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46-550: Alpine County is a county in the eastern part of the U.S. state of California located within the Sierra Nevada on the state border with Nevada . As of the 2020 Census , the population was 1,204, making it California's least populous county . The county seat and largest community is Markleeville . The Washoe people , a Great Basin tribe , inhabited the Sierra Nevada on the California – Nevada boundary, with

92-402: A 160-acre claim encompassing a bridge and toll station, became the new county seat in 1875. The collapse of the silver industry and closing of mines was finalized with the demonetization of silver in 1873, and Silver Mountain was abandoned by 1886, with most businesses moving to Markleeville. Following the devastating collapse of the silver industry, the population began quickly declining until

138-404: A household in the county was $ 41,875, and the median income for a family was $ 50,250. Males had a median income of $ 36,544 versus $ 25,800 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 24,431. About 12.0% of families and 19.5% of the population were below the poverty line , including 27.4% of those under age 18 and 10.1% of those age 65 or over. Throughout the 20th century, Alpine County

184-502: A population numbering around 11,000. By 1868, however, the local silver mines had proven unfruitful of replicating the Nevada silver boom and the population fell to about 685 in the 1870 Census , a decline that would steadily continue through the 1950s. Silver Mountain (established as Köngsberg) was designated the county seat following the discovery of silver nearby by Norwegian miners. Markleeville , established by Jacob Markley in 1861 as

230-567: A saint; Merced County and Los Angeles County, both of whose names refer to Saint Mary (Our Lady of Mercy (Merced) and Our Lady Queen of The Angels (Los Angeles)); and Ventura County, whose name is a shortening of the name of St. Bonaventure , the namesake of the local mission. Federal lands In Article I, Section 8, Clause 17

276-521: A simple airstrip with an apron for small light aircraft to park. The airport has no buildings, no lights, and is rarely used. The airport is popular with astronomers due to the clear, dark skies. All communities in Alpine County are unincorporated : The only other counties in California with no incorporated cities are Mariposa and Trinity . The population ranking of the following table

322-505: A single county. The group fielded a candidate for sheriff and registered fictitious voters using post office boxes and vacant lots as their addresses. Six people were prosecuted for voter fraud, the false registrations were thrown out, and the incumbent sheriff was re-elected. Alpine County Airport is a general aviation airport in the Eastern Sierra about 4 miles (6.4 km) from the town of Markleeville . The airport consists of

368-426: A state's area. Supporters of the movement wanted more state and local control over the lands, if not outright transfer of them to state and local authorities and/or privatization. From 1990 to 2018, the overall acreage held by the federal government decreased by 4.9% (i.e., from 646.9 million acres (2.618 million km ) to 615.3 million acres (2.490 million km )). Over that time period,

414-526: Is based on the 2020 census of Alpine County. † county seat 38°35′N 119°48′W  /  38.58°N 119.80°W  / 38.58; -119.80 Counties of California The U.S. state of California is divided into 58 counties . The state was first divided into 27 counties on February 18, 1850. These were further sub-divided to form sixteen additional counties by 1860. Another fourteen counties were formed through further subdivision from 1861 to 1893. The most recent county to form

460-775: Is controlled by other federal agencies, including the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation , the United States Postal Service , the National Aeronautics and Space Administration , and the U.S. Department of Energy . Federal land is concentrated in the Western United States . Nationwide, the federal government owns 27.4% of all land area. There are significant variations regionally;

506-554: The California Constitution . A charter county is granted limited home rule powers. Of the 58 counties in California, 14 are governed under a charter. They are Alameda, Butte, El Dorado, Fresno, Los Angeles, Orange, Placer, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Tehama. Nine counties in California are named for saints, tied with Louisiana for the largest number. This count omits Santa Cruz ("Holy Cross") County, not named for

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552-554: The Comstock Lode found near Virginia City, Nevada and the subsequent silver boom was what triggered Alpine County's growth, even attracting gold miners from neighboring Nevada . This prompted the formation on March 16, 1864, from parts of Amador County , Calaveras County , El Dorado County , Mono County and Tuolumne County . It was named Alpine County due to its resemblance to the Swiss Alps . At its formation, it had

