Del Norte County
North Coast Region

The area was first explored by the pioneer Jedediah Smith in the early 1800s. He was the first American to reach the area overland on foot in a time before anything was known about such a distant territory. For him it was literally "Land's End" -where the American continent ended at the Pacific Ocean. In 1855 Congress authorized the building of a Lighthouse at "the battery point" (a high tide island on the coast of Crescent City) which is still functioning as a historical landmark. Del Norte County was founded in 1857, from part of the territory of Klamath County following the great California Gold Rush. Klamath County itself ceased to exist in 1874.