Modoc County () is a county located in the far northeastern corner of the U.S. state of California. Its population was 8,700 as of the 2020 census, down from 9,686 from the 2010 census. This makes it California's third-least-populous county. The county seat and only incorporated city is Alturas. Previous County seats include Lake City and Centerville. The county borders Nevada and Oregon. Much of Modoc County is federal land. Several federal agencies, including the United States Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, have employees assigned to the area, and their operations are a significant part of its economy and services. The county's official slogans include "The last best place" and "Where the West still lives".
History Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the region, varying cultures of Native Americans inhabited the county for thousands of years. At the time of European encounter, the Modoc people lived in what is now northern California, near Lost River and Tule Lake. The county was named after them. The Achomawi (or Pit River Indians, for which the Pit River is named), and the Paiute also lived in the area. To the north were the Klamath in present-day Oregon.
The first European explorers to visit Modoc County were the American John C. Frémont and his traveling party (including Kit Carson) in 1846, who had departed from Sutter's Fort near the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers (where Sacramento stands today).
The northern boundary of California, and eventually Modoc County, had been established as the 42nd parallel since the time of Mexican possession. In the absence of a reliable survey of the 120th meridian, the eastern boundary of northern California was a subject of contention before Modoc County formed. The Territory of Utah requested jurisdiction to the summit of the Sierra Nevada. At the time, the Warner Mountains were believed to be a part of the Sierra Nevada, so this would have included Surprise Valley, but California denied the request.
In 1856, the residents of Honey Lake Valley reckoned the 120th meridian to be west of their valley, placing them in Utah territory, and attempted to secede and form a territory they called Nataqua. Nataqua would have included Modoc County. In 1858, the Territory of Nevada, with its capital now in Carson City, seceded from Utah, and assumed jurisdiction to the summit of the Sierra Nevada until the 120th meridian was surveyed in 1863. After Nevada was granted statehood in 1864, the region of current Modoc County was placed within jurisdiction of Shasta County, California, and Siskiyou County was, in turn, generated from Shasta County in 1852.
Increasing traffic on the emigrant trail, unprovoked militia raids on innocent Modoc, and a cycle of retaliatory raids increased a cycle of violence between settlers and the tribes in the area. In 1864, the Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin band of the Shoshone signed a treaty ceding lands in both Oregon and California, and the tribes were colocated on the Klamath Reservation. Harassed by the Klamath, traditional competitors, a band of Modoc led by Captain Jack returned to California and the Tule Lake area.
The Modoc War or Lava Beds War of 1872–73 brought nationwide attention to the Modoc. From strong defensive positions in the lava tubes, 52 Modoc warriors held off hundreds of US Army forces, who called in artillery to help. Peace talks in 1873 stalled when the Modoc wanted their own reservation in California. Warriors urged killing the peace commissioners, thinking the Americans would then leave, and Captain Jack and others shot and killed General Edward Canby and Rev. Eleazer Thomas, as well as wounding others. More Army troops were called in to lay siege to Captain Jack's Stronghold. Dissension arose, and some Modoc surrendered. Finally, most were captured, and those responsible for the assassinations were tried and executed. More than 150 Modoc were transported to Indian Territory as prisoners of war. The area has since been designated the Lava Beds National Monument.
Settlement of the county began in earnest in the 1870s, with the timber, gold, agriculture, and railroad industries bringing most of the settlers into the area. The county was a crossroads for the Lassen Applegate Trail, which brought settlers north from Nevada to the Oregon Trail and south to trails leading into California's central valley. Early settlers included the Dorris, Belli, Essex, Scherer, Trumbo, Flournoy, Polander, Rice and Campbell families.
Modoc County was formed when Governor Newton Booth signed an Act of the California Legislature on February 17, 1874, after residents of the Surprise Valley region lobbied for the creation of a new county from eastern Siskiyou County land. The county residents considered naming the newly formed county after Canby, whom the Modoc had killed the previous year in an ambush at peace talks. The name Summit was also considered, but the populace eventually settled on Modoc. The war was over and 153 of Captain Jack's band had been transported to Indian Territory as prisoners.
The Dorris Bridge post office opened in 1871 and was renamed Dorrisville in 1874. Due to its central location, it became the county seat when Modoc County formed that year, although both Adin and Cedarville were larger towns. In 1876, it was renamed Alturas, Spanish for "The Heights". The 1880 census showed a population of 148. Settlement continued for the next 20 years, until the city was officially incorporated on September 16, 1901 (the county's only incorporated city).
