Del Norte County, California
| Del Norte County | ||||||
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| County | ||||||
| County of Del Norte | ||||||
Images, from top down, left to right: Crescent City Harbor, Redwood National Park, Castle Rock, the mouth of the Smith River
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 Location in the state of California |
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 California's location in the United States |
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| Country |  United States of America |
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| State |
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| Region | North Coast | |||||
| Incorporated | March 2, 1857 | |||||
| Named for | "Of the North" (Spanish: Del norte) | |||||
| County seat | Crescent City | |||||
| Largest city | Crescent City | |||||
| Area | ||||||
| • Total | 1,230 sq mi (3,200 km2) | |||||
| • Land | 1,006 sq mi (2,610 km2) | |||||
| • Water | 223 sq mi (580 km2) | |||||
| Highest elevation | 6,415 ft (1,955 m) | |||||
| Population (April 1, 2010) | ||||||
| • Total | 28,610 | |||||
| • Estimate (2015) | 27,254 | |||||
| • Density | 23/sq mi (9.0/km2) | |||||
| Time zone | Pacific Time Zone (UTC-8) | |||||
| • Summer (DST) | Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-7) | |||||
| Area codes | 707, 541 | |||||
| FIPS code | 06-015 | |||||
| GNIS feature ID | 1682074 | |||||
| Website | www |
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Del Norte County is a county at the far northwest corner of the U.S. state of California, along the Pacific Ocean adjacent to the Oregon border. As of the 2010 census, the population was 28,610. The county seat and only incorporated city is Crescent City. Del Norte was pioneered and settled by Azorean Portuguese explorers and dairy farmers, which may account for the local pronunciation of the county name. Residents pronounce the county name as Del Nort, not Del Nor-tay as would be expected in Spanish.
Del Norte County comprises the Crescent City, CA Micropolitan Statistical Area.
The rural county is notable for forests containing giant Coast Redwoods, with some attaining heights over 350 feet (110 m). This northernmost county on the California coast also has scores of unique plants and flowers, dozens of species of coastal birds and fish, rocky primitive beaches and sea stacks, pristine rivers, and historic lighthouses. Del Norte is also known among Bigfoot enthusiasts as the location of the famous Patterson–Gimlin film, as well as being the location of some of the forest scenes used in Return of the Jedi.
The area that is now known as Del Norte was and still is inhabited by the Yurok (Klamath River Indians) and Tolowa Nations of indigenous peoples. The first European American to explore this land was pioneer Jedediah Smith in the mid-19th century. He was the first European American to reach the area overland on foot in a time before the European Americans knew anything about such a distant territory. For him it was literally "Land's End" — where the American continent ended at the Pacific Ocean. In 1855 Congress authorized the building of a lighthouse at "the battery point" (a high tide island on the coast of Crescent City) which is still functioning as a historical landmark.
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