Sheriff James Poore

James Poore was the first Modoc County sheriff born in Modoc County. He was born in Fort Bidwell in 1880 or 1881. In adulthood, he became a rancher and stockman in the Cedarville area. During his term of office as sheriff, an Alturas newspaper reported Sheriff Poore’s “get-tough” policy for bootleggers: “He says he knows that a lot of people here in Modoc are making their own distilled spirits besides trading freely with professional bootleggers. He intends to enforce prohibition to the full extent. So in the future all jackass drinkers and concocters will be severly dealt with.” James Poore was a member of the Masonic Lodge and the Ben Ali Temple of the Shrine. He died in 1955 in Sacramento.