Red Bluff, California

Red Bluff is a city in and the county seat of Tehama County, California, United States. Its population was 14,710 at the 2020 census, up from 14,076 at the 2010 census.

It is located 131 miles (211 kilometers) north of Sacramento, 31 mi (50 km) south of Redding, and it is bisected by Interstate 5. Red Bluff is situated on the banks of the upper Sacramento River. Located in the northernmost part of California’s Central Valley, the city marks the northern end of a vast contiguously cultivated area that extends all the way to Bakersfield, 400 mi (640 km) to the south. Mildly rugged terrain, used as rangeland, separates Red Bluff from the next crop areas to the north in Cottonwood.

It was originally known as Leodocia, but was renamed to Covertsburg in 1853, then its current name in 1854. Located at the head of navigation on the Sacramento River, the town flourished in the mid- to late 19th century as a landing point for miners heading to the Trinity County gold fields and later as a temporary terminus for the Southern Pacific Railroad's northward expansion.

Red Bluff is on the northern edge of the Sacramento Valley, and is the third-largest city in the Shasta Cascade region. It is about 31 mi (50 km) south of Redding, 40 mi (64 km) northwest of Chico, and 131 mi (211 km) north of Sacramento.

The city is located at 40°10′36″N 122°14′17″W / 40.17667°N 122.23806°W / 40.17667; -122.23806 (40.176640, −122.237951). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.7 sq mi (20 km²). 7.6 sq mi (20 km²) of it is land and 0.1 sq mi (0.26 km²) (1.48%) of it is covered by water.

In the early 19th century, the Siskiyou Trail was the main north-south path connecting Northern California and Southern Oregon first used by the Native Americans and later fur trappers and hunters. The first European to settle the northern Sacramento Valley in what was then Alta California was Peter Lassen, who in 1844 was granted the 24,000-acre (97 km²) Rancho Bosquejo tract from the Mexican government near present-day Vina, about 20 mi (32 km) southeast of Red Bluff. There, he proposed to establish a town, but his attempts were thwarted when the California Gold Rush stole the focus of the settlers he had gathered in Missouri. Regardless, the publicity from his colonization efforts attracted new settlers to the valley. In the late 1840s, riverboat traffic began expanding northward along the Sacramento River. Lassen's initial attempt to navigate to his ranch in 1849 had failed, but the following year, a riverboat managed to make the arduous 125-mile (201 km) journey from Sacramento in 5 months before ultimately being sunk.

The discovery of gold near Yreka, California, in 1851 brought a new rush northward and settlers soon flooded the area, looking for the quickest route to the gold fields. A site on the Sacramento River just north of Reeds Creek was determined to be the river's navigable head, and a small community soon sprung up around the important landing. First known as Leodocia then Covertsburg, by the time a post office was established on October 17, 1853 residents had settled on the name Red Bluff, in recognition of the titular geographical features once prominent along the banks of the Sacramento River. The first postmaster was Samuel Bishop.

Tehama County was created in 1856 and Red Bluff was chosen as the seat of the new county. By 1859, the first permanent courthouse was constructed.