Butte County MHMP - State of California

Butte CountyMulti-Jurisdictional All HazardPre-Disaster Mitigation PlanMarch 2007Historical SettingButte County, the “Land of Natural Wealth and Beauty” was one of the originalCalifornia counties, created in 1850 at time of statehood. Part of the County's territorywas given to Plumas County in 1854 and to Tehama County in 1856. Originalinhabitants included the Mechoopda and Concow bands of the Maidu Indians. Fourrecognized tribes still survive today in the County.Butte County was named for the Sutter Buttes, the very prominent small range of hills onthe valley floor, west of Gridley. The word butte is derived from the Teutonic wordmeaning "a blunt extension or elevation." In the French language, it signifies "a smallhill or mound of earth detached from any mountain range."The Buttes have had many names over the years. The Maidu Indians called them"Histum Yani" which translates as, "Middle Mountains of the Valley" or "SpiritMountain". According to Maidu legend, after death, the spirits of their people rest in theButtes. Other names for the Buttes were "Marysville Buttes", "Sacramento Buttes", and"Los Tres Picos." They were finally named the "Sutter Buttes" in 1949.Gabriel Moraga, a Spaniard trying to locate possible mission sites, was the first Europeanto see the Sutter Buttes in 1806. Another Spaniard, Luis Arguello, led an expedition in1817 to explore Northern California by water. He called the Buttes "Los Picachos" or thepeaks. He also named the Feather River "El Rio de la Plumas", because he saw manyfeathers of wild fowl floating on the water.The first County seat was Hamilton. In 1853 it was moved to Bidwell's Bar, then in 1856to Oroville which is the County seat today.Governing BodiesThe County seat is Oroville. The County of Butte is divided into five supervisorialdistricts. The districts vary in size to provide for an equal distribution of the County'spopulation, not geographical size. District division based on population is designed togive all citizens of the County equal representation on the County Board. Butte CountyCharter Article II, Section 6 reads “Whenever the United States Census shows that thepopulation of any supervisorial district exceeds or lacks more than 23 percent ascompared with the population in another district or districts, the Board shall change theboundaries of such district or districts so that the population of each district shall be sonearly equal as possible." District lines can change, and consideration of this processtakes place following Census years.27