You are here: The Mythical State of Jefferson

State of Jefferson flag

You may see the XX flag, or hear mention of the State of Jefferson. While you’re visiting far Northern California you may notice that the public radio station is Jefferson Public Radio. Why is Jefferson so popular, you may wonder. Well, it’s not homage to a past president, but to an idea and movement that lives on today in the hearts and minds of her residents: in 1941 a handful of counties in far Northern California and Southern Oregon attempted to become the 51st state – Jefferson. While the secession movement died with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the identity of the region as Jefferson has lived on. While you’re visiting Siskiyou County you are in the heart of Jefferson, where the county seat (Yreka) was designated as the state capitol during the secession movement.

Mt. Shasta and the Shasta Valley

Today you can experience the (now mythical) State of Jefferson by touring its vast geographic area and talking with its people. You will see bumper stickers proclaiming residency of the State of Jefferson, the occasional flag and t-shirts for sale in gift shops. Yreka, Fort Jones and Montague are likely spots for finding your own t-shirt or bumper sticker. The State of Jefferson Scenic Byway winds through the region, from Yreka to the coast. Visit Siskiyou’s scenic drive page provides some info about the Byway and other shorter drives in the area. You can read about it in the new magazine Jefferson Backroads, which shares history, coming events and advertisements from local businesses.

Mostly, the State of Jefferson is something to be searched for as you explore the rugged land and small towns that make up the region, a sense to be discovered as you stretch your own independence and self reliance. It’s a mythology you can build on as you create your own experiences here, whether you drive down backroads or head for the hills.

Living Memorial Sculpture Garden honors veterans

The Hot LZ Memorial Wall just north of Weed, CA.

The Living Memorial Sculpture Garden outside of Weed is a gathering place for honoring veterans each year on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, when the names of U.S. & Allied veterans are added to the granite clad “Hot LZ Memorial Wall”. Over the years, more and more names are added to the wall.

The sculpture garden is composed of 11 large, metal works by artist and veteran Dennis Smith that often bring tears to visitors. The pieces memorialize different aspects of war: nurses, POWs, refugees, peaceful warriors, those coming home. The setting on 136 acres of replanted forest with Mount Shasta rising in the background is both stunning and solemn. The sculptures can be reached both by walking and driving, so everyone can see them and feel their powerful expression. The Labyrinth offers a meditative tool for visitors who can walk its winding path as part of their visit to LMSG.

Just one of the amazing sculptures.

The Living Memorial Sculpture Garden is 13 miles north of Weed on Highway 97. Whether you are here for a ceremony or passing though at another time, this is a wonderful place to visit, to remember, to contemplate war and peace, and to enjoy nature.

Memorial Day: WWII, Japanese Interment and POWs in Tulelake

In far eastern California, the small town of Tulelake is home to a colorful past and a new National Monument. WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument, Tule Lake Unit is one of several units signed into creation by President Bush in 2008. While it will take many years to define and establish the Monument, there are remnants of the World War II Japanese Internment Camp that can be toured and the Tulelake Butte Valley Museum of Local History that tell the story of the prisoners. From Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend, the Museum serves as the Visitors Center for the new National Monument. Starting the last weekend of May, ranger led tours of the Tule Lake Segregation Center depart from the Museum at 2pm and tours of Camp Tulelake begin at 11am down the road from the Klamath Basin Wildlife Refuge Complex Visitor Center on Hill Road.

When you tour Camp Tulelake you’ll walk through an old building that was used to imprison several hundred Japanese American men who protested and refused to answer the loyalty questionnaire, and then Italian and German prisoners of war. The setting can be bleak, with the wind blowing through the old boards of the barracks and the broken glass of single-pane windows. The high desert landscape lends to the sense of isolation and remoteness. This is a different way to experience Memorial Day by looking at the War from a prisoner’s perspective.

Back at the Museum of Local History visitors can listen to the audio tour that accompanies the many displays, which include stories from local residents who have tales of the Interment Camp, Prisoners of War and the legacy left to the community.

Visitors to Tulelake should go prepared with a full tank of gas and plenty of snacks. While there are some amenities in the town of Tulelake, it is a remote location and it is best to go prepared. It will be necessary to drive to the various sites of the Monument. The National Monument Visitors Center is located in the Tulelake Butte Valley Fairgrounds office at 800 Main Street in Tulelake, Ca. For more information, call (530) 667-8119 or go to the new website at http://www.nps.gov/tule/index.htm. The Visitors Center is open 7 days a week from 8am-5pm beginning Memorial Day weekend.

