Trinity County, California


Trinity County is a county in the northwestern part of the state of California. Trinity County is rugged, mountainous, heavily forested, and lies along the Trinity River within the Salmon and Klamath Mountains. It is also one of three counties in California with no incorporated cities.
Weaverville has the distinction of housing some of California's oldest buildings. The courthouse, built in 1856, is the second oldest in the state, and the Weaverville Drug Store has been filling prescriptions since 1852. The Joss House is a historic Taoist temple built in 1873.
As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,786, making it the fourth least-populous county in California. The county seat and largest community is Weaverville.

History

The county takes its name from the Trinity River, named in 1845 by Major Pierson B. Reading, who was under the mistaken impression that the river emptied into Trinidad Bay. Trinity is the English translation of Trinidad.
Trinity County was one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Parts of the county were given to Klamath County in 1852 and to Humboldt County in 1853.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water. The county contains a significant portion of Shasta-Trinity National Forest and the Trinity Alps Wilderness--the second largest wilderness in California.
The county hosts many visitors, especially during summer months, for camping, backpacking, boating on the lakes, rafting/kayaking on the rivers, hunting, and fishing. The summers tend to be clear, sunny, warm, and very dry, with little rain from June to September except for some mountain thunderstorms in the highest elevations. The winters tend to have copious precipitation, falling mostly as rain under 1000m/3300 ft in the valley bottoms, and mostly as snow over 1000m/3300 ft on the mountainsides. December, January, and February are the wettest. Kalmia Lake, at nearly 7500 feet in the Canyon Creek area of the Trinity Alps, is reputed to be the snowiest place in California, outpacing Lake Helen in Mount Lassen National Park, which receives 600-700 inches of snow each winter. Average snowfall in the populated parts of the county ranges from 0-5 inches in the lower Trinity Valley to at least 100 inches in places above 4000 feet, such as Indian Valley west of Hayfork.
There is an extensive wild river and stream system, and the terrain is quite rugged and forested, with the highest point at Mount Eddy, over. The Klamath Mountains occupy the vast portion of the county.

Adjacent counties

Trinity was a Republican-leaning county in Presidential and congressional elections until recently; now it is a tossup. No Democrat had won the county since Jimmy Carter in 1976 until Barack Obama defeated John McCain by a 4% margin in 2008. In 2012, the county again voted Republican, but narrowly. Voter registration reflects this trend, with Democratic and Republican registration in a near dead heat. Third-party candidates tend to do rather well in Trinity County: George Wallace got over 13% of the county's vote in 1968, and it was the only California county carried by Ross Perot in 1992. It was also Perot's best performance in the state in 1996, although he didn't carry it again. John Anderson also did very well in 1980, as did third-party candidates in 2016.
YearGOPDEMOthers
201648.62% 2,81238.28% 2,21413.10% 758
201247.33% 2,71646.59% 2,6746.08% 349
200845.72% 2,94050.28% 3,2334.00% 257
200454.66% 3,56042.71% 2,7822.63% 171
200057.62% 3,34033.33% 1,9329.06% 525
199642.93% 2,53037.38% 2,20319.69% 1,160
199231.28% 1,88632.63% 1,96736.09% 2,176
198854.63% 3,26742.11% 2,5183.26% 195
198459.71% 3,54437.37% 2,2182.91% 173
198054.96% 3,04831.27% 1,73413.77% 764
197645.66% 1,98949.86% 2,1724.48% 195
197250.75% 1,86844.04% 1,6215.22% 192
196843.12% 1,42643.33% 1,43313.54% 448
196436.41% 1,25263.25% 2,1750.35% 12
196038.35% 1,41861.17% 2,2620.49% 18
195650.42% 1,44748.99% 1,4060.59% 17
195257.14% 1,69741.82% 1,2421.04% 31
194845.08% 97548.68% 1,0536.24% 135
194442.22% 56757.33% 7700.45% 6
194034.79% 78063.83% 1,4311.38% 31
193630.87% 65567.11% 1,4242.03% 43
193221.09% 31873.01% 1,1015.90% 89
192848.85% 44747.32% 4333.83% 35
192436.48% 33616.72% 15446.80% 431
192062.89% 62228.82% 2858.29% 82
191635.16% 42454.81% 66110.03% 121
19120.10% 146.29% 46153.62% 534
190844.41% 39337.40% 33118.19% 161
190454.11% 46735.69% 30810.20% 88
190052.36% 54446.68% 4850.96% 10
189646.44% 50250.42% 5453.15% 34
189250.82% 49546.92% 4572.26% 22

Trinity County is in.
In the state legislature Trinity is in, and.
In 2010, Trinity County voted against Proposition 19, which would have taxed and regulated marijuana.
In 2016 Trinity County residents were asked again to vote on legalization of state-level recreational marijuana, facilitated by the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, also known as California Proposition 64. The measure passed with 50.1% in favor of legalization. Statewide, the measure passed with 57.1% of the vote.

Voter registration statistics

Transportation

Major highways

provides weekday intercity bus service on State Routes 3 and 299, with connecting service in Willow Creek and Redding. Service is also provided from Weaverville to Lewiston and Hayfork.

Airports

The county owns five general aviation airports: Trinity Center Airport, Weaverville Airport, Hayfork Airport, Hyampom Airport and Ruth Airport.

Crime

The following table includes the number of incidents reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense.

Demographics

2011

Places by population, race, and income

2010

The 2010 United States Census reported that Trinity County had a population of 13,786. The racial makeup of Trinity County was 12,033 White, 59 African American, 655 Native American, 94 Asian, 16 Pacific Islander, 217 from other races, and 712 from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 959 persons.

2000

As of the census of 2000, there were 13,022 people, 5,587 households, and 3,625 families residing in the county. The population density was 4 people per square mile. There were 7,980 housing units at an average density of 2 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 88.9% White, 0.5% Black or African American, 4.9% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 0.9% from other races, and 4.4% from two or more races. 4.0% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 16.1% were of German, 13.4% English, 12.1% Irish and 9.5% American ancestry according to Census 2000. 97.3% spoke English and 1.8% Spanish as their first language.
There were 5,587 households, out of which 25.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.5% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.1% were non-families. 29.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.80.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 22.8% under the age of 18, 5.1% from 18 to 24, 22.7% from 25 to 44, 32.1% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 104.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.6 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $27,711, and the median income for a family was $34,343. Males had a median income of $31,131 versus $24,271 for females. The per capita income for the county was $16,868. About 14.1% of families and 18.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.2% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Census-designated places

The population ranking of the following table is based on the 2010 census of Trinity County.
† county seat
RankCity/Town/etc.Municipal typePopulation
1† WeavervilleCDP3,600
2HayforkCDP2,368
3LewistonCDP1,193
4Douglas CityCDP713
5Junction CityCDP680
6Mad RiverCDP420
7Round Valley Reservation AIAN401
8Trinity VillageCDP297
9Burnt RanchCDP281
10Trinity CenterCDP267
11HyampomCDP241
12Coffee CreekCDP217
13RuthCDP195