While the great western migration brought settlers successfully to the region in the 1840's and 1850's, and as mining grew and agriculture grew in the area, transportation issues achieved greater concern. Citizens of Jefferson were many miles from the capitals and centers of commerce and culture in their respective states. Jeffersonians tended to feel isolated and neglected and this sense germinated a sense of independence which has endured. The bill died in committee but only because of the pressure of other legislative business. A proposal to create such a state was actually presented before Congress and the agitation continued until Oregon was granted statehood in 1859.
Independence is at hand.
You are now entering Jefferson, the 49th State of the Union. Jefferson is now in patriotic rebellion against the states of California and Oregon. This State has seceded from California and Oregon this Thursday, November 27, 1941. Patriotic Jeffersonians intend to secede each Thursday until further notice. For the next hundred miles as you drive along Highway 99, you are traveling parallel to the greatest copper belt in the far West, seventy-five miles west of here.