THE STATE OF JEFFERSON ---------------------- ----------- ---- IN APRIL, 1959, A GROUP OF CITIZENS IN KLAMATH COUNTY, OREGON DISPATCHED TELEGRAMS TO WASHINGTON, D. C. AND TO THE CAPITOLS OF OREGON AND CALIFORNIA ANNOUNCING THE RE-FORMATION OF THE STATE OF JEFFERSON. SIMULTANEOUSLY, THEY ANNOUNCED THE "ELECTION" OF A GOVERNOR, THE ESTABLISHMENT OF KLAMATH FALLS AS STATE CAPITAL, AND THE APPOINTMENT OF A STATE MILITIA. IMMEDIATELY , MOCK-SERIOUS HOWLS OF PROTEST RESOUNDED FROM EVERY HAMLET IN THE STATE OF JEFFERSON -- EACH CLAIMING TO HAVE AS VALID REASONS FOR BEING THE CENTER OF GOVERN- MENT AS KLAMATH FALLS; SCORES OF ASPIRING "GOVERNORS" CRIED THAT THE ELECTION HAD BEEN RIGGED, AND THE AUTHORITY OF THE MILITIA WAS SERIOUSLY QUESTIONED. ONE THING EVERYONE INVOLVED DID AGREE ON, HOWEVER -- THE STATE OF JEFFERSON - DOES - EXIST, ALTHOUGH IT IS ADMITTEDLY MORE A STATE OF MIND THAN A PHYSICAL STATE. THE FIRST RECORDED "REBELLION" OF JEFFERSONIANS WAS QUITE SERIOUS. IN 1852, AT THE FIRST CALIFORNIA STATE LEGISLATURE . A BILL WAS INTROD- UCED TO CREATE A "STATE OF SHASTA", ENCOMPASSING MUCH OF OHE AREA WHICH IS NOW JEFFERSON. MOTIVATIONS FOR THIS MOVE WERE VARIOUS. EARLY SETTLERS WERE IMPRESSED BY THE REGION'S ABILITY TO SUSTAIN ITSELF ON ITS OWN NATURAL RESOURCES, BUT WERE DISTRESSED BY HIGH TAXES AND THE LACK OF MILITARY AID FROM SACRAMENTO AND THE TERRITORIAL CAPITAL IN OREGON. EVEN THOUGH PART OF THE AREA WAS IN OREGON TERRITORY, MEN FROM BOTH SIDE OF THE SISKIYOUS HAD FOUGHT TOGETHER IN THE INDIAN WARS AND HAD A COMMON BOND BETWEEN THEM. FURTHERVMRE, FEW PEOPLE COULD AGREE WHERE THE CALIFORNIA-OREGON BOUNDARY WAS ANYWAY. THE STATE OF SHASTA BILL DIED IN LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE -- BUT ONLY BECAUSE OF PRESSURE OF OTHER BUSINESS AT THE SESSION! A SIMILAR ATTEMPT TO FORM A NEW STATE WAS MADE THE FOLLOWING YEAR -- THIS TIME AS THE "STATE OF KLAMATH". THIS ATTEMPT WAS INTERRUPTED BY OHE MORE SERIOUS BUSINESS OF KEEPING FROM GETTING KILLED BY THE INDIANS. THE NORTHWEST TRIBES WERE ON THE WARPATH. IN 1854, SEPARATE-STATE AGITATION BEGAN AGAIN, CENTERED PRIMARILY IN SOUTHERN OREGON. VARIOUSLY CALLED "JACKSON TERRITORY" AND THE "STATE OF JACKSON", THIS DREAM-STATE WAS BORN OF THE DESIRE OF SOME CITIZENS (MANY OF WHOM HAD MIGRATED FROM SOUTHERN STATES) TO FORM A SLAVE STATE AND SECEDE FROM THE UNION. A MEMORIAL ADVOCATING THE ES- TABLISHMENT OF SUCH A STATE WAS ACTUALLY PRESENTED IN CONGRESS AND AGITATION CONTINUED UNTIL OREGON STATEHOOD WAS GRANTED IN 1859. A FEW YEARS LATER, A MOVEMENT WAS BEGUN TO ESTABLISH A "COOS TERRITORY" BY COASTAL TOWNS, BUT THIS "INSURRECTION" NEVER WENT BEYOND THE DISCUSSION STAGE. STATE OF JEFFERSON BORN --------------------- ---------- -- UNLIKE