#42 CALIFORNIA - Where Am I?
Here's a geography trivia question: Name the city with a population of more than 2,500 that sits in the most northeastern part of California.
Answer: Alturas
Never heard of it? Neither had I. If you put someone down in the middle of Alturas and told him he was in the State of California he would probably look at you like you were crazy. No traffic. No surfers. No vineyards. No movie stars. No cable cars. No redwoods. No almond trees. No avocados. Not much of anything in fact except pickup trucks and bovines.
We were trying to get from Oregon to Nevada and points east by minimizing our driving miles and also stopping for breakfast in California. Cutting through Northeastern California was the logical solution. I had identified a cafe that was open on Sunday morning. In fact, it may have been the only place open for breakfast in northeastern California on a Sunday morning.
Auction Yard Cafe
Alturas, California
The old dilapidated, seemingly abandoned building had definitely seen better days and looked like it wouldn't survive a windy day let alone be the home to an eating establishment. I was wrong on both counts. The Modoc Auction Yard operates every Saturday selling cattle and at the end of the long building we discovered what was to be our breakfast destination.
Located high in the sky, a gigantic Hereford was leaning over the top of the building, looking like it was ready to leap into the dirt parking lot. Below the giant heifer, a ramshackle sign that said "Auction Cafe" with the word "Yard" peeled off clued us in to where we could find the front door of the cafe.
It was a chilly morning. The car thermometer registered 47 degrees. We entered the cafe where the temperature inside felt like it was oh, about 46 degrees. Some patrons were bundled up and others looked comfortable in short sleeve shirts. The room was small and had what you might call rustic charm with about seven tables and a counter with four stools. The place was very clean but I wasn't quite sure about its structural viability. I figured I was going to be eating my meal as fast as possible to finish before my food got cold and/or the room collapsed.
There was an open kitchen visible under a large sign that said "MOM'S KITCHEN". You could see a woman back there doing all the cooking solo. I'm guessing she was Mom. The room was filled to its capacity of about 18 customers by the time we had finished our breakfast. Mom had her work cut out for her.
4 out of 5 stars
FOOD: The menu was straightforward: eggs, meat, pancakes, and potatoes. I ordered the "Country Connection" which included three pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausage.
The pancakes were quite tasty. (By the way, I've run into this phenomenon in quite a few other breakfast establishments, but when ordering pancakes or biscuits why do they give you enough butter to grease a locomotive?) The sausage was also very good but the scrambled eggs were little bit too overcooked for my taste.
The odds of the Healthy One finding granola, yogurt, avocado toast, or anything remotely healthy on the menu were about as great as the odds of us retiring to this town. Remember, this cafe is housed in a building that auctions off cattle.
Having little choice, she opted for bacon, eggs, hash browns and a small biscuit (not pictured). She actually thought it was pretty good.
4 out of 5 stars
COFFEE: The coffee was hot which was much appreciated. Other than that, it tasted pretty institutional.
3 out of 5 stars
3 out of 5 stars
SERVICE: Our server was a woman with a straightforward personality dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. I felt that she was making a statement with the shirt by having it imply that it was not cold in the room so don't you dare complain. She did exude some friendliness but was mostly all business, maybe because we were probably the only non-locals in the room.
4 out of 5 stars
A FEW WORDS ABOUT ALTURAS:
Alturas, population 2,800, is the hub of just about everything in Northeastern California. The name is Spanish for "Valley On Top of a Mountain". The town is the governmental seat of Modoc County which has a population density of two people per square mile. Compare this to San Francisco County which has a population density of about 17,500 people per square mile.
Agriculture has long been the mainstay of the area with alfalfa being the biggest cash crop and cattle ranching a major economic activity. Cattle and sheep outnumber people by seven to one. Logging at one time was an important economic catalyst but has diminished to a wisp of what it once was. The federal government owns 73% of the land in the county. This has set up an almost inevitable conflict between locals and Washington. With so little private land available, ranchers, loggers, and others have to negotiate deals with the federal government.
Not surprisingly, the region is very politically conservative. In the most recent presidential election, Trump received 71.8% of the vote in Modoc County versus 32.8% in California as a whole.
Alturas has a stagnant economy and a declining population. Almost 20% of the population live in poverty. Young people leave for college and don't come back. The decline in the logging industry has much to do with the economic miasma.
One radical economic development strategy, which has a large amount of support, is for the town and county to secede from California. Both Modoc County and Siskiyou County which borders on the west have passed formal declarations to secede from California and form a new state called Jefferson. This break away idea has been around since the 1940s but has recently gained momentum in the Trump era. The declarations assert that state lawmakers are ignoring the counties' interests. Many feel that the State of Jefferson is the answer to revive logging, preserve ranching, protect water rights, and lure new businesses.
Another, more rational strategy, is to trumpet the natural wonders of the area as a way to bump up retirement relocation and tourism. A local real estate company promotes the county as a "giant playground" and shows a photo on their website of an attractive woman with a fishing pole clamped in her mouth while holding a foot long trout. How can anyone resist that?
Photo credit: Stevenson Realty Auction Services and Property Management
BURN THOSE BREAKFAST CALORIES OFF:
Alturas, population 2,800, is the hub of just about everything in Northeastern California. The name is Spanish for "Valley On Top of a Mountain". The town is the governmental seat of Modoc County which has a population density of two people per square mile. Compare this to San Francisco County which has a population density of about 17,500 people per square mile.
Agriculture has long been the mainstay of the area with alfalfa being the biggest cash crop and cattle ranching a major economic activity. Cattle and sheep outnumber people by seven to one. Logging at one time was an important economic catalyst but has diminished to a wisp of what it once was. The federal government owns 73% of the land in the county. This has set up an almost inevitable conflict between locals and Washington. With so little private land available, ranchers, loggers, and others have to negotiate deals with the federal government.
Not surprisingly, the region is very politically conservative. In the most recent presidential election, Trump received 71.8% of the vote in Modoc County versus 32.8% in California as a whole.
Alturas has a stagnant economy and a declining population. Almost 20% of the population live in poverty. Young people leave for college and don't come back. The decline in the logging industry has much to do with the economic miasma.
One radical economic development strategy, which has a large amount of support, is for the town and county to secede from California. Both Modoc County and Siskiyou County which borders on the west have passed formal declarations to secede from California and form a new state called Jefferson. This break away idea has been around since the 1940s but has recently gained momentum in the Trump era. The declarations assert that state lawmakers are ignoring the counties' interests. Many feel that the State of Jefferson is the answer to revive logging, preserve ranching, protect water rights, and lure new businesses.
Another, more rational strategy, is to trumpet the natural wonders of the area as a way to bump up retirement relocation and tourism. A local real estate company promotes the county as a "giant playground" and shows a photo on their website of an attractive woman with a fishing pole clamped in her mouth while holding a foot long trout. How can anyone resist that?
Photo credit: Stevenson Realty Auction Services and Property Management
BURN THOSE BREAKFAST CALORIES OFF:
We did a short jaunt up and down the main street of Alturas including wandering through the beautifully restored Niles Hotel and then journeyed to Winnemucca, Nevada where we hiked a couple of trails in the Water Canyon area high above the city.
June 10, 2018
NEXT UP: NEVADA
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