The small rural community of Alturas is located in northeastern California, in Modoc County. Like many other rural communities in the Pacific Northwest, Alturas' traditional economic base in ranching, mining and timber, has diminished significantly since the 1980's, creating the need for alternative economic resources. In 1986 Modoc County and Modoc Joint Unified School District applied for state funds under the geothermal loan program to engage in a geothermal resource assessment of the entire Alturas Basin, focusing on the limits of the City of Alturas to provide a heating alternative for hospital, county and school buildings. Until then no geothermal resource had been documented for the Alturas area. A county wide study of geothermal resource potential included drilling a 900 foot geothermal gradient hole near the Alturas airport with promising temperatures, but no production data