Many of the workers at the mill town
One story, perhaps apocryphal but still worth repeating, claims that Scotia received its name because of a coin toss. The whites first called the place Forestville, but when it grew large enough to require a post office, it was found that this name was already in use by a town on the Russian River. Many of the workers at the mill town were from either New Brunswick or Nova Scotia, and it was decided to rename it for one of these Canadian provinces. A coin, denomination unspecified, was flipped and landed on the side designated "Scotia," and on July 9, 1888 the new name took effect.
Before either Forestville or Scotia existed there was an earlier community on the riverside flat, an Indian village called Tokenewolok by the Wiyot tribe and Kahs-cho ken-tel-te by the Lolahnkok branch of the Sinkyone Indians. The exact affiliation of the village is uncertain. It most likely belonged to the Bear River tribe, but perhaps was more closely associated with one of the upriver Indian groups.
In late February 1860 it appears that the village was attacked as part of the series of more than a dozen massacres that included the one on Indian Island. The Humboldt Times reported that "a large ranch of Indians, above Eagle Prairie, on Eel river, was attacked, on Wednesday morning, and twenty-six diggers killed, mostly bucks, and among them some that are known to be desperate villains."
It is probable that this massacre ended with the destruction of the village, as no further mention of it can be located. Later in 1860, William Shively, a resident of nearby Eagle Prairie, reportedly participated in a "round-up" of local Indians, who were then taken to an unspecified reservation.