Red Bluff is the county seat of Tehama County, California. As of the 2000 census, the incorporated city had a total population of 13,147, but it is currently (January 2007) estimated at 26,000 due to recent annexations.[citation needed]
Red Bluff is about 30 miles (48 km) south of Redding, 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Chico, and 125 miles (201 km) north of Sacramento. It is the third largest city in the Shasta Cascades.
History
Cone & Kimball Plaza Clocktower
The Nomlaki people originally inhabited the area along the banks of the Sacramento River where Red Bluff was built. Most of the native population of the area died in a malaria epidemic in the early 1830s.
While the Spanish army officer Gabriel Moraga explored the southern Sacramento Valley in 1808, it was not until the 1821 expedition of Luís Antonio Argüello that Europeans recorded a visit to the Red Bluff area. On April 10, 1828, Jedediah Smith passed through on the way to Oregon. In 1843 Peter Lassen, John Bidwell, and John Burheim came in pursuit of horse thieves; Lassen then applied for a Mexican land grant. The first house where Red Bluff now is was an adobe put up late in 1849 by John Myers, who conducted it for a short time as a hotel. In the following spring Mr. Cooper erected a small adobe there, and William B. Ide built another at the "Adobe" Ferry, one mile (1.6 km) north. Settlement began in 1850 when Sashel Woods and Charles L. Wilson began laying out a town called Leodocia. It was known by that name and Covertsburg until 1854, when maps showed the community as Red Bluffs.
In 1851 Captain Ellbridge G. Reed built and started a hotel near where the creek now known as Reeds Creek enters the Sacramento River and conducted it with great success for years. Being at the head of navigation, Red Bluff soon forged ahead, and during the early mining excitements in the northern mines was a great staging town, and did an immense amount of transhipping and teaming of goods. It languished later on with the subsidence of activity in the mines, reviving again in the early 1870s on the advent of the railroad. In 1854 Red Bluff had a population of 1,000 people. In 1860 it had twice as many. On the organization of the county in 1856, there was a strong attempt to locate the county seat at Tehama, but in March, 1857, Red Bluff was chosen.
The city of Red Bluff was incorporated in 1876.
Geography
Red Bluff is located at 40°10′36″N 122°14′17″W / 40.17667°N 122.23806°W / 40.17667; -122.23806 (40.176640, -122.237951)[1]. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 19.6 km² (7.6 mi²). 19.2 km² (7.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.59% water.
Climate
Red Bluff has cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Average temperatures in January are a maximum of 54.6°F and a minimum of 37.0°F. Average temperatures in July are a maximum of 115.0oF and a minimum of 65.6F. There are an average of 100.1 days annually with highs of 90°F (32°C) or higher and an average of 21.5 days with lows of 32°F (0°C) or lower. The record highest temperature was 121°F on August 7, 1981, and the record lowest temperature was 17°F on January 9, 1937. Annual precipitation averages 23.21 inches with measurable precipitation falling of an average of 71 days. The wettest year was 1983 with 52.98 inches and the dryest year was 1976 with 7.20 inches. The most rainfall in one month was 21.47 inches in January 1995 and the most rainfall in 24 hours was 3.55 inches on January 8, 1995. Snowfall averages 2.1 inches a year. The snowiest year was 1972 with 15.6 inches. The most snowfall in one month was 15.0 inches in January 1937.[2]
Demographics
As of the census[3] of 2000, there were 13,147 people, 5,109 households, and 3,239 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,768.7 people per square mile (683.2/km²). There were 5,567 housing units at an average density of 748.9/sq mi (289.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 86.69% White, 0.62% Black, 2.24% Native American, 1.60% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 5.77% from other races, and 3.01% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 13.68% of the population.[2]
There were 5,109 households out of which 36.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.4% were married couples living together, 16.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.6% were non-families. 30.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.07.
In the city the population was spread out with 28.7% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 18.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 90.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $27,029, and the median income for a family was $32,799. Males had a median income of $26,807 versus $21,048 for females. The per capita income for the city was $14,060. About 17.7% of families and 21.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.6% of those under age 18 and 9.7% of those age 65 or over.
Events
- The annual Red Bluff Round-Up, first held in 1926, has become one of the west's largest rodeos. The town is well-known throughout the nation due to its popular bull competitions.
News
- Red Bluff's Little League team was the runner-up in the 1974 Little League World Series.
- On April 30, 1984, the Cone & Kimball building in downtown Red Bluff burned down. A park with a new clocktower was built on its lot in 2007.
- In late 1984, it was discovered that Colleen Stan had been kept as a sex slave on Weed Court since 1977, without anyone outside her abductors household knowing.
- On November 19, 2002, Andrew Mickel shot and killed Officer David Mobilio of the Red Bluff Police Department in an attempt to make a political statement against "corporate irresponsibility" and the government's "police-state tactics". The case brought national media attention to Red Bluff.[4]
Newspapers
- The Redding Record Searchlight runs a weekly publication called Tehama Today for Red Bluff residents. It is included in the Sunday editions of the Record Searchlight.
- They also have a website which contains news, sports and opinion pieces from the publication.
Prominent people
- William B. Ide, who joined the Bear Flag Revolt and was named President of the California Republic, lived in Red Bluff
- Mary Ann Day Brown, widow of abolitionist John Brown, moved the family to Red Bluff after his execution.
- Clair Engle, a former United States Senator, was known as "The Pride of Red Bluff"
- Robert Shaw, famous choral conductor
- Michael Chiarello, American celebrity chef specializing in Italian-influenced California cuisine
- Gale Gilbert, NFL quarterback for eleven seasons with three different teams; only NFL player to be a member of five consecutive Super Bowl teams. Gilbert was also a member of the Red Bluff team that participated in the 1974 Little League World Series (see above).
- Bill Redell, former Occidental College quarterback and College Football Hall of Fame member
- Chuck Cecil, former National Football League safety
- Tom Hanks, actor. His mother has lived in Red Bluff since her divorce from Mr. Hanks' father, and she raised Tom's younger brother Jim there when he was a boy
- Jim Hanks, voice and character actor (brother of Tom Hanks)
- Jeff Serr, radio personality and voice actor
- Shane Drake, Award Winning Music Video Director
- Anthony Shafer, Visual Effects Technical Director [5] for George Lucas, Stereoscopic Supervisor for Robert Zemeckis
- Leo Gorcey American stage and movie actor who became famous for portraying on film the leader of the group of young hooligans known variously as the Dead End Kids, The East Side Kids and The Bowery Boys.
- Marv Grissom An American pitcher in Major League Baseball for the New York & San Francisco Giants (1946 and 1953-58), Detroit Tigers (1949), Chicago White Sox (1952), Boston Red Sox (1953) and St. Louis Cardinals (1959).
- Drew Wagner known for his golfing prowess and fin like feet
References
External links
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