Butte Valley: Home of the “America’s Tallest Flagpole Project”

 

The Dorris Lions Club, chartered July 18, 1946, is made up of leaders committed to the Butte Valley Community. In 1993 they embarked on an unprecedented project which would take three years of community support and fundraising effort to complete. On June 2, 1996 they formally dedicated “America’s Tallest Flagpole”, next to the historic Dorris City Hall and within Veteran’s Park. US Highway 97 and the north-south mainline of the Southern Pacific Railroad (now Union Pacific RR) flank the project.

 

Meant to provide a visible, positive landmark which would instill community pride and honor our country-and community’s-veterans of all wars for their sacrifice towards freedom, this steel pole rises 200 feet above it’s base and flies a 30’x60’ American Flag (1,800 sf) 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

 

Each year, on Independence Day, the community rededicates our flag with a ceremonial “carry” from the schools on 3rd street to the flagpole. Little Leaguers, Scouts, 4-H and FFA members, Lions Club members and interested citizens create memories with their actions. On occasion, we’ve had scheduled and unscheduled “flyovers” during our ceremonies; such as, a soaring bald eagle on our dedication day, F-16 fighter jets and a flock of white pelicans in a “V-formation” high in the sky above the pole. 

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A small, and simple gesture for our cherished American Freedoms, this flag pole project welcomes visitors into California from the north and bids them a fond farewell as they depart. Dorris is California’s first, and friendliest, community the road traveler meets as they travel south on the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway-a nationally recognized All-American Roadway.