Josephine County County
Josephine County, named for Virginia “Josephine” Rollins, the first white woman to make this county her home, was established in 1856 out of the western portion of Jackson County. The county seat was originally located in Sailor Diggings (later, Waldo), but in July of 1857 was relocated to Kerbyville, situated on the main route between the port of Crescent City, California and the gold fields.
The discovery of rich placers at Sailor Diggings in 1852 and the resulting gold rush brought the first settlers to this region. Several U.S. Army forts were maintained in the county and many engagements during the Rogue River Indian War (1855–1858) took place within its boundaries. In 1886, the county seat was finally relocated to Grants Pass, a new town on the railroad that was completed through Oregon that same year. Grants Pass is now the departure point for most Rogue River scenic waterway guided fishing and boat trips. The Illinois River, one of the Rogue’s tributaries, has also been designated a scenic waterway.
Mapped Location
Josephine County: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.
Information
General information on Josephine County
- Feature Type: County
- County Seat: City of Grants Pass
- Established: Tuesday, January 22, 1856
Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Josephine County
A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Josephine County | Official |
A Selected Bibliography of Josephine County, County
A compilation of essential readings detailing the history, geography, and culture of the region.
The state of Jefferson by Bernita Tickner, Gail L. Fiorini-Jenner
Published in 2017 by Bernita Tickner and Gail L. Fiorini-Jenner, The State of Jefferson explores the colorful, enduring political secession movement aimed at carving a new U.S. state out of the rugged rural counties of Northern California and Southern Oregon. Through a rich collection of vintage photographs and historical anecdotes, the book traces the movement from its 1941 theatrical launch—complete with gold-panning miners brandishing rifles—to its modern manifestations rooted in geographic isolation and anti-establishment sentiment. The text details how residents of this timber-and-mining corridor have long felt economically and politically abandoned by distant state capitals in Sacramento and Salem. A keen insight drawn from the work is how the persistent mythos of the "State of Jefferson" functions less as a viable legislative blueprint and more as a profound psychological safety valve; it provides rural populations with a shared, defiant regional identity that channels deep-seated economic grievances against metropolitan dominance into theatrical civic rebellion.
128 pages : chiefly illustrations, map ; 24 cm.
Non-circulating [ 1 ]
Golden days and pioneer ways by Ruth Pfefferle
Published in 1934 by Ruth Pfefferle, Golden Days and Pioneer Ways is a localized chronicle of early settlement and domestic life in the Pacific Northwest, heavily focused on the intimate, day-to-day realities of homesteading. Drawing from family lore, pioneer letters, and community reminiscences, the text shifts away from grand geopolitical maneuvering to spotlight the domestic labor, social bonds, and domestic resilience of early families. Through a collection of homespun anecdotes and localized histories, the book paints an idyllic portrait of frontier community-building, celebrating the endurance and adaptability required to establish permanent roots in an isolated and demanding environment.
vi, 128 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 28 cm
Non-circulating [ 1 ]
110 years with Josephine the history of Josephine County, Oregon, 1856-1966 by Jack Sutton, Josephine County Historical Society
Jack Sutton’s 110 Years with Josephine provides a comprehensive pioneer history of Josephine County, a rugged and resource-rich enclave nestled among the Klamath and Siskiyou mountain ranges of southwestern Oregon. The narrative meticulously maps the region's defining topography, stretching from the deep, forested canyons carved by the wild Rogue and Illinois rivers to the fertile agricultural expanses of the Applegate Valley. By detailing the mid-nineteenth-century gold rush camps that sprouted in remote gulches and the subsequent rise of the local timber industry, the book illustrates how early settlers navigated and harvested this formidable inland wilderness. Ultimately, this account captures the physical and economic evolution of this specific southern Oregon landscape, tracing its transformation from isolated mining claims into a thriving network of logging and agricultural communities.
205 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
Non-circulating [ 1 ]
History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties by Albert G. Walling
Albert G. Walling’s History of southern Oregon, comprising Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Curry and Coos counties provides a sweeping encyclopedic record of the expansive pioneer settlement and resource extraction across the rugged Rogue and Umpqua river valleys. Moving beyond a standard chronological timeline, the text details how the region's earliest frontier infrastructure—including the grueling Siskiyou Mountain wagon roads, coastal shipping ports, and remote gold mining camps—was mapped directly onto the ancient, complex overland trails and riverine corridors long established and managed by the Takelma, Umpqua, Coos, and Tututni peoples. Walling chronicles the immense physical labor required by nineteenth-century miners, loggers, and homesteaders to exploit the dense coastal timberlands and fertile inland basins, highlighting how these isolated settlers relied on deep community bonds and interdependent alliances to survive profound geographic isolation and the volatile boom-and-bust cycles of the gold rush. Ultimately, this foundational regional history captures the rapid superimposition of Euro-American industry onto established indigenous geography, demonstrating how cooperative pioneer endurance successfully engineered the civic and economic foundations of modern southern Oregon.
545, [1] pages, [126] leaves of plates : illustrations, folded maps, portraits ; 30 cm
ONLINE Circulation [ 1 ]
Josephine County
- Allentown (historical)
- Althouse (historical)
- Bridgeview
- Brown City (historical)
- Browntown
- Browntown (historical)
- California Bar
- City of Cave Junction
- Dryden
- Fruitdale
- Galice
- Golden
- City of Grants Pass
- Greenback (historical)
- Holland
- Hugo
- Kerby
- Leland
- Merlin
- Murphy
- New Hope
- O'Brien
- Placer
- Pleasant Valley
- Rand
- Redwood
- Selma
- Speaker
- Sunny Valley
- Takilma
- Three Pines
- Wilderville
- Williams
- Williamsburg (historical)
- Wolf Creek
- Wonder
Political Boundaries
Last updated: 2013-01-08