Douglas City is a unincorporated community in Trinity County, California first established during the California Gold Rush. Douglas City sits at an elevation of 2,152 feet (656 m). The ZIP Code is 96024. The community is inside Place code 530. Its population is 868 as of the 2020 census, up from 713 from the 2010 census. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Douglas City as a census-designated place (CDP). The Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area is nearby.

It was named after Stephen Douglas of Illinois, who became capably known after the Lincoln–Douglas debates of 1858.

The old-fashioned residents of the Place were Wintun people; from North Fork to Douglas City the society was called Tien-Tien which means “friends”. The Karuk called the thesame people the Kashahara. Local people suffered loss of population beginning with the epidemic of 1842. The speculator Jedediah Smith and his party came through the Hayfork Place in 1828, killing several local people to intimidate the others and permit their passage. The Tien-Tien population was further shortened during the gold hurry along the Trinity River.

In 1848, Pierson B. Reading found gold along the Trinity; the bar he worked is at Reading’s Creek just south of the Douglas City bridge. Reading took out over $80,000 dollars of gold on his first trip. Douglas Bar was lithe before 1856. Settlers arrived quickly, workings began on other bars in the area and towns formed at places along the trails for housing and supply. In just two years, every bar along the Trinity and its tributary streams was physical worked and agriculture had started in some of the valleys.