Nataqua Territory

Nataqua Territory
Nataqua Territory
Unofficial territory
	The Nataqua territory covered the deserts of western Nevada.
	By implication the east slope of the Sierra Nevada was intended to be part of Nataqua Territory
	Coordinates: 40°15′N118°30′W / 40.25°N 118.5°W Coordinates: 40°15′N118°30′W / 40.25°N 118.5°W
Proclaimed	April 26, 1856
Subsumed	March 1861

Last updated April 16, 2023

The Nataqua Territory was a short-lived, unofficial territory of the United States. It consisted of a portion of what is now northeastern California and northwestern Nevada. Nataqua Territory was the first incarnation of the proposed "State of Jefferson". In 1849, the border between California and the Utah Territory was defined by geographical coordinates that were not surveyed.^[1] On April 26, 1856, local residents took advantage of this ambiguity and justified their resistance to tax collectors from Plumas County, California, by proclaiming themselves part of a new "Territory of Nataqua." The twenty men of the Susanville convention who announced the Nataqua Territory had defined a rectangle-shaped territory by latitude and longitude, which inadvertently did not include their own Honey Lake Valley but did encompass most of what soon became western Nevada, along with 600 unsuspecting inhabitants.^[2] The Territory of Nataqua was a frontier land club or claim association, designed to protect the property rights of individual settlers until regular government reached the area.^[3] The movement was led by Peter Lassen and Isaac Roop.^[4] Association with the Utah Territory was unpalatable to the residents due to anti-Mormonism.

By 1857 the leaders of Honey Lake were working in close co-operation with other settlers on the eastern slope, in the movement centered in Carson Valley for the severance of the political ties of Utah and California and the creation of a new territory along the western rim of the interior plateau.^[2] During these years of self-government, Honey Lake Valley, though officially organized as a California township, was mostly left alone by the Plumas County officials. The uncertainty of the boundary and the possibility that the eastern slope would be detached from California and added to a new territory encouraged them to hold off their jurisdiction over the area. The "on-the-fence" status of Honey Lake Valley is one of the principal reasons that the settlers were able to maintain a spirit of independence.^[2] The separatist spirit of settlers in the adjoining areas of Honey Lake Valley, Carson Valley, Eagle Valley and several others led to a joint declaration of independence from Eastern Utah in July, 1859. Isaac Roop was chosen as governor of the "Provisional Territorial Government of Nevada Territory" in September and took the oath of office on December 13, 1859.^[2]

In March 1861, Congress created the official Territory of Nevada, with the Honey Lake Valley and the area to its north included within its provisional bounds.^[2] Later that year, Lake County was formed encompassing the area of the Nataqua Territory. It was renamed Roop County, Nevada in 1862. However, in 1863 a border survey found Susanville (which was named for Roop's daughter) and virtually all the population of Roop County was actually in California. The California portion of Roop County became part of the newly created Lassen County, California in 1864.

Related Research Articles

Lassen County is a county in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,730. The county seat and only incorporated city is Susanville. Lassen County comprises the Susanville, California, micropolitan statistical area. A former farming, mining and lumber area, its economy now depends on employment at one federal and two state prisons; the former in Herlong and the latter two in Susanville. In 2007, half the adults in Susanville worked in one of the facilities.

Modoc County is a county in the far northeast corner of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 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.

The Territory of Nevada (N.T.) was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until October 31, 1864, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Nevada.

Fredonyer Pass, elevation 5,751 feet (1,753 m), is a high mountain pass in Lassen County, California, southwest of Susanville and southeast of Mount Lassen. It lies on the Great Basin Divide between the Feather River to the west and the Susan River and Honey Lake to the east.

The Susan River is a northeastern California river of approximately 67 miles (108 km) length that drains from an arid plateau of volcanic highlands along the Great Basin Divide to intermittent Honey Lake. The river flows from eastern Lassen County from east of Lassen Volcanic National Park generally east past Susanville and emerging into a ranching valley to enter the north end of Honey Lake. Along with Fredonyer Pass, the Susan River is the northern boundary of the Sierra Nevada.

Eastern California is a region defined as either the strip to the east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada or as the easternmost counties of California.

Roop County, known until 1862 as Lake County, was a county of Nevada Territory in the United States from 1861 until 1864. It was created in 1861 as one of the original nine counties of Nevada. In 1864 it was succeeded by Lassen County, California and Washoe County, Nevada.

