Yreka, California | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Downtown Yreka in 2011 | |
 Location inSiskiyou County and the state of California | |
  Yreka Location in the United States Show map of California Yreka Yreka (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Coordinates:41°43′36″N122°38′15″W / 41.72667°N 122.63750°W /41.72667; -122.63750 | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Siskiyou |
| Incorporated | April 21, 1857[1] |
| Government | |
| • Type | Council–manager[2] |
| Area | |
• Total | 10.06 sq mi (26.05 km2) |
| • Land | 9.98 sq mi (25.86 km2) |
| • Water | 0.073 sq mi (0.19 km2) 0.72% |
| Elevation | 2,589 ft (789 m) |
| Population | |
• Total | 7,827 |
| • Density | 753/sq mi (290.7/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−8 (Pacific) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−7 (PDT) |
| ZIP code | 96097 |
| Area code | 530 |
| FIPS code | 06-86944 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1652661[4] |
| Website | ci |
Yreka (/waɪˈriːkə/wy-REE-kə) is a city in and thecounty seat ofSiskiyou County, California, United States, near theShasta River; the city has an area of about 10 square miles (26 km2), most of it land. As of the2020 census, the population was 7,807, reflecting an increase from 7,765 counted in the2010 census.[7] Yreka is home to theCollege of the Siskiyous, Klamath National Forest Interpretive Museum and the Siskiyou County Museum.
In March 1851, Abraham Thompson, amule train packer, discovered gold near Rocky Gulch while traveling along theSiskiyou Trail from southern Oregon. By April 1851, 2,000 miners had arrived in "Thompson's Dry Diggings" to test their luck, and by June 1851, agold rush "boomtown" of tents, shanties, and a few rough cabins had sprung up. Several name changes occurred until the city was called Yreka. The name comes fromwáik'a, a word meaning "north mountain" or "white mountain",[8][9] the name of nearbyMount Shasta in theShasta language.[10]
Mark Twain tells a different story:
[Twain's mentor Bret]Harte had arrived in California in the [eighteen-]fifties, twenty-three or twenty-four years old, and had wandered up into the surface diggings of the camp at Yreka, a place which had acquired its mysterious name – when in its first days it much needed a name – through an accident. There was a bakeshop with a canvas sign which had not yet been put up but had been painted and stretched to dry in such a way that the word BAKERY, all but the B, showed through and was reversed. A stranger read it wrong end first, YREKA, and supposed that that was the name of the camp. The campers were satisfied with it and adopted it.[11]
In 1853–54, poetJoaquin Miller described Yreka as a bustling place with "a tide of people up and down and across other streets, as strong as if a city on the East Coast".[12] Incorporation proceedings were completed on April 21, 1857.[12]
There have been two documented lynchings in Yreka. The first took place on August 26, 1895, when four men—William Null, Garland Stemler, Luis Moreno, and Lawrence Johnson—awaiting trial for various charges of murder and robbery,[13] were simultaneously hanged by a lynch mob from a railroad tie suspended from two adjacent trees.[14][15]
The second lynching occurred on July 28, 1935. Clyde Johnson and Robert Miller Barr robbed a local business and its patrons inCastella, California.[16] They then stole a car from a patron and drove north toDunsmuir, California, where they planned to abandon the car and make a getaway by train. Soon after they abandoned the car north of Dunsmuir, they were stopped by California Highway Patrolman George "Molly" Malone and Dunsmuir honorary Chief of Police, 38-year-old Frank R. "Jack" Daw. Johnson pulled out aLuger pistol and wounded both policemen. Malone recovered, but Daw died the next day.[17] Johnson was caught a few hours later by a dragnet and taken into custody. Barr, who was holding the $35 that they obtained from the robbery, panicked during the shootout and ran off into the woods, then escaped on a freight train. Daw was a beloved figure in Dunsmuir. His title of Chief of Police was given to him because of his cool head and experience as a World War I veteran. The night of Daw's funeral a dozen cars from Dunsmuir, carrying approximately 50 masked men, drove north to Yreka to lynch Johnson. On August 3, 1935, at 1:30 a.m., the vigilante mob reached the Yreka jail and lightly knocked on the door. Deputy Marin Lange, the only guard on duty at the jail, opened the door slightly and was quickly overtaken. He was driven nine miles east of Yreka where he was released, barefoot. The mob searched the jail, found Johnson, drove him away in one of the cars and hanged him from a pine tree.[18][19] Barr was arrested over a year later, on September 4, 1936, in Los Angeles on a burglary charge.[20] During his time on the run, he secured a part as an extra in theNelson Eddy/Jeanette MacDonald filmRose Marie, scenes of which were filmed nearLake Tahoe. He is credited in the film under his real name.[21]
On November 27, 1941, a group of young men gained national media attention when, brandishing hunting rifles for dramatic effect, they stopped traffic onU.S. Route 99 south of Yreka, and handed out copies of a Proclamation of Independence, stating that the State of Jefferson was in "patriotic rebellion against the States of California and Oregon" and would continue to "secede every Thursday until further notice."[22]
The secession movement ended quickly, though not before Del Norte County District Attorney John Leon Childs of Crescent City was inaugurated as governor of the State of Jefferson on December 4, 1941.[23]
The first blow was the death of Mayor Gable on December 2, followed by theattack on Pearl Harbor on December 7. Those in favor of secession focused their efforts on the war effort, which crippled the movement.
