In the proposed State of Jefferson several attempts to break the grip of oppressive bureaucratic and tyrannical government has failed over and over through the decades. The people continue in a downward spiral of economic oppression and despair . . .

But, one day last week, the “Last Miner Standing” found himself at a gun show where like-minded Jeffersonians were gathering to buy more protection and paraphernalia to thwart the threat of bloated, greedy government to their dwindling lifestyles. There the obscure miner found hidden opportunity, like gold hidden deep in the crevasses of the earth.

A struggling merchant had worked many years to organize the gun shows and operate a booth of Jefferson wares. But as the movement floundered and failed to gain recognition, the merchant suffered under the weight of less and less business, and more and more burden. The common plight of the people caught between two powerful and corrupt government capitols in the northwest remained.

The merchant and the miner, however, had become close through their common struggles, and this day the gun show yielded the time needed to “mine” a golden opportunity. Together they would add a new line of products to the Jefferson merchandise that would draw the attention needed to promote the State of Jefferson movement into prominence while enriching the people, not the government!

It was a bold plan pulled together by fragments and failures of others’ attempts to eek out a living while opportunity was continually “undermined” and “stripped” from them. This plan would be “all or nothing”, “boom or bust”, for it required many of those who’d been ground-down for trying, “chewed up and spit out” and had been cast aside, almost forgotten as failures . . . and had, all but, given up. One such man was the “spearhead”/leader of the Jefferson Republic movement which almost came to fruition through popular vote. But, like all other attempts at liberty, “almost” doesn’t count.

Unbeknownst to many, this man was also a miner, another of the same breed crazed by “gold fever” which caused all manners of strange behaviors and outrageous risks taken in pursuit of hidden treasure. He developed, and had cast, a set of dies that would stamp any soft metal into a coin. His particular stamp bore a certain image, the powerful image of the “Double X’s”. The hidden meaning of the “Double X’s” told the entire story of The State of Jefferson, but was no mystery in the hearts and minds of the people inhabiting the mystic lands of the northwest. Like gold, they and the “Double X’s” remained hidden, awaiting discovery by any who would risk all in pursuit of “the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity”.

The bold new plan to merchandise coins bearing the “Double X’s” came together over dinner after the gun show. The merchant would distribute coins minted in gold, silver and copper if the “Last Miner Standing” could procure the dies, now for sale by the originator of them. Miraculously, the plan came together, and with orders already placed, the “Double X’s” will be distributed far and wide together with the revelation of their mystery. With that the power to unharness the vast riches in the resources and people of Jefferson will finally be realized!

The hidden meaning of the Double X’s originated in 1941 as miners, ranchers and lumbermen tried to bring their goods to market. But the roads in the northwest were bad, especially in winter. A quote at the time stated: “Our roads are impassable, they’re hardly jackassable!” The people rightly blamed government waste and cronyism for no money or resources to fix and improve the roads.

Hence a movement to form a new state arose and, like wildfire spread throughout Northern California and Southern Oregon. Soon a symbol appeared on the back of the miners’ pans depicting a pair of X’s. The X’s symbolized the two State Capitols of California and Oregon as Double-Crossers not representing the needs of the people. These symbols then became the center of the Great Seal of the State of Jefferson when statehood was declared.

By November of 1941 the movement was about to succeed. But on December 7th Pearl Harbor was attacked and America was drawn into the second world war. The people of Jefferson elected to join in in defense of our country instead of taking the final steps to statehood, so the movement died, not to be revived again until Autumn of . . . XX13!!!