Buena Vista County

Buena Vista County, created by an act of the California State Legislature, passed April 30, 1855, was a failed attempt at a county created from territory of Tulare County. It was the predecessor of Kern County, which was organized successfully in 1866.

Coso County

In 1864, Coso County was approved by the California State Legislature, which designated territory in Mono and Tulare Counties to be in the new county with the county seat at Bend City. Coso County, however, was never organized. In 1866, essentially the same territory was created as Inyo County.

Klamath County

Klamath County was created in 1851 from the northern half of Trinity County. In 1857 Klamath County lost significant territory to the newly formed Del Norte County. In 1875 Klamath County was abolished and its territory was divided between Humboldt and Siskiyou Counties.

Territory which at one time was in Klamath County is now in Del Norte, Humboldt, Siskiyou, and Trinity Counties.

Humboldt County maintains several original materials that belonged to Klamath County.

Pautah County

Pautah County was created in 1852 out of territory which, the state of California assumed, was to be ceded to it by the United States Congress from territory in what is now the state of Nevada. When the cession never occurred, the California State Legislature officially abolished the never-organized county in 1859.

Fearing that the state would lose out on valuable ore, Californians wanted to be certain that they got all of the territory on both sides of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. California Legislature believed that U.S. Congress would be willing to cede to California the part of the Sierra Nevada mountains not included in California's borders, so it simply moved forward and created a county from the land that it wanted. The county covered a roughly diamond-shaped area that included the modern locations of Reno, Virginia City, and Carson City, plus the entire eastern shore of Lake Tahoe. The county seat was Carsonville.

California's demand to have the land ceded to it went nowhere in Congress. The Civil War was looming and the southern representatives felt that Utah Territory (modern Utah and Nevada) should become a slave state, so they blocked any proposals to expand California's borders. Eventually, in 1859, the California Legislature repealed the act creating Pautah. Ironically, this area was the source of an enormous discovery of silver just around the time that California finally relinquished its claim.

 

Counties with Name Changes Only

Branciforte County was one of the original 27 counties adopted by statutes of 1850, but soon after that the legislature changed the name to Santa Cruz County.

Coloma County was a county proposed by a committee of the California Constitutional Convention. Before the statute was adopted, the legislature changed the name to El Dorado County.

Fremont County was a county proposed by a committee of the California Constitutional Convention. Before the statute was adopted, the legislature changed the name to Yola County and later changed the name to Yolo County.

Mount Diablo County was a county proposed by a committee of the California Constitutional Convention. Before the statute was adopted, the legislature changed the name to Contra Costa County.

Oro County was a county proposed by a committee of the California Constitutional Convention. Before the statute was adopted, the legislature changed the name to Tuolumne County.

Redding County was a county proposed by a committee of the California Constitutional Convention. Before the statute was adopted, the legislature changed the name to Shasta County.