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California State...
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California Counties
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California Counties
The U.S. state of California is divided into fifty-eight counties.
On January 4, 1850, the California constitutional committee recommended the formation of 18 counties. They were
Benicia, Butte, Fremont, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Monterey, Mount Diablo, Oro, Redding, Sacramento, San Diego, San
Francisco, San Joaquin, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, and Sutter. On April 22, the counties
of Branciforte, Calaveras, Coloma, Colusi, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Trinity, and Yuba were added. Benicia was
renamed Solano, Coloma to El Dorado, Fremont to Yola, Mt. Diablo to Contra Costa, San Jose to Santa Clara, Oro
to Tuolumne, and Redding to Shasta. One of the first state legislative acts regarding counties was to rename
Branciforte County to Santa Cruz, Colusi to Colusa, and Yola to Yolo.
The last California county to have been established is Imperial County in 1907. |
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Mono County, California
Mono County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
County Seat: Bridgeport
Year Organized: 1861
Square Miles: 3,044 |
Court House: P.O. Box 715
County Courthouse
Bridgeport, CA 93517-0715
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Etymology - Origin of County Name
The county is named after Mono Lake, which, in 1852, was named
for an Indian tribe that inhabited the Sierra Nevada from north of Mono Lake to
Owens Lake. The tribe's western neighbors, the Yokuts, called them monachie,
meaning "fly people," because the pupae of a fly was their chief food staple and
trading article.
Demographics:
County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick
Facts
History
The County of Mono was created by an act of the Legislature on April 21, 1861from parts of Calaveras
County, Fresno County and Mariposa County. . The county seat is in the town of Bridgeport, where most of
the county offices are located in an historic courthouse built in 1880.
Parts of the county's territory were given to Inyo County in 1866.
Mono County was the first of the mining counties to be organized as such on the eastern slope of the
Sierra Nevada mountains in the state of California. The county seat is in the town of Bridgeport, where
most of the county offices are located in the handsome and historic courthouse which was built in 1880.
Located in the east-central section of California, Mono County averages 108 miles in length, reaching
from the Alpine County border to the north to the Inyo County border to the south. The average width of
the county is 38 miles from the crest of the mighty Sierras to the Nevada state line on the east. It's
land area is 3,030 square miles, 80% of which is Federally owned. Much of this land is contained in the
Inyo and Toiyabe National Forests. The summer and fall visitors enjoy many varied activities such as
fishing, hunting, camping, hiking and some of the most spectacular scenery found in the Sierra Nevada
mountains. It is a land rich in the history of the early days of the state and the west. Winter visitors
engage in skiing, snowmobiling and various other winter sports at two of the finest winter sports and
skiing areas to be found in the entire country. These areas are located at Mammoth Mountain and June
Mountain.
The land is rough, mountainous and spectacular. In a general way, Mono is a large plateau, 5,500 to
7,000 feet above sea level bordered on the west by the Sierra Nevada Mountains and on the east by the
Bodie Hills and the White Mountains. The Sweetwater mountains lie along the northeastern border and the
rugged White mountains are located on the extreme southeastern corner of the county. Lying between these
high mountain boundaries are precipitous canyons, broad valleys, many crystal clear lakes of glacial
formation and a very interesting sage brush covered semi-desert land. The Sierra Nevada boundary is
dominated by three towering peaks which rise to an elevation of over 13,000 feet; Mt, Dana, the
loftiest, Mt, Lyell and Castle Peak. Land drainage in the county is accomplished by the East and West
Walker rivers to the north and by the Owens river to the south; and also by innumerable Sierra streams.
Mono Lake, "The Dead Sea of Mono" aptly called by poets and writers alike, "Mono's Mountains of the
Moon", is vividly described in the famous book "Roughing It" by Mark Twain. The lake is a fascinating
and unusual body of water lying at the beginning of a chain of 21 extinct volcanic cones. The lake
nestles in a basin created by massive volcanic action. Extensive thermal activity still exists in the
area surrounding the lake itself. In the center of this lake lie two islands, Negit and Paoha, that were
formed by ancient volcanic action. Mono Lake and the surrounding area is famous for its water fowl
population and thousands of seagulls use the locality for one of the largest rookeries in the west.
The county is capable of accommodating a much larger population than it now has and in its strategic
position as the center of a vast scenic area along U.S. Highway 395, between the populous areas of
Southern California and the equally interesting and beautiful cities of Nevada. Mono County is
attracting an increasingly large number of permanent residents who recognize its healthful and pleasant
advantages.
Mono is known as the eastern gateway to Yosemite National Park. Over the famed Tioga Pass leading from
the Mono Lake area to the floor of the famous valley of Yosemite may be found some of the most
spectacular scenery to be found in the western United States.
The ghost town of Bodie is located seven miles south and thirteen miles east of the town of Bridgeport,
the County seat. Bodie is now a State Historical Park, a National Historic Site and a California State
Historical Landmark. Bodie was known as the wildest, meanest and toughest of all the gold camps of
yesterday's west. The ghost of the "Bad Man From Bodie" still lives in legend along the eastern Sierra
Nevada Mountains. State Park Rangers are in constant attendance to assist visitors.
A beautiful and interesting highway also crosses the southern portion of Mono County through the
picturesque areas of old Benton and Chalfant Valley. This highway connects with U.S, Highway 395 at the
town of Bishop thereby affording an excellent opportunity for persons travelling to California from the
east to visit Mono County by turning north on U.S. Highway 395.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 3,132 square miles (8,111.8 km2).
3,044 square miles (7,883.9 km2) of it is land and 87 square miles (225.3 km2) of it (2.79%) is water.
Neighboring Counties:
- North: Lyon County, Nev.
- Northeast: Mineral County, Nev.
- East: Esmeralda County, Nev.
- Southeast: Inyo County
- Southwest: Fresno County; Madera County
- West: Tuolumne County
- Northwest: Alpine County; Douglas County, Nev.
Cities and Towns:
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- Bishop |
city |
Incorporated Area |
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- Bridgeport
(County Seat) |
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- Mammoth Lakes |
town |
Incorporated Area |
County Resources:
Enter County Resources and Information Here
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County Resource Guide
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The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.
Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally,
act locally." |
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