598-884: The Department of the Treasury to oversee the disposition of these federal lands. By the early 1800s, promised bounty land claims were finally fulfilled. In the 19th century, other bounty land and homestead laws were enacted to dispose of federal land. These included, among others, the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Desert Lands Entry Act of 1877. Several different types of patents existed. These include cash entry, credit, homestead, Indian, military warrants, mineral certificates, private land claims, railroads, state selections, swamps, town sites, and town lots. A system of local land offices spread throughout

644-512: The United States Census Bureau , the county has an area of 743 square miles (1,920 km), of which 738 square miles (1,910 km) is land and 4.8 square miles (12 km) (0.7%) is water. The federal government owns about 96% of Alpine County, the highest percentage in California, including three national forests : Eldorado (54,318 acres, or 7.81% of the 695,098-acre total), Stanislaus (119,805 acres, or 13.32% of

690-729: The United States Department of the Interior , while the Forest Service is part of the United States Department of Agriculture . An additional 11.4 million acres (46 thousand km ) of land (about 2% of all federal land) is managed by the United States Department of Defense (DOD). The majority of federal lands are located in Alaska and the Western states. The United States Supreme Court has upheld

736-499: The census of 2000, there were 1,208 people, 483 households, and 295 families residing in the county. The population density was 2 people per square mile (0.77 people/km). There were 1,514 housing units at an average density of 2 units per square mile (0.77 units/km). The racial makeup of the county was 73.7% White , 0.6% Black or African American , 18.9% Native American , 0.3% Asian , 0.1% Pacific Islander , 1.4% from other races , and 5.1% from two or more races. 7.8% of

782-483: The 11 contiguous states of the West (a 3% decrease in federal land, or 10.7 million acres (0.043 million km )). The four primary federal land holders are: The fifth largest federal landowner is the United States Department of Defense , which owns, leases, or possessed 26.1 million acres (0.106 million km ) worldwide, of which 8.8 million acres (0.036 million km ) are located in

828-474: The 1950s, falling to an all-time low of 241 in 1930 . During this time, its small economy limited the county to serving primarily as a trading center for the local farming and lumber industries, as well as fishing and hunting during the 1930s. Several lots in the county were left vacant. Alpine County finally managed an economic rebound with the construction of the Bear Valley and Kirkwood ski resorts in

874-530: The 899,427 acre-total) and Humboldt–Toiyabe (233,962 acres, or 3.72% of the 6,290,945 acre-total). American Indian and Alaska Native The 2010 United States Census reported that Alpine County had a population of 1,175. The racial makeup of Alpine County was 881 (75.0%) White , 0 (0.0%) African American , 240 (20.4%) Native American , 7 (0.6%) Asian , 0 (0.0%) Pacific Islander , 19 (1.6%) from other races , and 28 (2.4%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 84 persons (7.1%). As of

920-614: The Hung A Lel Ti band populating the Diamond Valley including what would become Alpine County. Kit Carson and John C. Frémont were among the first explorers to bring nationwide attention to the Sierra Nevada region in their winter 1844 expedition , though the first known westerners to actually explore the area were Jedediah Smith and Joseph R. Walker . Though gold spurred the infrastructural development of Alpine County,

966-604: The United States (this figure excluded United States Army Corps of Engineers land). DoD thus administers approximately 1% of federal land. DOD land is mostly military bases and reservations. The largest single DOD-owned, all-land tract is the 2.3-million-acre White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico . Together, the BLM, FWS, NPS, Forest Service, and DOD manage about 96% of federal land. The remaining 4% of federal land

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1012-678: The United States Constitution empowers the federal government with exclusive legislative authority like that exercised for Washington D.C. over "Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, Dock-yards, and other needful Buildings." The federal government manages about 640 million acres (2.6 million km ) of land in

