Nataqua Territory

The Nataqua territory covered the deserts of western Nevada.

The Nataqua Territory was a short lived and unofficial territory of the United States. It consisted of a portion of what is now northeastern California and northwestern Nevada, centered on Susanville, California. In 1856, the border between California and the Utah Territory was unsurveyed and poorly defined. Local residents took advantage of this ambiguity and justified their resistance to tax collectors from Plumas County, California, by proclaiming themselves part of the Nataqua Territory. The independence movement was led by Peter Lassen and Isaac Roop. Association with the Utah Territory was unpalatable to the residents due to anti-Mormonism. The first governor of the territory was Lassen, followed by Roop in 1859 (after Lassen's death).

Subsequent to the formation of the Nevada Territory in 1861, Roop County, Nevada, was formed encompassing the area of the Nataqua Territory, and the pretense of independence was dropped. In 1863 a border survey found Susanville and virtually all the population of Roop County was actually in California. The California portion of Roop County became Lassen County, California in 1864.