During World War II, the US government developed several thousand acres just south of Newell as a Japanese American internment camp. Tule Lake War Relocation Center was the site of temporary exile for thousands of Japanese-American citizens, who lost most of their businesses and properties where they had formerly lived in coastal areas. A historical marker marks the site along California State Route 139 in Newell. Tule Lake was the largest of the "segregation camps." On November 8, 2005, Senator Dianne Feinstein called for the camp to be designated a National Historic Landmark. In December 2008 President George W. Bush designated it one of nine sites to be part of the new World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, now the Tule Lake National Monument.
Geography According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Modoc County spans a total area of , of which is land, with (6.8%) water. There are 2.25 persons per square mile, making Modoc one of the least-populated counties in the state of California. In terms of its county lines, Modoc is one of the only nearly-rectangular counties in California; a slight deviation occurs around the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
Geologically, Modoc County is quite unique. The area's tumultuous seismic past has set the stage for a productive, diverse regional ecology today; a rich soil composition, largely created by ancient volcanoes dispersing vast amounts of minerals, stands out from the typically bland, clay-heavy terrain common in the American west. To the northwest of the county lies Medicine Lake—the largest shield volcano on the U.S. West Coast—and Lava Beds National Monument. In west Modoc County is the massive Glass Mountain, another ancient lava flow. The southwestern quadrant of the county is a unique ecosystem of isolated hardwoods (oaks) and volcanic mountains with intermountain river valleys.
The northern half of the county is primarily the Modoc Plateau, a expanse of lava flows, cinder cones, juniper flats, pine forests and seasonal lakes, including the alkaline waters of Goose Lake. Nearly of the Modoc National Forest lie on the plateau between Medicine Lake, to the west, and the Warner Mountains, to the east.
A great diversity of plants are found in Modoc County. As it is situated within the biodiverse California Floristic Province, many native trees are found in the county, including Garry oak (Quercus garryana) and Washoe pine (Pinus washoensis).C. Michael Hogan, Quercus kelloggii , Globaltwitcher, 2008 Pinus jeffreyi and P. ponderosa (the Jeffrey and ponderosa pines, respectively) are also found in substantial groves. The rich plant life supports substantial populations of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus canadensis) and pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), as well as several herds of feral horses (Equus ferus). Clear Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Long Bell State Game Refuge are located on the plateau, as well. The Lost River, which later drains into the Klamath River basin, drains the northern part of the plateau; southern watersheds either collect in basin reservoirs or flow into the Big Sage Reservoir, in the center of the county (which later flows into the Pit River).
Below the rim of the plateau, in the extreme southwest corner of the county, are Big Valley and Warm Springs Valley, which form the bottom of the Pit River watershed that flows through the county. The Pit River's northern and southern forks come together just south of Alturas; the river collects hundreds of other small creeks on its trajectory south towards Shasta Lake, where it joins the Sacramento River and ultimately drains into San Francisco Bay. The eastern edge of the county is dominated by the Warner Mountains. The Pit River originates in this mountain range. Hundreds of alpine lakes dot the range, all of which are fed by snowmelt and natural springs. East of the Warner Range is Surprise Valley and the western edge of the Great Basin.
Hot springs and lava caves are unique to Modoc County. There is potential for some geothermal energy resources in the county, though the viability is highly variable.
Adjacent counties Klamath County, Oregon - north Lake County, Oregon - north Washoe County, Nevada - east Lassen County - south Shasta County - southwest Siskiyou County - west
National protected areas Clear Lake National Wildlife Refuge Lava Beds National Monument (part) Modoc National Forest (part) Shasta National Forest (part) Modoc National Wildlife Refuge (part) Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge (part) Tule Lake Unit, World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument (part)
Demographics Racial and ethnic composition +Modoc County, California – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 1980Pop 1990Pop 2000Pop 2010 Pop 2020% 1980% 1990% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)7,8548,4797,6637,6496,44691.22%87.61%81.10%78.97%74.09%Black or African American alone (NH)14785977660.16%0.81%0.62%0.79%0.76%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)3463783402933874.02%3.91%3.60%3.02%4.45%Asian alone (NH)24355870610.28%0.36%0.61%0.72%0.70%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)x included in the Asian category in the 1980 Censusx included in the Asian category in the 1990 Census721130.07%0.22%0.07%0.22%0.15%Other race alone (NH)1672614560.19%0.07%0.28%0.14%0.64%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)x not an option in the 1980 Censusx not an option in the 1990 Census208220412xx2.20%2.27%4.74%Hispanic or Latino (any race)3567011,0881,3421,2594.13%7.24%11.51%13.86%14.47%Total8,6109,6789,4499,6868,700 100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%100.00%
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 8,700. The median age was 48.7 years. 20.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 26.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 99.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 99.9 males age 18 and over.
0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 3,732 households in the county, of which 26.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 26.2% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 31.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.