Peter Lassen, later known in Spanish as Don Pedro Lassen, was a Danish-born Californian ranchero and gold prospector. Born in Denmark, Lassen immigrated at age 30 to Massachusetts, before eventually finally moving to California. In California, Lassen became a Mexican citizen and received the vast Rancho Bosquejo from Governor Manuel Micheltorena. He is best known as the eponym of Lassen County, California, Lassen Peak, and Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Lassen National Forest is a United States national forest of 1,700 square miles (4,300 km²) in northeastern California. It is named after pioneer Peter Lassen, who mined, ranched and promoted the area to emigrant parties in the 1850s.

Area code 530 is a California telephone area code in northeastern and Northern California.

Isaac Newton Roop was a United States politician, pioneer and member of the Whig party. In 1859, he was the first elected (provisional) governor of the newly proposed Nevada Territory.

The 1872 California-Nevada State Boundary Marker marks the initial point for the 1872 survey delineation of the state line between California and Nevada. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The following timeline traces the territorial evolution of California, the thirty-first state admitted to the United States of America, including the process of removing Indigenous Peoples from their native lands, or restricting them to reservations.

There are 28 routes assigned to the "A" zone of the California Route Marker Program, which designates county routes in California. The "A" zone includes county highways in Lassen, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, and Tehama counties.

Roop's Fort, also known as Roop's Trading Post, Fort Defiance, and Roop House, is a historic building in Susanville, California. The building, which was built in 1854 by Isaac Roop, was the first building built by white settlers in Lassen County. The fort was originally a trading post for westbound migrants and was the first post west of Fort Hall in Idaho. The building also served as the capitol of the short-lived Nataqua Territory, a territory created in 1856 to avoid California tax collectors. The territory was incorporated into Roop County, Nevada, named for Isaac Roop, in 1861. California and Nevada entered into a border dispute known as the Sagebrush War over the Susanville area in 1863, and Roop's Fort served as a fort for the Nevadans during the skirmish. California won the war, and Roop's Fort became part of Lassen County in 1864.

The Sagebrush War was an armed conflict between the California county of Plumas and the now-defunct Nevada County of Roop over the jurisdiction of Lake Honey Valley and Susanville, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexey W. Von Schmidt</span> California Historic Landmark

The Von Schmidt State Boundary Monument was designated a California Historic Landmark (No.859) on April 26, 1973. In 1873 San Francisco civil engineer Allexey W. Von Schmidt built the State Boundary Monument in San Bernardino County, California near Needles, California. In 1872 and 1873 Von Schmidt did a survey of the border between California and Nevada/Arizona. The California Historic marker is on the dirt road, Pew Road, also called River Road, 2.6 Miles South of the State Line; 14 Miles North of Needles. The marker is not at the current state boundary, as Von Schmidt made an error in his survey. A new survey in 1893 showed that the Von Schmidt line was 1,600 to 1,800 feet off to the west. The marker is at the southern end of the California-Arizona State boundary. In 1872, a dispute arose between Nevada and California about the location of the state's boundary. Nevada wanted the state divide to be the same as the Sierra Nevada mountain range divide. California wanted the line to the east of the mountain range. When California attained statehood in 1850, it adopted 120 degrees west longitude as its eastern border. Between 1855 and 1900 there were six surveys to locate 120 degrees, with each locating 120 degrees of longitude differently. Von Schmidt applied for and was granted the contract to survey the state's frontier border east of the Sierra Nevada. In 1872 Von Schmidt using only a compass, a sextant and dead reckoning process set out with his crew to define the boundary. Von Schmidt was charged to measure and mark the boundary. Von Schmidt and his crew built stone markers and installed cast iron markers about one mile apart on the length of the state's boundary. Not many of the markers had foundations, so fewer remain today. A new survey in 1893 showed that the Von Schmidt line was 1,600 to 1,800 feet west of the actual 120 degrees. However, California and Nevada both recognize the 1872 Von Schmidt survey and the 1893 survey as the state line. Later the 1893 line was used. The exact location of the north-south California-Nevada border, between Lake Tahoe and the intersection of the southern boundary of Oregon at the 42nd parallel, was contentious and was surveyed and re-surveyed many time. One of the few iron markers that has survived is a near Verdi, Nevada this is a National Historic Landmark called the 1872 California-Nevada State Boundary Marker.

