mills of the storied Pacific Lumber Company, headquartered ten miles south in Scotia. Since Fortuna's earliest days in the 1800s, its nickname has been "The Friendly City." According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land. Fortuna is located from the Pacific coast on the bank of the Eel River. The community is affected by coastal weather patterns with the Pacific Ocean to the west. Fortuna is served by U.S. Route 101 providing direct access to San Francisco to the south, and to Eureka (County Seat) to the north. The western terminus of California State Route 36 intersects U.S. Route 101 just south of the city limits. Fortuna is surrounded by national, state and county redwood parks, and is the gateway to the redwood forests of Northern California.