Cohasset (formerly, Keefers Ridge and North Point) is an unincorporated community in Butte County, California, United States, approximately NNE of Chico, California. Its main street is named Cohasset Road, which comes from the Algonquin Indian language and means "long rocky place".

The town is a mountain community at above mean sea level. It sits on Cohasset Ridge: an eleven-mile (18 km) ridge running roughly southwest-to-northeast. The U.S. Geological Survey feature ID is 1655909 and NAD27 coordinates for the community are . The ZIP Code for the community is 95973, which is shared with about seven other nearby towns, and the area code 530.

The Cohasset Ridge is a Southern Cascadian ridge near the northern extremity of the Sierra nevada and frequently considered as part of the latter. It has experienced an occupance sequence from aborigine Indians to early lumbermen, to farmers and orchardists, to the current resident and retirement or summer home pattern. These have, for the most part, been gradual phases with much overlapping, and accompanied by periods of population expansion and contraction. The ridge is conveniently located near the moderately sized California city of Chico, a circumstance that affords mutual benefits: urban employment, shopping, school and cultural advantages for the ridge residents; with recreation and pleasant summer or week-end homes for Chico residents. The Cohasset Ridge has not developed as rapidly as Paradise, a comparable ridge near Chico, even though Cohasset has most of the attributes of Paradise except for developed water supply and good access roads. The purpose of this study is to briefly explore the past of the area and to determine its potentialities. Little of the history of this area has been written except for a few biographical sketches of early Cohasset citizens in Mansfield's History of Butte County and the account of the naming of the ridge by W. H. Hutchinson, a work that will be referred to later in this thesis. To compensate for the deficiency of recorded historical data much reliance has been made on personal interviews of present and former ridge residents, to whom is owed a debt of gratitude.

The physical setting of the ridge including its land forms and resources have been considered, as well as its sequent occupance, the basis of its economy, and the prospects for the future.

The primary airport is the Chico Municipal Airport.

Geography

Cohasset Ridge is located in the north-central part of the California county of Butte and follows the northeast-southwest portion of the Butte–Tehama County line where it extends along Rock Creek, with the northern portion of the ridge projecting into southern Tehama County.

The complete ridge spans from about 40°2'40'N in the north to about 39°50'N, and from 121°41'W on the east extending to the southwest to 121°49'W. It is, essentially, the area lying between and drained by two tributaries of the Sacramento River, Rock and Mud creeks.

The ridge lies above the Sacramento Valley and has a general southwest to northeast upward slope with an elevation rise from about at the confluence of Rock Creek and Anderson Fork, rising to at its northern extremity.

Some consideration has been given to the valley region between the two streams, immediately below the ridge proper, due to its close historical links to the ridge itself.

History

In the mid-1800s the local lumber and farming operations began, prior to which the Maidu inhabited the area for many generations. By the early 1900s, Cohasset was famous for its high quality apples. Today, they are better known for our peaceful country living, the Annual Cohasset Bazaar, and the beauty of the Cohasset Ridge. The latest census places the population at 720.

A post office operated at Cohasset from 1888 to 1920.

Government

County

State

The citizens of Cohasset, as members of California's 3rd Assembly District, are represented by Rick Keene (R, Chico) in the California State Assembly; and as members of California's 4th Senate District, are represented by Sam Aanestad (R, Grass Valley) in the California State Senate.

Federal

The citizens of Cohasset, as members of California's 2nd congressional district (which has a PVI of R +13) are represented by Wally Herger (R, Rio Oso) in the United States House of Representatives.

References

• US Geological Survey, National Geographic Names Database.
• Map: Cohasset, California, 7.5 minute quadrangle, 1995, US Geological Survey.
• US Census Bureau, 2000 census statistical area records.

1. Cohasset, California @ Chico Unified School District website as retrieved December 30, 2006.