The Superior Court of California, County of Lassen, also known as the Lassen County Superior Court or Lassen Superior Court, is the branch of the California superior court with jurisdiction over Lassen County.

References

↑ California v. Nevada, 44U.S.125 ( Supreme Court of the United States 1980)("The two straight-line segments that make up the boundary between California and Nevada were initially defined in California's Constitution of 1849. The first, the "north-south" segment, commences on the Oregon border at the intersection of the 42d parallel and the 120th meridian and runs south along that meridian to the 39th parallel. And the second, the "oblique" segment, begins at that parallel and runs in a southeasterly direction to the point where the Colorado River crosses the 35th parallel. Cal.Const., Art. XII (1849). In 1850, when California was admitted to the Union, Congress approved the 1849 Constitution, and with it California's eastern boundary. Act of Sept. 9, 1850, 9 Stat. 452. . . . Nevada's Constitution stated that its boundary would proceed "in a North Westerly direction along [the oblique section of the] Eastern boundary line of the State of California to the forty third degree of Longitude West from Washington [and then] North along said forty third degree of West Longitude, and said Eastern boundary line of the State of California to the forty second degree of North Latitude. . . ." Nev.Const., Art. XIV, § 1 (1864). Although it turns out that the 43d degree of longitude west from Washington does not exactly coincide with the 120th meridian west of Greenwich—which was the north-south reference in the California Constitution—the Special Master concluded that the Congress that approved Nevada's Constitution was of the view that the two lines were identical. Certainly the language of the Nevada Constitution supports this conclusion by seeming to equate the 43d degree of longitude west of Washington with the eastern boundary of California.").
1 2 3 4 5 Davis, William Newell Jr. (September 1942). "The Territory of Nataqua: an Episode in Pioneer Government East of the Sierra". California Historical Society Quarterly. 1 (3): 225–28. doi:10.2307/25161008. JSTOR 25161008.
↑ Davis, 226, noting Benjamin F. Shambaugh, "Frontier Land Clubs or Claim Associations", Annual Report of the American Historical Association, 1900, I (1901). 69–84.
↑ "US 395: Lassen County (Susanville to Modoc County Line)". Floodgap Roadgap. Retrieved 2006-04-01.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[CA_v._NV-1] California v. Nevada, 44U.S.125 ( Supreme Court of the United States 1980)("The two straight-line segments that make up the boundary between California and Nevada were initially defined in California's Constitution of 1849. The first, the "north-south" segment, commences on the Oregon border at the intersection of the 42d parallel and the 120th meridian and runs south along that meridian to the 39th parallel. And the second, the "oblique" segment, begins at that parallel and runs in a southeasterly direction to the point where the Colorado River crosses the 35th parallel. Cal.Const., Art. XII (1849). In 1850, when California was admitted to the Union, Congress approved the 1849 Constitution, and with it California's eastern boundary. Act of Sept. 9, 1850, 9 Stat. 452. . . . Nevada's Constitution stated that its boundary would proceed "in a North Westerly direction along [the oblique section of the] Eastern boundary line of the State of California to the forty third degree of Longitude West from Washington [and then] North along said forty third degree of West Longitude, and said Eastern boundary line of the State of California to the forty second degree of North Latitude. . . ." Nev.Const., Art. XIV, § 1 (1864). Although it turns out that the 43d degree of longitude west from Washington does not exactly coincide with the 120th meridian west of Greenwich—which was the north-south reference in the California Constitution—the Special Master concluded that the Congress that approved Nevada's Constitution was of the view that the two lines were identical. Certainly the language of the Nevada Constitution supports this conclusion by seeming to equate the 43d degree of longitude west of Washington with the eastern boundary of California.").

[Davis-2] 1 2 3 4 5 Davis, William Newell Jr. (September 1942). "The Territory of Nataqua: an Episode in Pioneer Government East of the Sierra". California Historical Society Quarterly. 1 (3): 225–28. doi:10.2307/25161008. JSTOR 25161008.

[3] Davis, 226, noting Benjamin F. Shambaugh, "Frontier Land Clubs or Claim Associations", Annual Report of the American Historical Association, 1900, I (1901). 69–84.

[4] "US 395: Lassen County (Susanville to Modoc County Line)". Floodgap Roadgap. Retrieved 2006-04-01.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]