Modoc, Shasta, Takelma, Latgawa, and Umpqua Indian tribes are all native to the region of present Jackson County. Prior to
 the 1850s, the Klickitats from the north raided the area.

 The Territorial Legislature created Jackson County on January 12, 1852, from the southwestern portion of Lane County and
 the unorganized area south of Douglas and Umpqua Counties. It included lands which now lie in Coos, Curry, Josephine,
 Klamath and Lake Counties. Gold discoveries in the Illinois River valley and the Rogue River valley near Jacksonville in
 1852, and the completion of a wagon road connecting the county with California to the south and Douglas County to the
 north led to an influx of non-native settlers.

 Conflict between the miners and Native Americans led to war in 1853, which continued intermittently until the final defeat
 of the last band under chiefs John and George by a combined force of regular army and civilians May 29, 1856 at Big Bend
 on the Rogue River. The Native Americans had received the worse of the fighting throughout this conflict, and as they began
 to surrender, they were herded to existing reservations, beginning in January 1856 when one group was marched to the Grand
 Ronde Indian Reservation west of Salem. Over the following months, other groups were forced to leave until by May 1857
 almost all of the Shasta, Takelma, and Latgawas tribes had been relocated to the Siletz Reservation, where they remained.

 Jacksonville was designated as the first county seat in 1853. However, Jacksonville declined due to diminishing returns in the
 local goldfields and the construction in the 1880s of the Oregon and California Railroad. This railroad bypassed Jacksonville
 and instead went through Medford, located five miles (8 km) east of Jacksonville. Medford's prospects improved because of
 the location of the railroad and the accompanying commerce and development as Jacksonville continued its steady decline.
 Jacksonville fended off suggestions to move the county seat until 1927 when Medford was finally selected as the county seat.