The State of Jefferson

The Mount Shasta area is referred to as the State of Jefferson by the local population. The concept of an individual state formed from joining northern California and southern Oregon has existed since the 1850s. Certain counties in California and Oregon decided that they were not being fairly represented by Sacramento and Salem. These counties included Siskiyou County, Del Norte County, and Modoc County, California; Curry County, Josephine County, and Jackson County in Oregon. Therefore, The State of Jefferson is a regional term that refers to southwestern Oregon and northern California.

The most notable event in the history of the region was the secession movement of 1941, which died with the attack of Pearl Harbor. Yet, in 1956, the State of Shasta was proposed that emphasize the dissatisfaction over water rights and deer hunting policies. In 1991, Assemblyman Stan Statham proposed a two-part split of California, and in 1992 he proposed a three-way split. The logo of the State of Jefferson is a gold pan and cross.

Read more here at the Official State of Jefferson Movement.

Further Reading