Rich Enclave Collides With Rural Region in California Map Fight

California’s Marin and Modoc counties lie more than 200 miles apart — and several worlds away.

Modoc, tucked into the state’s remote northeast corner, lacks a single traffic light. Many of its 8,500 residents once lost internet service after squirrels chewed through a fiber-optic cable. Ranchers fear wolf attacks on cattle.

Tech-industry wealth, meanwhile, has transformed Marin from a bohemian refuge outside San Francisco into one of California’s richest communities. Traffic regularly jams the freeway into the city, and residents fight over efforts to build more homes.

Two motorcyclists wearing vests labeled “Modoc Territory” drive down Main Street in Alturas, Modoc County.

Photographer: Emily Najera/Bloomberg

Homes stand in Sausalito, Marin County, with downtown San Francisco in the background.

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

The two counties represent utterly different Californias. But if Governor Gavin Newsom has his way, ...