Cottonwood: A Town Split Between Two Counties

Cottonwood began in eighteen fifty-two as a store and ferry crossing on Cottonwood Creek, a stop for miners and settlers pushing toward the gold fields. When Tehama County was carved out in eighteen fifty-six, the county line was drawn right down the creek, which meant Cottonwood was simultaneously in two counties. Bavarian immigrants led by Jacob Foster moved the settlement to the north bank in eighteen seventy-two when the Southern Pacific Railroad arrived, and that side, in Shasta County, became the town you drive through today.

By the eighteen nineties, Cottonwood was a shipping point for lumber and cattle. The creek that once divided it now just runs quietly underneath the highway.