Editing Colusa County, California (section)

==History==
Colusa County is one of the original [[List of California counties|counties of California]], created in 1850 at the time of statehood. Parts of the county's territory were given to [[Tehama County, California|Tehama County]] in 1856 and to [[Glenn County, California|Glenn County]] in 1891.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.counties.org/general-information/creation-our-58-counties|title=The Creation of Our 58 Counties|website=California State Association of Counties|language=en|access-date=March 3, 2019}}</ref>

The county was named after the 1844 [[Rancho Colus]] [[Ranchos of California|Mexican land grant]] to [[John Bidwell]]. The name of the county in the original state legislative act of 1850 was spelled ''Colusi'', and often in newspapers was spelled ''Coluse''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1850/1850.pdf|title=The Statutes of California Passed at the First Session of the Legislature|publisher=J. Winchester, State Printer|year=1850|location=San Jose|pages=62}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.counties.org/pod/how-did-our-58-counties-get-their-names|title=How Did Our 58 Counties Get Their Names?|website=California State Association of Counties|language=en|access-date=March 3, 2019}}</ref> The word is derived from the name of a [[Patwin]] village known as ''Ko'-roo'' or ''Korusi'' located on the west side of the [[Sacramento River]] on the site of the present-day city of [[Colusa, California|Colusa]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ|title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States|last=Gannett|first=Henry|publisher=Government Printing Office|year=1905|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n87 88]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Heizer|first1=Robert|last2=Hester|first2=Thomas|date=1970|title=Names and Locations of Some Ethnographic Patwin and Maidu Indian Villages|url=http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/proof/pdfs/arf009-006.pdf|journal=Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Facility|volume=9|pages=84}}</ref> The name was established as ''Colusa'' by 1855.<ref name=":0" />

=== Early history ===
Present-day Colusa County was originally home to the Patwin band of the [[Wintun]] people,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=California Indian Languages|url=https://archive.org/details/californiaindian00goll|url-access=limited|last=Golla|first=Victor|publisher=University of California Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0520266674|location=Berkeley|pages=[https://archive.org/details/californiaindian00goll/page/n156 143]}}</ref> whose territory included areas along the Sacramento River as well as lands extending west towards [[Lake County, California|Lake County]], bounded in the north by the sources of [[Stony Creek (Sacramento River tributary)|Stony Creek]] near [[Stonyford, California|Stonyford]] and in the south by [[Putah Creek]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The population of the California Indians, 1769-1970|last=Cook|first=Sherburne Friend|publisher=University of California Press|year=1976|location=Berkeley|pages=13}}</ref>

Linguistically, the Patwin people in the Colusa area spoke two dialects of the Southern Wintuan language. River Patwin was spoken in villages along the Sacramento River, including at Korusi, site of the present city of Colusa. Hill Patwin was spoken in the plains and foothills to the west.<ref name=":1" />

=== European settlement ===
Present-day Colusa County was included as part of three Mexican land grants: John Bidwell's smaller 1845 Rancho Colus grant, which included the modern city of Colusa;<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/reportsoflandcas01hoff|title=Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California|last=Hoffman|first=Ogden|publisher=Numa Hubert|year=1862|location=San Francisco|pages=[https://archive.org/details/reportsoflandcas01hoff/page/37 37], 41}}</ref> the larger 1844 Rancho Jimeno grant, which surrounded the Colus grant;<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://imgzoom.cdlib.org/Fullscreen.ics?ark=ark:/13030/hb3r29n84g/z1&order=2&brand=oac4|title=Plat of the Colus Rancho|publisher=U.S. Surveyor General's Office|year=1860|location=San Francisco}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> and the 1844 Larkin's Children grant, located upriver from Colusa near the present town of [[Princeton, California]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Thomas O. Larkin: A Life of Patriotism and Profit in Old California|last=Hague|first=Harlan|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=1995|isbn=0806127333|location=Norman|pages=182}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.slc.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/1982-GrantsSpanishMexican.pdf|title=Grants of Land in California Made by Spanish or Mexican Authorities|publisher=California State Lands Commission|year=1982|location=Sacramento|pages=25–26}}</ref>