Touring the Little Shasta Valley and Montague

We went for a long afternoon drive yesterday through the Little Shasta Valley, which lies well to the east of I-5. It’s secluded and full of cattle pastures and rolling hills. We headed out because my husband was in the mood for a drive and he wanted to photograph the Little Shasta Church. The Church is very well maintained and picturesque, and quite popular for wedding. We’ve got a very striking photo of it at home, and wanted to see what we could with our own cameras. We took Harry Cash Road up from A-12, because it’s so pretty (that’s where the Mt. Shasta Lavender Farms is located). We went through the old gate and walked the lawn at the church, shooting photos and admiring the curtains of spring rain (they weren’t falling on us at the time). Then we took a little side trip into Montague for snacks and drinks at the mini mart (you can gas up here too). Then we headed back out into the Little Shasta Valley. We did a loop past the Shasta Valley Wildlife Refuge, and we surprised at the amount of water in that area and the geese floating on the shallow pools. The loop out to Hart Road brought us back to Harry Cash Road, and so back to the Church. We stopped again.

Once we stopped at the Church we decided to head off onto some side roads, and what a wonderful afternoon that made for. We drove past the old Soule Ranch, with it’s glorious 120-year old Queen Ann Victorian that, while in need of refurbishment, just pulses with life. We stopped at the Historical Marker on the corner of Soule Lane to read about Tailholt, a town started in the 1880s that survived up into the 1930s. According to the marker, Tailholt had a post office, grist mill, saloon, blacksmith shop, race track, ball field and a few houses, until it disappeared. All you see know is an open pasture where the Soule’s cattle used to graze.

Then we wandered out Willow Creek Road, passing Table Rock, Solomons Temple and Temple Rock. The road took us up and down many hills, through a narrow drainage in these hills touched with the subtle green and pick of lower growing spring grasses and flowers. We simply enjoyed being out in the spring weather, seeing the new growth of spring and exploring roads we’d never been on. There weren’t any attractions to stop for, no tourist shops or interpretive signs, just wide open country that felt remote and protected. On our way out to Airport Road we stopped to take photos of a small heard of bison, and then later we saw antelope.

We headed north, thinking about going up to Hornbrook, but turned aside at Ager-Beswick Road, which goes out to Copco Lake. We saw the marker for the old stage stop that reads “All Roads Lead to Ager” and the old Ager Hotel. Again a very hilly, remote setting; although certainly more houses out here. We turned back after awhile, not wanting to drive all the way back to the lake. We passed Shasta View Vineyards, then stopped in Montague, thinking of dinner. The Corner Club was advertising fettucino alfredo as its dinner special, and that place is always good for a steak. We thought about visiting our friends at Shepherds Dream, where we got our super comfy wool comforter, but it was late in the evening, so we headed south back to Mt. Shasta.

For any of you yearning for a nice Sunday drive (no matter what day of the week it is), I highly recommend this drive. The country is beautiful and kinda lonesome, and there is something new to see over every hilltop. Keep your eyes in the fields and hills where you’ll all kinds of beauty (and maybe some buffalo). Take a map, if you’re not the sort to trust your sense of direction and luck. We found a northern California map that has all of the little side roads on it, although a Klamath National Forest map will help too. You can find suggestions for other scenic drives in the area at VisitSiskiyou.org. If you’re doing this drive in the summer, you can even contemplate taking a road over the hills and into Butte Valley for a longer adventure (be sure you’ve got a full tank of gas for this one). It’s a wonderful thing, driving around with no destination in mind, and something we’re lacking in our fast-paced world. Sunday drives are a thing of our childhood, and it was with child-like delight that we explored the Little Shasta Valley.

“When Water Was King” tonight in Dunsmuir

Head down to Dunsmuir tonight, Thursday, March 26th, for “When Water Was King”, a presentation by historian Craig Ballenger about the 19th century resorts, like Shasta Springs and Upper Soda Springs, that peppered the Sacramento River canyon. Ballenger, a Mt. Shasta native and author, will share tales of mineral springs health resorts that touted their “restorative” waters. As many a 17 were once built along the canyon from Sims Campground, south of Dunsmuir, to the Mount Shasta City Park. Ballenger will talk about the rise of the mineral spring health movement and the local resorts that drew people north, often by train, to come partake of the health benefits of soaking in Mt. Shasta’s mineral waters. Remnants of some of those resorts can still be seen today out in the woods along the river and feeder streams.

“When Water Was King” begins at 7pm at the Brown Trout Cafe and is sponsored by the Upper Sacramento River Exchange. Come early for dinner at the Brown Trout or one of Dunsmuir’s other fabulous restaurants. If you come even earlier you can head over to Tauhindauli Park (one of the River Exhange’s projects) to walk to new trail extension heading up river. The Brown Trout is located t 5841 Sacramento Ave in downtown Dunsmuir. Admission is free.

Mytical State of Jefferson makes a comeback

Here in Northern California we are living in the mythical State of Jefferson – a dream of Southern Oregon and Northern California residents from years gone by that just won’t let go. The heyday for Jefferson was back in November of 1941 when the secession movement gained popularity and attention from major newspapers. Locals were blocking old Highway 99 to distribute info about the effort to become the 49th state and even went so far as to elect a governor of the State of Jefferson. Everything came to a halt with the attack on Pearl Harbor and the movement never regained the momentum and fever of 1941. You can read a full account of the story at the State of Jefferson website.