Yreka is approximately 2,500 feet (760 m) above sea level in theShasta Valley, south of theSiskiyou Mountains and north ofMount Shasta, a 14,000 ft (4,300 m) dormant volcano that towers over the valley.
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 10.1 sq mi (26 km2), of which 10.0 square miles (26 km2) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km2) (0.72%) is water.
The official city flower of Yreka is the Yreka phlox (Phlox hirsuta).[24]
The only known specimen ofCalochortus monanthus, the single-flowered mariposa lily, was collected near Yreka along the banks of theShasta River, by botanistEdward Lee Greene, in June 1876.[25]
Nearby places include:[26]
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According to theKöppen climate classification system, Yreka qualifies as having ahot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa), but almost qualifies as having awarm-summer Mediterranean climate (Csb). The area features hot, dry summers and cool winters with regular snowfall. There is a high degree ofdiurnal temperature variation, especially in the summer.
The annual average temperature of Yreka is 53.5 °F (11.9 °C). July is the hottest month with 74.2 °F (23.4 °C), and December is the coldest month with 36.0 °F (2.2 °C). The average annual precipitation is 18.92 inches (481 mm), and the precipitation in winter (December–February) accounts for almost 48% of the whole year. The wettest "rain year" was from July 2005 to June 2006 with 32.28 inches (819.9 mm) and the driest from July 1954 to June 1955 with 7.08 inches (179.8 mm). The annual snowfall is 11.6 inches (0.29 m), which is basically concentrated from November to February of the next year.
The annual extreme temperature ranged from −11 °F (−23.9 °C) on January 20, 1937, January 22, 1937, February 2, 1950, and December 9, 1972, to 112 °F (44.4 °C) on July 16, 1925, July 17, 1925, and July 27, 1939; the record cold daily maximum is 11 °F (−11.7 °C), set on January 22, 1962, while, conversely, the record warm daily minimum is 80 °F (26.7 °C) on July 22 and 23, 1915.[27] There are 66.6 afternoons each year with the highest temperature over 90 °F (32.2 °C), 11.4 afternoons with the highest temperature over 100 °F (37.8 °C), and 142.2 mornings with the lowest temperature below 32 °F (0 °C).
