Cherokee, California

Cherokee is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Butte County, California. It is an area inhabited by Maidu Indians prior to the gold rush, but that takes its name from a band of Cherokee prospectors who perfected a mining claim on the site. The population was 88 at the 2020 census. It lies at an elevation of 1306 feet (398 m).

Possibly the site of the historic gold mine, on the 1994 Cherokee, California 7.5-minute quadrangle, a feature named "Cherokee Placer Mine" exists about 0.65 miles southwest of the above coordinates. USGS identifies Cherokee Flat and Drytown as historic variant names for the community. The town is located on Cherokee Road off State Route 70.

Today, Cherokee now consists of a museum and a Cherokee cemetery, as well as a few houses. The Cherokee Heritage and Museum Association maintains both.

The ZIP Code is 95965. The community is inside area code 530.

History

Cherokee is within the traditional territory of the Maidu. Around 1818 Spanish explorers found gold on Cherokee's south side near Table Mountain. In 1849 Cherokee came from Oklahoma. Welsh miners came in the 1850s, naming the town after the Cherokee and constructing many buildings in town.

Thomas Edison owned one of the mines which sprung up in the area, and he saw to it that the mines were electrified to ease the work. The town prospered during the mining period, and Butte County's first homes with running water were built in Cherokee.

In 1880 President Rutherford B. Hayes, his wife Lucy, Civil War General William T. Sherman and General John Bidwell came to visit Cherokee's famous hydraulic gold mine. In the 1890s, the gold mines were sold off because of operational costs. At its boomtime, the town had a population in the thousands.

A post office operated at Cherokee from 1854 to 1912.

Spring Valley Mine

Over time, mines consolidated and by 1870, Cherokee's hydraulic-mining ventures were consolidated into a single operation controlled by the Spring Valley Mining and Irrigation Company. The mine closed in 1894. Still existing in the area are Spring Valley Elementary School, Spring Valley Reservoir, and Spring Valley Gulch (an actual valley)

Cherokee as a tourist attraction

Visitors come to Cherokee to see the museum and the cemetery, and for its two annual festivals, on July 4 and on a weekend near September 24, which is called President Hayes Day.

In the vicinity are Sugarloaf, a nearby promontory which is home to deer, foxes, doves, peacocks and hiking trails. Table Mountain is famous for its springtime wildflowers.

A Chinese Taoist temple, one of America's oldest Taoist establishments (no longer in use), built in the 1860s by the town's small Chinese community, was made a state historic site.

Demographics

Cherokee first appeared as a census designated place in the 2010 U.S. Census.

The 2020 United States census reported that Cherokee had a population of 88. The population density was . The racial makeup of Cherokee was 83.0% White, 0.0% African American, 0.0% Native American, 1.1% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 1.1% from other races, and 14.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.8% of the population.

There were 30 households, out of which 26.7% included children under the age of 18, 56.7% were married-couple households, 16.7% were cohabiting couple households, 6.7% had a female householder with no partner present, and 20.0% had a male householder with no partner present. 6.7% of households were one person, and 0.0% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.93. There were 23 families (76.7% of all households).

The age distribution was 25.0% under the age of 18, 6.8% aged 18 to 24, 17.0% aged 25 to 44, 36.4% aged 45 to 64, and 14.8% who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 45.5years. There were 51 males and 37 females.

There were 31 housing units at an average density of , of which 30 (96.8%) were occupied. All of these were owner-occupied.

Education

It is in the Golden Feather Union Elementary School District and the Oroville Union High School District.
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References

External links

"The ghosts of Cherokee: Digging up the history of a Butte County mining town"
- Chico News & Review, published July 18, 2013
Cherokee, California
at Western Mining History, 2020

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Census-designated places in Butte County, California
Census-designated places in California
Museums in Butte County, California