In 1941 there were rural counties in northern California and southern Oregon who felt they were unfairly represented in their respective state capitals. These rural areas gained most of their income off of fishing and lumber. The structure of roads and bridges was poor thus leading to the opinion that state monies were unfairly distributed. They decided to break away and form their own state to improve transportation to remote areas and improve life styles. So the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors in Yreka, Ca. decided to look in to the possibility of forming a 49th state. The state would consist of Siskiyou, Modoc and Del Norte counties in California and Curry, Josephine and Jackson Counties in Oregon. The supervisors voted to allocate $100.00 to investigate the possibility.
The Siskiyou County Chamber of Commerce ran a contest for naming the new state. Some of the proposed names for the new state were “mittelwestcoastia, “Orofino”, “Bonanza”, “Curiskiyou”, “New West”, “New Hope”, and “Discontent.” In the end the name “Jefferson” won.
A state of Jefferson Citizens committee was formed. Each Thursday, committee members would go out to highway 99 where the so-called boundaries were and cover up all the signs with sheets that said “State of Jefferson”. They even set up roadblocks and committee members rode around on horses with guns handing out copies of The Proclamation of Independence. They had windshield stickers that read, ”I have visited the state of Jefferson. Then they would let the visitor pass.
The citizens really got up in arms when the Siskiyou Daily News ran an article stating that a California legislator actually spoke on the assembly floor saying that the northern counties still bartered with bear claws and eagle beaks. So On November 3, 1941, Yreka was declared the temporary state capital and the State of Jefferson seal was created. The seal was a miners pan etched with a double cross. The double- cross signaled the amount of double -crossing that they had received from Sacramento.
The story gets better and more colorful. More on this in my next article.
