Josephine County
Rough and Ready Creek
in the heart of the Illinois River Valley
The Illinois Valley is important in the history of Josephine County. Prior to the arrival of the Anglo-European, the valley was home to the Takelmas Indian tribe. Related to the Latgawa Indian tribe living along the Rogue River to the east, these two Indian tribes were known collectively to early explorers and traders, operating out of Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River, as the Rogue River Indians. They, and other tribes living to the southwest, had a reputation as being unreliable individuals and fierce combatants hence the term "rogue." In 1843, U.S. federal legislation offered free land in Oregon. In 1846, the first wagon train passed through the Rogue River Valley east of the Illinois Valley on the Applegate Trail. Oregon was absorbed into the United States as a territory soon thereafter in 1848. As settlers began exploring the Illinois Valley for settlement, relations with the Takelmas were relatively peaceful and a treaty was signed in 1850.
Gold was discovered in the Illinois Valley in 1852. Josephine County began taking shape very soon thereafter with the defacto county seat in the valley at Waldo, where the original gold strike was made. The county's namesake was a young lady named Josephine Rollins, the young daughter of a gold miner and the first white female to arrive in the valley. In 1853, most of the Taklemas Indians were removed from the illinois Valley and relocated to the Table Rock reservation. In 1855, the reservation was attacked by settlers from the Jacksonville area and the Rogue River Indian Wars began. They continued until 1856 when the Taklemas were again relocated, first to the Siletz Reservation and later to the Grande Ronde Reservation.
Josephine County was formalized as a legal county in the Oregon Territory in 1856. In 1857, the county seat was moved to Kerbyville which is also located in the Illinois Valley. Gold was king and the valley was a major center of activity in Southwestern Oregon. That situation continued until 1883, when the Southern Pacific Railroad decided to bypass the Illinois Valley and run it's tracts north along the Rogue River Valley. Gold mining had declined in importance, and the town of Grants Pass was emerging as the regional center. In 1886, the county seat was moved from Kerbyville to Grants Pass and life in the Illinois Valley began to slow down a bit. Logging and lumber processing became the principal economic activity and remained so until the 1980s when government regulations significantly curtailed the industry.
Today, the Illinois Valley is a rather remote area used as a transit route for people moving east and west on U.S. Highway 199 between the Pacific Coast and the Interstate 5 corridor inland. It is also the gateway to the Oregon Caves National Monument and the headwaters of the Illinois River (a popular tributary to the Rogue River for fishing, hunting and rafting). There is good access to the Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area for those who seek a pristine wilderness experience. The Greyback road splits off from U.S. Highway 199 at O'Brian and winds it's way south to Happy Camp, California which is Bigfoot country. Cave Junction is the principal town in the valley and offers basic facilities to support tourism in the area.
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