THESE EARLY MOVEMENTS, "REBELLIONS" IN THE 20TH CENTURY HAVE BEEN LARGELY TONGUE-IN-CHEEK AFFAIRS, BUT NEVERTHELESS HAVE HAD -- AND HAVE SERVED -- THEIR PURPOSE. THE MAJOR "UPRISING- CAME IN 1935 AND IT WAS THEN THAT THE STATE OF JEFFERSON WAS BORN. CITIZENS OF THE REGION BEGAN TO WONDER IF THEY WERE GETTING FROM THEIR RESPECTIVE STATES AS MUCH AS THEY WERE GIVING. LACK OF GOOD HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENTS THAT LEAD JOHN L. CHILDS OF CRESCENT CITY, CALIFORNIA TO "OFFICIALLY" FORM THE STATE OF JEFFERSON, GET HIMSELF ELECTED GOVERNOR, AND PUT ON A MOCK-SERIOUS CAMPAIGN FOR STATEHOOD. "GOVERNOR" CHILDS NAMED THE STATE FOR THOMAS JEFFERSON, THE PRES- IDENT WHO FIRST ENVISIONED THE BOUNDARIES OF THE NATION EXTENDING TO THE PACIFIC COAST. HIS EXTENDED PROMOTION OF THE IDEA OF A SEPARATE STATE WAS SO SUCCESSFUL THAT IT IS CREDITED IN LARGE PART FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT OF GREAT IMPROVEMENTS IN TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES. IN 1941, AROUSED BY THE POOR STATE OF HIGHWAYS IN THEIR AREA, AND ENTHUSIASTICALLY CHEERED BY THEIR NEIGHBORS, A GROUP OF YREKA PEOPLE DREW NATIONAL ATTENTION BY SETTING UP ROADBLOCKS ACROSS U. S. HIGHWAY 99 AND COLLECTING TOLLS FROM TRAVELLERS "CROSSING THE STATE LINE". IT WAS THIS GROUP WHICH CREATED THE"GREAT SEAL OF THE STATE OF JEFFERSON" --- A GOLD PAN WITH "XX" PAINTED ON THE BOTTOM, SYMBOLIC, THEY SAID OF JEFFERSONIANS BEING "DOUBLE-CROSSED" BY THE MOTHER STATES. AGAIN, IN 1956, GROUPS FROM CAVE JUNCTION, OREGON AND DUNSMUIR, CALIFORNIA WRECKED MINOR HAVOC IN THEIR STATE CAPITALS BY THREATENING TO SECEDE AND TAKE THE "STATE OF SHASTA" WITH THEM. QUICK ACTION ON GRIEVANCES AT THE STATE LEVEL TEMPORARILY MOLLIFIED THE AGITATORS. THE LATEST MOVEMENT DIFFERENT FROM ALL PREVIOUS ONES IN THAT IT, ACCORDING TO ITS PROPONENTS, IS AIMED NOT SO MUCH AT CALLING ATTENTION TO GREIEVANCES AS IN POINTING OUT TO THE WORLD THAT HERE, IN THE NORTHERNMOST REACHES OF CALIFORNIA AND THE SOUTHERN PART OF OREGON IS THE LAST GREAT FRONTIER OF THE PACIFIC SLOPES. ACCORDING TO ITS NEW "GOVERNOR", JEFFERSON IS "THE STATE THAT NEVER WAS AND NEVER WILL BE, BUT THAT HAS LIVED IN MEN'S MINDS FOR A HUNDRED YEARS". THE "STATE" IS A -UNTO ITSELF -- SELF-SUFFICIENT, WITH ENOUGH WATER, FISH AND WILD- LIFE, FARM AND ORCHARD LAND, MINERIAL RESOURCES -- AND GUMPTION -- TO EXIST ON ITS OWN". ITS CITIZENS ARE "ALL CITIZENS OF SOUTHERN OREGON AND NORTHERN CALIFORNIA WHOSE MINDS SEEK A SEMBLANCE OF UTOPIA ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CONFINES OF THE PRESENT GREAT STATES OF OREGON AND CALIFORNIA". EMIGRANTS OF A SIMILAR TURN OF MIND ARE ALWAYS WELCOME. PUNCHED BY W7BEG 30, OCTOBER 1961.