By Cornelia de Bruin
Triplicate staff writer
Pre-empted by a war, the State of Jefferson secession movement of 1941 continues to simmer just beneath the surface of Northern California and Southern Oregon.
Former Crescent City American publisher and long-time city resident Wally Griffin remembers the original State of Jefferson movement although, "I didn't pay a hell of a lot of attention to it in the 1940s."
That's understandable. Griffin was still in school when the State of Jefferson was proclaimed Nov. 27, voted on Dec. 4 and fizzled out after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
"The people of Northern California and Southern Oregon were being ignored like they are now," Griffin said.
Residents of the region closed the highway where Interstate 5 years later would be placed, he said.
But the burst of anger that made nationwide news and netted San Francisco Chronicle journalist Stan Delaplane a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting was hardly the first expression of local sentiment.
Nor was it the last.
Back in 1941, and to a certain extent all the way back to 1852, the people of this area have felt isolated and overlooked.
Although the shape of Jefferson has changed several times during the past 155 years, nearly all of the area's root issue remain constant.
Poor roads continue to plague the area's residents and merchants. The prices residents pay here reflect the effect of those roads roads that can't be used by larger trucks that serve the rest of Oregon and California.
The political clout of other parts of California chips away at the benefits that could come here.
The refusal of California Transportation Commission members to allocate $177 million to build a bypass at Willits to improve U.S. Hwy. 101 Feb. 26 is just one recent example, say today's State of Jefferson supporters. The money was diverted because of pressure put on the commission from a group of Bay Area leaders, according to information from State Assemblywoman Patty Berg, whose constituency includes Del Norters.
California's thirsty, large cities to the south have taken, and want more, water from the northern counties' mountains.
"They want to put a dam at Happy Camp," said Yreka businessman Terry Brown, who's involved with the present State of Jefferson movement. "Southern California controls the rest of the state; they want water, and they don't care about us."
Brown is quiet about the specifics of his involvement with the current movement, but predicts Southern California's growing water needs will act like a big lever, tipping State of Jefferson proponents into action.
"When that day comes, this area will rise up," Brown said. "People will be notified in advance."
How many people?
"Some Senate and Assembly
people know about it and support it," Brown said. "When it happens, several thousand will block the freeway."
Although he's coy about the source of his information, Brown is sure that the "proper moment" will come "when the state pushes people over the edge."
Some proponents, he added, are helping to fund the movement. Others are supporters, and include people statewide and at the federal level.
"The inspiration for it still exists," Ashland, Ore., owner Alan Mitchell said. "I could go for 51 states, we get two congressmen."
Mitchell owns Home by the Sea bed and breakfast.
"It's always in the back of our minds, but I haven't seen anything political," said newly re-elected Siskiyou County Commissioner Marcia Armstrong.
She said that whenever a new rule is passed without Northern California input, it's like rubbing salt into an old wound.
"Our timber industry is in the tank, they want to take down our dams, car insurance is affected, we're paying for Southern California," Armstrong said.
She added that her county's fire department is run with volunteers who pay for their own training.
"More regulations make it harder to afford," she said. "Benefits from cradle to grave doesn't mean much to independent people."
The recent loss of Secure Roads and Schools funds from the federal government is but another hard blow.
"They're oblivious to what they cause," Armstrong said.
State of Jefferson's original emblem, a placer mining pan marked with two XX's on it to signify a double cross, pertained to road issues.
The list of complaints is much longer now.
"They don't appreciate the realities of life in rural areas," Armstrong said. "We don't get the services we're being taxed for, there's a lack of attention to what we need."
She and others make a good case for their argument.
Siskiyou County residents, like those in Del Norte and Curry counties, are all impacted by many of the same issues.
As Armstrong summed up, "There should be basic values, and people should be able to reflect the values in their own communities. California is too big and unwieldy for one government."
Timeline
1852: Concept of a State of
Jefferson first introduced at the
California Legislature at Vallejo. The
bill containing it died in committee
Dec. 19, 1853: The Daily Alta
California, of San Francisco,
editorialized about the need for a
new state made up of Northern
California and Southern Oregon. It
was to be called the State of
Klamath.
1854: A proposal to form a
new territory called the State of
Jackson was considered during a
meeting. The meeting resulted in
calls for a general convention to
organize the new territory.
1854-55: California Legislature
considered a plan to trisect the
state. The Assembly approved the
plan, but the Senate didn't.
1859: Yrekans persuaded
Assemblyman W.F. Watkins to
introduce a bill allowing residents
north of the 40th parallel to with
draw from the state. The U.S.
Congress rejects an act allowing
the split.
1877-78: California proposes
revising its constitution to create a
State of Shasta. The measure fails.
1909: Southern Oregonians
proposed the State of Jefferson, but
the movement didn't grow.
1941: Gilbert E. Gable, Port
Orford, Ore., led a delegation of
Curry Countians into county court
Oct. 2 to present arguments for four
southern Oregon and three
northern California counties to join.
The judge appointed a committee to
study the formation of the new
state: Curry, Josephine, Jackson
and Klamath Counties of Oregon,
and Del Norte, Siskiyou and Modoc
counties of California. Curry
County's proposal to become part
of California did not impress that
state's Gov. Culbert Olson, who told
its leaders they would need consent
from the U.S. Congress, both
state's legislatures and a majority
approval of Oregonians to do so.
Nov. 17 1941: At a meeting in
Yreka, the original promoters of
secession met with representatives
of Del Norte and Siskiyou counties
to talk about the six-county alliance. Yreka's Chamber of Commerce
voted to investigate the possibility,
and put forth the name
Mittelwestcoastia. The Siskiyou
News held a naming contest,
choosing Jefferson for the proposed
state. Yreka was chosen as the
state capital, and its symbol, a
mining pan etched with a double
cross, was created.
Nov. 27, 1941: State of Jefferson's
Proclamation of Independence was
sent to the California governor, and
members of a Yreka civic club
began stopping traffic at the
Oregon/California border and
handing out handbills and
windshields.
Nov. 28, 1941: Lassen County
joined the secession movement.
Dec. 4, 1941: Elections
commenced as newsreel
companies filmed the proceedings.
Judge John L. Childs of Crescent
City in Del Norte County was
elected governor. Films were to be
released Dec. 8.
Dec. 7, 1941: The Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbor, sounding the
end of the secessionist movement.
1956: The State of Shasta
movement was proposed, but died
after 30 days.
1971: Josephine County
Commissioner Kenneth W. Jackson
restarts the State of Jefferson
movement, with plans to involve
Siskiyou and Del Norte counties
with Coos, Curry, Douglas,
Jackson, Josephine and Klamath
counties in Oregon.
1991: State of Jefferson bumper
stickers commemorate the 50-year
mark.
SOURCE: Siskiyou County Museum
State of Jefferson Proclamation of Independence
You are now entering Jefferson, the 49th State of the Union.
Jefferson is now in patriotic rebellion against the States of California and Oregon.
This State has seceded from California and Oregon this Thursday, November 27, 1941.
Patriotic Jeffersonians intend to secede each Thursday until further notice.
For the next hundred miles as you drive along Highway 99, you are traveling parallel to the greatest copper belt in the far West, seventy-five miles west of here.
The United States government needs this vital mineral. But gross neglect by California and Oregon deprives us of necessary roads to bring out the copper ore.
If you don't believe this, drive down the Klamath River Highway and see for yourself. Take your chains, shovel and dynamite.
Until California and Oregon build a road into the copper country, Jefferson, as a defense minded state, will be forced to rebel each Thursday and act as a separate State.
State of Jefferson Citizens Committee
Temporary State Capitol, Yreka
