Oroville is on the banks of the Feather River, which flows from the Sierra Nevada onto the flat floor of the California Central Valley. During the California Gold Rush, it was created as the Feather River's head of navigation to serve miners. The original inhabitants of Oroville were the
Konkow subdivision of
Maidu people. In
their native language, the Oroville area is
ʔópamtani. The town was originally named "
Ophir City", but was renamed Oroville when the first post office opened in 1854 (
oro is Spanish for "gold"). The City of Oroville was incorporated on January 3, 1906. Gold was found at
Bidwell Bar, one of California's first gold-mining sites, bringing thousands of prospectors to the Oroville area. Now inundated by the waters of enormous
Lake Oroville, which was filled in 1968, Bidwell Bar is memorialized by the
Bidwell Bar Bridge, an original remnant of the area and the first
suspension bridge in California (
California Historical Landmark #314). The Western Pacific Railroad built the all-weather Feather River Canyon route across the Sierra Nevada in the early 20th century, earning it the moniker "The Feather River Route". The California Zephyr made frequent stops at Oroville station during its 20-year existence. This was included on the Union Pacific Railroad's Feather River Canyon Subdivision in 1983. State Route 70, a significant thoroughfare, runs almost parallel to the train line that winds through the canyon. The olive-canning industry was founded in Oroville by
Freda Ehmann, credited as the "mother of the California ripe olive industry". She built a large cannery in Oroville and by 1900 was the president of the world's largest canned olive factory. Ehmann was a believer in women's suffrage and a friend of
Susan B. Anthony.
Ishi, Oroville's most famous resident, was the last of the
Yahi people and is considered the last "Stone Age" Indian to come out of the wilderness and into Western civilization. When he appeared out of the hills in East Oroville in 1911, he was immediately thrust into the national spotlight. The Visitor Center at Lake Oroville has a thorough exhibit and documentary film on Ishi and his life in society. Archaeological finds place the northwestern border for the prehistoric
Martis people in the Oroville area.
1881 lynching On August 7, 1881, pioneer Jack Crum was allegedly stomped to death by local bully Tom Noacks in
Chico, California. The young Noacks was feared by the locals of
Butte County, not only because of his size and strength, but allegedly because he was mentally unbalanced and enjoyed punching oxen in the head. Noacks was arrested and jailed in the Chico jail. Once word got out that the old pioneer had been murdered, the authorities moved Noacks to the
Butte County county jail in Oroville for his safety. Crum's friends, knowing that Noacks was in the county jail, made their way to Oroville with rope in hand. Knocking on the jail door, the men told the jailer that they had a prisoner from the town of
Biggs, California. Once inside the jail, they overpowered the jailer and dragged Noacks from his cell. They took Noacks to Crum's former farm and hanged him from an old cottonwood tree. Nobody was ever prosecuted for the lynching.
Hate groups Hate groups began appearing in Oroville media stories beginning in 1976 with a
neo-Nazi husband and wife couple killed in a shootout. In 1980, members of the
American Nazi Party moved to Oroville from
Tracy, California, to re-organize as Chico Area National Socialists. In September 1982, 17-year-old Joseph Hoover was murdered by his Nazi colleagues after he told police he helped spread anti-Black hate literature at Oroville High School. Local Nazi leader Perry "Red" Wartham was convicted of Hoover's murder and sentenced to 27 years, and two more male high school–age Nazi recruits were convicted as accessories to murder. In 2016, an Oroville man was found spreading Nazi hate messages in Sacramento. In January 2004, a
white power publication was distributed in the
Kelly Ridge area east of Oroville.
Oroville Dam crisis On February 7, 2017, after heavy rains, a defect formed in a spillway of
Oroville Dam. For the first time since its construction, the secondary spillway was overtopped on February 11. Shortly after being put into service, this structure began to show signs of being undermined, raising fears of catastrophic failure. Owing to their inability to predict the continued safety of this spillway, the Butte County Sheriff ordered evacuations of downstream residents from Butte, Sutter, and Yuba counties.
COVID-19 In November 2021, citing alleged federal and state overreach during the
COVID-19 pandemic, the Oroville city council passed a resolution declaring the city as its own "Constitutional Republic" and refused to enforce federal orders that it said violated its citizens' rights. The resolution to declare the town a
constitutional republic was an attempt to limit state and federal restrictions related to the
COVID-19 pandemic in California. One rural law expert stated that the designation was unclear and would not operate to shield the city from following state and federal laws. ==Geography==