Sierra

Formed March 22, 1852 (31^st county)

Sierra County (3,234), Downieville* (290), Loyalton (740)

The small Modern style courthouse of Sierra County was built in 1948.  It is located on Courthouse Square in this small mountain community.  California State Highway 49 goes through the center of the town.  George Sellon was the designer of the courthouse.  There was a courthouse dated in 1854 in Downieville, the only county seat.  The county was formed on March 22, 1852 from Yuba County as the 31^st county.  A local miner, William Downie, provided the basis for the county seat’s name.  The county’s name is a geographical name for its location in the mountains.  Sierra is Spanish for “mountain range.” 

Sierra County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, controller, and treasurer (executive).  It has 5 Supervisors (legislative.)  Two Superior Court Judges, clerk, and counsel serve Sierra County (judicial.)  The county is in the Sierra Nevada Mountains northeast of Sacramento, California.  Its eastern border is Nevada.  The county center is 25.7 miles East of Downieville nearer Sierra City.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Plumas and Lassen counties and Nevada and Nevada and Yuba counties.  The county is shaped like a bottle opener facing down.  Downieville is located in the western half of the county.  Loyalton is located in the northeast quarter of the county.  Downieville is the county seat but it is unincorporated.  Loyalton is the largest city and only incorporated place.  Downieville is 9.0% of the county population and Loyalton is 22.9% of the county population.  The county is pronounced SEE-AIR-RA.  The county seat is pronounced DOWN-EE-VIL.

The area of the county is 953 square miles.  It is 45 out of 58 in the state.  It ranks 57 out of 58 in population in the state.  It has a density of 3.4 persons per square mile making it 55 out of 58 in the state.  Sierra County has 22.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 395 crosses the extreme northeast tip of the county from Lassen County, north, to Nevada, east.