The Rogue Valley is an important homeland for native people and Tribes. The first people who stewarded the lands on which Solasta sits used the area as a travel corridor and seasonal camping area.”

The nearby town of Jacksonville was named for Jackson Creek and inundated by miners who settled when gold was discovered in 1851. Until then, the area had been populated by the Upper Takelma native people who had limited, peaceful interactions with trappers or travelers headed to California.

The influx of gold miners and settlers coming west on the Oregon Trail to claim land for farming and ranching caused increased friction over land uses and resources and eventual war. Gold mined in the area was collected at the bank in Jacksonville and transported by Wells Fargo & Co. over the stage route that linked Jacksonville with Sacramento and Portland. “After the Rogue River Wars, the native people were forcibly removed from their homelands to reservations on the Oregon coast in 1856. As gold mining declined through the 1870’s Jacksonville still thrived as the County seat and most prominent town in southern Oregon.

In 1884 when the Oregon and California Railroad bypassed the town, residents eventually moved to be nearer to the railroad stop where the City of Medford sprang up. They left their homes and buildings behind which were later restored in the 1960’s and became Jacksonville’s National Historic Register legacy.

Central Point was named in 1852 for the crossroad where two major roads converged; one headed west to Jacksonville and the other running north-south to connect to the Oregon-California Trail. An Indian Agent sent to this Region to help keep the peace between the Takelma and packers transporting supplies to the gold fields, made the first Donation Land Claim in the Valley that would become Central Point.

Several farmers settled near this claim after making the discovery that the soil was fertile once the manzanita brush was cleared. In 1883 when the railroad bought a right-of-way ½ mile from Central Point, citizens determined to take advantage of the railroad moved the town further west and built their own depot. A flour mill was established in the town and this helped save surrounding farmers the 4 mile trip to Medford.

The town grew as the orchard and fruit industry blossomed and carloads of apples and pears were loaded at the Central Point depot and shipped to England in the early 1900’s through World War I. Further economic ebbs and flows in Central Point resulted from the construction of Highway 99 (in the1920’s), Interstate 5 (in the 1960’s), an army training center and the lumber industry (after World War II).

Evidence of past indigenous habitation, gold mining, stage route stops, and agriculture surround and are part of Solasta today.