1058-485: The United States is a legal title holder, the federal government is a necessary part in all leases and dispositions of resources including trust land. For example, the secretary of the interior must approve any contract for payment or grant by an Indian tribe for services for the tribe 'relative to their lands' (25 U.S.C. § 81)." The Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 provided for

1104-443: The United States, which is about 28% of the total land area of 2.27 billion acres (9.2 million km ). The majority of federal lands (610.1 million acres (2.469 million km ) or 95 percent area in 2015) are administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Park Service (NPS), or United States Forest Service (USFS). BLM, FWS, and NPS are part of

1150-582: The broad powers of the federal government to deal with federal lands, for example having unanimously held in Kleppe v. New Mexico that "the complete power that Congress has over federal lands under this clause necessarily includes the power to regulate and protect wildlife living there, state law notwithstanding." Lands held by the United States in trust for Native American tribes are generally not considered public lands. There are some 55 million acres (0.22 million km ) of land held in trust by

1196-530: The county is in the 5th Assembly District , represented by Republican Joe Patterson . In the State Senate , the county is in the 1st Senate District , represented by Republican Brian Dahle . Due to its low population density, Alpine County votes entirely by mail , one of two counties in California which do so. In the June 2014 primary elections, about 22% of registered voters statewide went to

1242-494: The county's vote. However, Alpine has become more of a Democratic county in recent elections. It was carried by John Kerry in 2004 and has stayed in the Democratic column since. No Republican has won a majority in the county since 1988. In November 2008, Alpine was one of just three counties in California's interior in which voters rejected Proposition 8 , the ballot initiative to amend the California Constitution to reject

1288-687: The exception of the General Mining Law of 1872 and the Desert Land Act of 1877, have since been repealed or superseded. Between 1781 and 2018, the federal government divested itself of estimated 1.29 billion acres (5.2 million km ) of public domain land. The vast majority (97%) of transfers of federal land to private ownership occurred before 1940. Beginning in the early 20th century, U.S. government policy shifted from disposing of public land to retaining and managing it. Congress took additional steps toward recognizing

1334-565: The federal acreage held by the Bureau of Land Management and Department of Defense decreased by 10.2% and 56.8%, respectively, and the federal acreage held by the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service increased by 0.8%, 2.7%, and 5.0%, respectively. Over the 1990–2018 time period, the largest decline in federal acreage was in Alaska (a decrease of 9.4%, or 23.0 million acres (0.093 million km )) and in

1380-428: The federal government for Indian tribes and almost 11 million acres (45 thousand km ) of land held in trust by the federal government for individual Natives. Although the United States holds legal title to these lands, the tribe or individual holds beneficial title (the right to use and benefit from the property). As a result, Indian Country is "quasi-private, not public, land." Nevertheless, "because

1426-429: The federal government owns 61.3% of the land area in Alaska, 46.4% of the land area in the 11 contiguous Western states; and 4.2% of the land area of other states. The state with the highest percentage of land held by the federal government is Nevada (80.1%); the states with the lowest percentage of land held by the federal government are Connecticut and Iowa (0.3%). In the United States, acquired lands refer to

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1472-500: The idea to fruition. Once the political theater aspect of the project was exposed, planning for the Alpine County project came to a halt even among demoralized true believers. In the late 1970s, the Posse Comitatus organization attempted to take over Alpine County by settling there and fielding candidates in local elections. The Posse thought winning local elections in Alpine County was their best opportunity to take control of

1518-490: The land, surveys needed to be conducted. The Land Ordinance of 1785 instructed a geographer to oversee this work as undertaken by a group of surveyors. The first years of surveying were completed by trial and error; once the territory of Ohio had been surveyed, a modern public land survey system had been developed. In 1812, Congress established the United States General Land Office as part of

1564-475: The late 1960s, the latter of which is split with Amador County . The population shot up from 484 in 1970 to 1,097 in 1980 , a 126.65% increase, and has remained around that level. The three national forests ( Eldorado , Humboldt–Toiyabe and Stanislaus ) means 96% of the county is owned by the federal government, providing opportunities for economic development and tourism to the skiing resorts as well as historical tourism and outdoor recreation. According to

