Shasta, McCloud River, and Gold Rush-era history, it is an important tourist destination within the state.

The Siskiyou Trail followed indigenous footpaths, and was extended by Hudson's Bay Company trappers in the 1830s.

After the discovery of an important gold strike near today's Yreka, California, in 1851, prospectors flooded the area.

Visitors were drawn by the county's many summer resorts, and to hunt or fish in the largely untouched region.

It may be a Chinook Jargon word for a "bob-tailed horse" (ultimately originating in Cree),[7] or as was argued before the State Senate in 1852, from the French Six Cailloux (six stones), a name given to a ford on the Umpqua River by Michel Laframboise and his Hudson's Bay Company trappers in 1832.

Others claim the Six Cailloux name was appropriated by Stephen Meek, another Hudson's Bay Company trapper who discovered Scott Valley, for a crossing on the Klamath River near Hornbrook.

Pastoral Scott Valley in the western part of the county has many wide, tree-lined meadows, supporting large cattle ranches.

Butte Valley nurseries are the leading source of premium strawberry plants in North America.

The county's natural resources are most often used these days for skiing, snowboarding, hiking, mountain biking, camping, and wilderness recreation, as historic logging practices have been largely discontinued due to Federal and State environmental regulations.

[12] Siskiyou Transit And General Express (STAGE)[13] operates buses connecting the more populated areas of the county.

The last Democrat to win a majority in the county was Lyndon Johnson in 1964; however, Bill Clinton won a plurality of votes in 1992.

Siskiyou County is in California's 1st congressional district, represented by Republican Doug LaMalfa.

[19] On November 4, 2008, Siskiyou County voted 60.1% for Proposition 8 which amended the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriages.

[citation needed] On September 3, 2013, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted 4–1 in favor of secession from California to form a proposed state named Jefferson.

[22] The following table includes the number of incidents reported and the rate per 1,000 persons for each type of offense.

As of March 2012, the largest self-reported ancestry groups in Siskiyou County are 15% German, 13% English, 12% Irish and 6% Italian.