The idea of the State of Jefferson lives on with residents, and when traveling Siskiyou County you’ll  see the Double X seal. In Yreka, Scott Valley and Happy Camp keep an eye of for Jefferson t-shirts, hats and license plate frames for sale.

While the State of Jefferson lives on in the hearts and minds of its constituents, it does surface in the mainstream world. Siskiyoutopia recently reported on an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that is getting a lot of attention. You can read the story at SF Gate, and then head over to the State of Jefferson blog to keep up on the chatter.

For those of you not interested in the politics of the story, you can get to know the State of Jefferson as visitors. Take a look at the story “California’s State of Jefferson: Part Myth, Part Reality” that ran in RV Journal’s fall 2004 issue.

goodies & history in Yreka

Took a stroll through Yreka’s historic downtown last week to check out shops and goodies. This two-block section of town is home to the 1850s-era buildings that didn’t burn down in the Gold Rush period. Just looking at these old beauties is kind of fun, but then there are also the shops and restaurants to check out as well. I was excited to see that at the Tasty Q, which also home to the Visitors Center, they sell locally made products: sweet treats, sauces, and other goodies. You can get an ice cream cone there and sit out across the street in the City Plaza before heading into the newly opened Liberty Arts Gallery. We passed on the ice cream and stopped in at the Village Grind, where the scrumptious coffee cake and fruit smoothie were quite tasty.

Just a bit beyond those historic blocks, on the other side of the freeway, is the depot for the Blue Goose Steam Train. You can ride the train out to the old cow town of Montague on the railroad that was built in 1889 and has been in operation ever since. One of the volunteers has posted videos on YouTube – look for videos of Yreka Western Railroad by traindude109. Yreka Western Railroad host special events (like the hobo moonlight picnic in August) through the summer – go to the website for more info.

While on the tour of Yreka’s historic treasures we cruised through both the indoor and outdoor exhibits at the Siskiyou County Museum on Main Street. I got a kick out of looking into the restored buildings in the outdoor exhibit. The potatoes and gravy in the old homestead looked pretty ancient!

We finished off our tour of Yreka by taking yet another walk at Greenhorn Park, which is named after the inexperienced gold miner who made the first big strike in the area. Greenhorn is undergoing some construction right now, so you’ve got to go to the lower park to use the sweeping lawns. At the upper park you can take the trail through a short section of historic buildings and mining implements then continue walking the path down to Lower Greenhorn Park. It’s kind of fun to watch the ducks and geese who are so used to people feeding them that they always check out walkers to see what you’ve got.

You can find more about things to do on the VisitSiskiyou.org website, as well as a calendar of events that includes the Yreka and Montague area. To learn more about Yreka’s history, check out Yreka History.

Siskiyou County Museum

Upper Greenhorn Park

The Mythical State of Jefferson

The Mythical State of Jefferson in far northern California is a land of vast wilderness, wild rivers, gold country, Native American culture and rural communities characterized by a spirit of independence. Visitors to this rugged region must come prepared, for once you depart from the civilization of the Interstate 5 corridor you enter a land of independence and individuality where you can explore the territory that was almost the nation’s 49th state back in 1941.

Residents of the handful of southern Oregon and northern California counties that comprised the Jefferson Territory made several bids for secession, beginning in the 1850s. The most viable attempt came in 1941 when Jeffersonians planned to inaugurate their own governor, an event covered by the San Francisco Chronicle, The Oregonian, and four Hollywood newsreel companies as well as Life and Time magazines. The “patriotic rebellion,” as activists called it, was based on frustrations with state governments over the lack of maintained roadways in a region rich with harvestable natural resources. The attack on Pearl Harbor four days after the inauguration ended the secession movement.

Nowadays the State of Jefferson, with its sweeping tracks of wilderness and remote river canyon villages, is less of a political movement and more a cultural entity loosely defined by the independent attitude held by its residents. Despite the failure to win political independence, the would-be state has gained recognition in the hearts of residents and in a growing number of visitors to the area. The “XX” of the Great Seal of the State of Jefferson that symbolized citizens’ feelings of being double-crossed by both state governments is seen along the Byway on signs, vehicles, t-shirts and hats.

If you’re planning on coming up to the northern reaches of Siskiyou County, it’s worth it to check out the history of the State of Jefferson – that way you can decide if you want to buy a t-shirt when you come across one. The towns of Happy Camp, Klamath River, Fort Jones and Etna are likely spots for picking up some memorabilia and getting a sense for the landscape and the state of mind of this mythical state.

To learn more about the State of Jefferson, visit the official website at www.jeffersonstate.com