1610-522: The legal extension of the title of marriage to same-sex couples. Alpine voters rejected Proposition 8 by 56.4 percent to 43.6 percent. The other interior counties in which Proposition 8 failed to receive a majority of votes were neighboring Mono and Yolo counties. Alpine County is in California's 3rd congressional district , represented by Republican Kevin Kiley . In the State Assembly ,

1656-541: The polls; in Alpine County, the number was almost 70%, the highest of any county in the state. Gay activist Don Jackson seriously presented an idea for taking over Alpine County at a December 28, 1969, gay liberation conference in Berkeley, California. The project, which eventually became known as Stonewall Nation , was subsequently surreptitiously used by fellow gay activists Morris Kight and Don Kilhefner as an agitation and propaganda tool with no serious plans to bring

1702-556: The population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 12.1% were of German , 12.1% Irish , 9.3% English , 6.5% American and 5.7% Italian ancestry. 95.0% spoke English , 3.1% Spanish and 2.0% Washo as their first language. There were 483 households, out of which 25.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.9% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 27.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.4% had someone living alone who

1748-527: The powers of the state, granted by the state…'") and the property they hold is held on behalf of all the people of the state. As such, the State Legislature may delegate any of the functions of the State to the counties but likewise can reassume any delegated duties. California counties are general law counties by default. Still, they may be chartered as provided in Article XI, Section 3 of

1794-582: The public rangelands by establishment of advisory boards that set grazing fees. The Oregon and California Revested Lands Sustained Yield Management Act of 1937, commonly referred as the O&;C Act, required sustained yield management of the timberlands in western Oregon. The Sagebrush Rebellion movement in the Western United States in the 1970s and the 1980s sought major changes to federal land control, use, and disposal policy in 13 western states in which federal land holdings include between 20% and 85% of

1840-636: The survey and settlement of the lands that the original Thirteen Colonies ceded to the federal government after the American Revolution . As additional lands were acquired by the United States from Spain , France , Native American Nations and other countries, the United States Congress directed that they be explored, surveyed, and made available for settlement. During the Revolutionary War, military bounty land

1886-492: The territories, patenting land that was surveyed via the corresponding Office of the Surveyor General of a particular territory. This pattern gradually spread across the entire United States. Homestead entries peaked in 1910, when they amounted to 18.3 million acres (0.074 million km ), and sharply declined after 1935 and were eliminated in 1986. The laws that spurred mass federal land transfers, with

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1932-548: The value of the assets on public lands and directed the Executive Branch to manage activities on the remaining public lands. The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 allowed leasing, exploration, and production of selected commodities, such as coal , oil , gas , and sodium to take place on public lands. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 established the United States Grazing Service to manage

1978-540: Was Imperial County , in 1907. California is home to San Bernardino County , the largest county in the contiguous United States, as well as Los Angeles County , the most populous county in the United States. The counties of California are local arms of the State of California , described by the Supreme Court of California as agents ("the county is merely a political subdivision of state government, exercising only

2024-452: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 2.96. In the county, the population was spread out, with 22.8% under the age of 18, 10.4% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 29.3% from 45 to 64, and 9.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 110.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 117.2 males. The median income for

2070-519: Was a Republican stronghold in presidential and congressional elections. From 1892 until 2004, the only Democrat to carry Alpine County in a presidential election was Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936. In 1964, Alpine was one of only five counties in the state to back Barry Goldwater . It was among the five most Republican counties in the entire nation in 1892, 1908, 1920, and 1928. Warren Harding and Herbert Hoover gained over ninety percent of

2116-563: Was promised to soldiers who fought for the colonies. After the war, the Treaty of Paris of 1783 , signed by the United States, the Kingdom of Great Britain , France , and Spain , ceded territory to the United States. In the 1780s, other states relinquished their own claims to land in modern-day Ohio . By this time, the United States needed revenue to function. Land was sold so that the government would have money to survive. In order to sell

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