Alturas - Modoc County

Alturas

Alturas - As the seat of Modoc County, Alturas lies in the broad valley of the Pit River, near the center of the county. Alturas was originally called Dorris Bridge, after the Dorris brothers who first settled here in 1870. 1871 was a booming settlement year, and by February 1873 there were between 150 and 200 residents in the Pit River valley. Dorris Bridge began to take on the aspects of a bona fide town in 1873.

An important early development was the public meeting hall. It was also used as a dance hall, theater, courthouse and church, and it unquestionably increased the community's prestige. In the year 1876, the community was renamed Alturas, which is Spanish for "Valley on Top of a Mountain." First the post office changed its name, then the school district officially became Alturas, followed by the entire town. A visiting correspondent of the Reno Journal declared that the "little mountain town [is] . . . about the liveliest camp in the country". Today, the city is located at the junction of Highways 395 and 299, which place it on a north-south line between the Pacific Northwest and California's large population centers of Sacramento and Los Angeles. Alturas Municipal Airport provides charter flights to and from the Alturas area.