|
Tehama County is situated in the Central Valley north of Sacramento. Interstate 5 and the
Sacramento River bisect the county from north to south.
The county was created in 1856, six years after California became a state, by carving out and
combining parts of neighboring counties:
Butte, Colusa, and
Shasta.
The origin of the word Tehama is hopelessly obscure
according to Erwin G. Gudde (California Place Names, Third Edition, 1969,
University of California Press). It may have been derived from the name of an Indian tribe, an Indian village,
an Indian word for prairie, an Arabian city near Medina, an Arabian word meaning "hot lowlands," or an Aztec word for shingle.
Like all of the Central Valley, Tehama County is historically agricultural. The Tehama County Farm Bureau lists the top five
crops as walnuts, almonds, prunes, olives, and milk. Also, like all of the Central Valley, Tehama County is politically and
socially conservative. Its citizens voted decisively for George Walker Bush in 2000 and 2004 and for John Sidney McCain III in 2008.
Tehama County, along with other northern California counties, is located in the secessionist
State of Jefferson.
|