| Climate data for Yreka, California (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1893–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 66 (19) | 74 (23) | 81 (27) | 96 (36) | 103 (39) | 109 (43) | 112 (44) | 110 (43) | 107 (42) | 95 (35) | 79 (26) | 66 (19) | 112 (44) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 57.6 (14.2) | 64.1 (17.8) | 72.8 (22.7) | 81.8 (27.7) | 90.8 (32.7) | 97.8 (36.6) | 103.4 (39.7) | 102.1 (38.9) | 96.8 (36.0) | 84.9 (29.4) | 69.9 (21.1) | 57.6 (14.2) | 104.7 (40.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 46.1 (7.8) | 51.7 (10.9) | 58.1 (14.5) | 64.3 (17.9) | 73.9 (23.3) | 82.9 (28.3) | 93.0 (33.9) | 92.2 (33.4) | 84.4 (29.1) | 69.7 (20.9) | 53.9 (12.2) | 44.9 (7.2) | 67.9 (19.9) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 36.7 (2.6) | 40.4 (4.7) | 45.2 (7.3) | 50.4 (10.2) | 58.6 (14.8) | 65.8 (18.8) | 74.2 (23.4) | 73.0 (22.8) | 65.7 (18.7) | 53.7 (12.1) | 42.5 (5.8) | 36.0 (2.2) | 53.5 (11.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 27.3 (−2.6) | 29.0 (−1.7) | 32.3 (0.2) | 36.5 (2.5) | 43.4 (6.3) | 48.6 (9.2) | 55.4 (13.0) | 53.8 (12.1) | 46.9 (8.3) | 37.7 (3.2) | 31.2 (−0.4) | 27.1 (−2.7) | 39.1 (3.9) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | 14.6 (−9.7) | 18.2 (−7.7) | 21.5 (−5.8) | 24.2 (−4.3) | 29.4 (−1.4) | 35.7 (2.1) | 43.4 (6.3) | 43.1 (6.2) | 35.2 (1.8) | 26.0 (−3.3) | 19.0 (−7.2) | 14.0 (−10.0) | 10.6 (−11.9) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −11 (−24) | −11 (−24) | 12 (−11) | 17 (−8) | 20 (−7) | 26 (−3) | 34 (1) | 33 (1) | 20 (−7) | 7 (−14) | 1 (−17) | −11 (−24) | −11 (−24) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 3.28 (83) | 2.17 (55) | 1.84 (47) | 1.30 (33) | 1.32 (34) | 0.74 (19) | 0.51 (13) | 0.31 (7.9) | 0.41 (10) | 1.14 (29) | 2.19 (56) | 3.71 (94) | 18.92 (481) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 4.3 (11) | 2.6 (6.6) | 0.4 (1.0) | 0.2 (0.51) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 1.5 (3.8) | 2.6 (6.6) | 11.6 (29) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.01 inch) | 13.2 | 9.9 | 11.1 | 8.8 | 8.0 | 4.3 | 2.9 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 5.0 | 10.6 | 12.8 | 90.6 |
| Average snowy days(≥ 0.1 inch) | 1.9 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 6.6 |
| Source: NOAA[27][28] | |||||||||||||
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | 1,327 | — | |
| 1870 | 1,063 | −19.9% | |
| 1880 | 1,059 | −0.4% | |
| 1890 | 1,100 | 3.9% | |
| 1900 | 1,254 | 14.0% | |
| 1910 | 1,134 | −9.6% | |
| 1920 | 1,277 | 12.6% | |
| 1930 | 2,126 | 66.5% | |
| 1940 | 2,485 | 16.9% | |
| 1950 | 3,227 | 29.9% | |
| 1960 | 4,759 | 47.5% | |
| 1970 | 5,394 | 13.3% | |
| 1980 | 5,916 | 9.7% | |
| 1990 | 6,948 | 17.4% | |
| 2000 | 7,290 | 4.9% | |
| 2010 | 7,765 | 6.5% | |
| 2020 | 7,807 | 0.5% | |
| 2024 (est.) | 7,686 | [29] | −1.5% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[30] | |||
The2020 United States census reported that Yreka had a population of 7,807. The population density was 781.9 inhabitants per square mile (301.9/km2). The racial makeup of Yreka was 72.3%White, 0.9%African American, 9.0%Native American, 1.9%Asian, 0.1%Pacific Islander, 3.3% fromother races, and 12.5% from two or more races.Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.3% of the population.[31]
The census reported that 97.9% of the population lived in households, 0.9% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 1.2% were institutionalized.[31]
There were 3,368 households, out of which 27.3% included children under the age of 18, 35.3% were married-couple households, 8.5% werecohabiting couple households, 36.3% had a female householder with no partner present, and 19.9% had a male householder with no partner present. 36.8% of households were one person, and 19.5% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.27.[31] There were 1,881families (55.8% of all households).[32]
The age distribution was 22.9% under the age of 18, 7.2% aged 18 to 24, 23.3% aged 25 to 44, 23.9% aged 45 to 64, and 22.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.9 males.[31]
There were 3,668 housing units at an average density of 367.4 units per square mile (141.9 units/km2), of which 3,368 (91.8%) were occupied. Of these, 50.8% were owner-occupied, and 49.2% were occupied by renters.[31]
In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that 1.7% of the population were foreign-born. Of all people aged 5 or older, 92.4% spoke only English at home, 6.5% spokeSpanish, 0.7% spoke otherIndo-European languages, 0.2% spoke Asian or Pacific Islander languages, and 0.3% spoke other languages. Of those aged 25 or older, 89.0% were high school graduates and 19.4% had a bachelor's degree.[33]
The median household income was $42,664, and theper capita income was $29,389. About 17.4% of families and 22.0% of the population were below the poverty line.[34]
West Miner Street-Third Street District | |
 West Miner Street in Yreka | |
| Built | 1854–1900 |
|---|---|
| NRHP reference No. | 72000258[35] |
| CHISL No. | 901[36] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | December 11, 1972 |
| Designated CHISL | 1976 |
Tourists visit Yreka because it is at the northern edge of theShasta Cascade area ofnorthern California. The core of the historic downtown, along West Miner Street, is listed as a historic district on theNational Register of Historic Places, as well as aCalifornia Historical Landmark. Yreka is home to the Siskiyou County Museum[38] and a number of Gold Rush-era monuments and parks. Visitors also come to enjoy trout fishing in the nearbyKlamath,[39]Sacramento[40][41] andMcCloud[39][40] Rivers, or to see and climbMount Shasta,Castle Crags or theTrinity Alps. Visitors also ski (both alpine and cross-country), or bike or hike to the waterfalls, streams and lakes in the area, including nearby Falls of the McCloud River,Burney Falls,Mossbrae Falls,Lake Siskiyou,Castle Lake andShasta Lake.
