Fort Jones

History

Fort Jones is registered as a California Historical Landmark. The earliest permanent building at the town site was built in 1851 by two Messrs. Brown and Kelly. It was purchased soon after construction by O. C. Wheelock, Captain John B. Pierce, and two other unknown partners. Wheelock and his partners established a trading post, a bar, and a brothel at this site, which primarily served the troopers stationed at the fort. Near the end of the 1850s, the nearby mining camps of Hooperville and Deadwood began to disband as a result of the dwindling stores of placer gold, epidemic illness and devastating fires. The mines around Scott Valley attracted many immigrants from many parts of the United States and the world, attracted to the area by news of the California Gold Rush of the 1850s. Irish and Portuguese immigrants remained as ranchers in the area after making enough on the gold fields to purchase property tracts in the valley. In the early years of the twentieth century, the northern Scott River tributaries of Moffitt and McAddams creeks were extensively settled by the Portuguese. The Irish surname Marlahan lives on after that family received a shipment of British hay seed infected with the seed of a plant known as Dyers Woad. Those seeds spread their spawn throughout Scott Valley, culturing a plant known in the area as Marlahan Mustard. The plant has a beautiful, canary plume in the spring which matures to small, black, hard seeds. Unfortunately, the herbivore beasts of burden will not eat hay in which this plant exists, and ever since it has been a scourge on the ranchers of Scott Valley. On December 14, 1894, Billy Dean, a Native American, was lynched by unknown persons in the town of Happy Camp, California while in the custody of Constable Fred Dixon.…

Geography

Fort Jones is located at (41.607303, -122.841817). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above . According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Fort Jones has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated Csb on climate maps.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• California/Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  1,768
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,467
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  1,441
• Oak Titmouse

  Baeolophus inornatus (Gambel, 1845) · Aves
  1,416
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  1,367
• White-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta carolinensis Latham, 1790 · Aves
  1,279
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,260
• Acorn Woodpecker

  Melanerpes formicivorus (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  1,232

Largest nearby schools

• Scott Valley Junior High
  Middle · Fort Jones · 170 students · 24.3:1 ratio
• Fort Jones Elementary
  Elementary · Fort Jones · 144 students · 20.6:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.55 — 2026-08-18
  28 km NW of Weaverville, CA
• M 2.64 — 2026-07-16
  30 km ESE of Somes Bar, CA
• M 2.52 — 2026-06-05
  24 km SSE of Somes Bar, CA
• M 2.77 — 2026-04-21
  24 km WNW of Weaverville, CA
• M 2.71 — 2026-04-02
  33 km SSE of Somes Bar, CA
• M 2.58 — 2026-01-10
  18 km NE of French Gulch, CA