The town hosts Gold Rush Days every year in June.
In addition, because it is the county seat of Siskiyou County, a number of businesses related to thecounty courts, county recorder, and other official county functions are in the city.Butte Valley National Grassland is in northern Siskiyou County, near the Oregon border, but is administered from Yreka offices.[42][43]
In thestate legislature Yreka is inthe 1st senatorial district, represented byRepublican Megan Dahle,[44] andthe 1st Assembly district, represented byRepublican Heather Hadwick.[45]
Federally, Yreka is inCalifornia's 1st congressional district, seat currentlyvacant.[46]
Yreka is home to a branch campus of the College of the Siskiyous[47] which hosts the Rural Health Science Institute[48] and Administration of Justice programs. The college is one of 10 California community colleges to offer on-campus housing.[49] High-school buses carry students from towns that would not otherwise be able to fund a secondary education.
In Yreka, the gold-mining era is commemorated with a gold museum, as well as with a remnant of a silver mining operation in Greenhorn Park. The Yreka Union High School District sports mascot is a gold miner. School colors are red and gold. Yreka High School was the first high school in the county, founded in 1894. It has 11 feeder districts that serve the approximately 1,200 square miles (3,100 km2) county area.[50]
The Yreka elementary school district is composed of Evergreen Elementary as well as the Jackson Street Middle School.
Interstate 5 is the primary north–south route through Yreka, connectingRedding andSacramento to the south and theOregon border to the north. Interstate 5 through the city follows the former path of theSiskiyou Trail, which stretched from California'sCentral Valley to Oregon'sWillamette Valley.[52]
California State Route 3 runs east toMontague, and west toFort Jones andWeaverville.California State Route 263 serves as a business loop of Interstate 5 through the northern part of the city.
General aviation uses theMontague Airport inMontague, 6 miles (9.7 km) to the east.
Siskiyou transit (STAGE), Route 1 – Cascade Flyer (Express), services Yreka 3 times daily going thruMt Shasta andDunsmuir.
"Yreka Bakery" is apalindrome. The loss of the "B" in a bakery sign read from the reverse is mentioned as a possible source of the name Yreka in Mark Twain's autobiography.[11][68] The original Yreka Bakery was founded in 1856 by baker Frederick Deng.[69] The palindrome was recognized early on: "spell Yreka Bakery backwards and you will know where to get a good loaf of bread" is quoted as an ad in the May 23, 1863, YrekaSemi-Weekly Journal and states that 12 loaves cost $1 (~$26.00 in 2024).[69] The Yreka Bakery moved eventually to its longtime location, 322 West Miner Street, where it remained under several ownerships until it closed in 1965 on retirement of the baker "Martin", and clerk Alta Hudson.[citation needed] Another Yreka Bakery opened in a different location in 1974,[69] but is no longer in business.[70] AuthorMartin Gardner mentioned that Yreka Bakery was in business on West Miner Street in Yreka,[71]: 246 but it was pointed out by readers "the Yreka Bakery no longer existed. In 1970 the original premises were occupied by the art store Yrella Gallery, also a palindrome".[71]: 251 The historic Brown-Nickell-Authenrieth Building, 322–324 West Miner Street, houses a restaurant.[72]
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Municipalities and communities ofSiskiyou County, California,United States | ||
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| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Indian reservation | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
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| Other | |
