Misplaced Pages

#412587

149-582: Elk Creek is an 18-mile (29 km) tributary of the Rogue River in the U.S. state of Oregon . Beginning at 4,931 feet (1,503 m) above sea level in the western foothills of the Cascade Range , it flows generally southwest through the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Elk Creek Project lands to Rogue Elk Park in Jackson County . Here

298-511: A Hall of Fame baseball player, married a teacher from Illahe, and made his home along the Rogue. From 1940 to 1990, actress and dancer Ginger Rogers owned the 1,000-acre (400 ha) Rogue River Ranch, operated for many years as a dairy farm, near Eagle Point. The historic Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater in Medford was named after her. Actress Kim Novak and her veterinarian husband bought

447-534: A hadrosaur or duck-billed dinosaur, were found here. In the mid-1960s, a geologist also discovered the beak and teeth of an ichthyosaur in the Otter Point Formation. In 2018, a geologist from the University of Oregon found a toe bone of a plant-eating dinosaur near Mitchell in the east-central part of the state where the coast lay 100 million years ago. This discovery has also been billed as

596-506: A hatchery at Ellensburg (Gold Beach), which released fish into the river. In its first year of operation, Hume collected 215,000 salmon eggs and released about 100,000  fry . After the first hatchery was destroyed by fire in 1893, Hume built a new hatchery in 1895, and in 1897 he co-operated with the United States Fish Commission in building and operating an egg-collecting station at the mouth of Elk Creek on

745-703: A chapter based on a drift-boat trip he took down the lower Rogue in 1925. The Trust for Public Land bought the property at Winkle Bar and transferred it in 2008 to the BLM, which made it accessible to the public. In the 1930s and 1940s, many other celebrities, attracted by the scenery, fishing, rustic lodges, and boat trips, visited the lower Rogue. Famous visitors included actors Clark Gable , Tyrone Power and Myrna Loy , singer Bing Crosby , author William Faulkner , journalist Ernie Pyle , radio comedians Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll , circus performer Emmett Kelly , and football star Norm van Brocklin . Bobby Doerr ,

894-739: A commonly held view at the time by the colonists in the United States. In a draft "Proposed Articles of Confederation" presented to the Continental Congress on May 10, 1775, Benjamin Franklin called for a "perpetual Alliance" with the Indians in the nation about to be born, particularly with the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy: Article XI. A perpetual alliance offensive and defensive

1043-628: A far-reaching Indian policy with two primary goals. He wanted to assure that the Native nations (not foreign nations) were tightly bound to the new United States, as he considered the security of the nation to be paramount. He also wanted to "civilize" them into adopting an agricultural, rather than a hunter-gatherer , lifestyle. These goals would be achieved through treaties and the development of trade. Jefferson initially promoted an American policy which encouraged Native Americans to become assimilated , or " civilized ". He made sustained efforts to win

1192-698: A home and 43 acres (17 ha) of land in 1997 near the Rogue River in Sams Valley , where they raise horses and llamas . Since the removal of the Gold Ray Dam in 2010, there remain two dams on the main stem of the Rogue River. The William L. Jess Dam , a huge flood-control and hydroelectric structure, blocks the Rogue River 157 miles (253 km) from its mouth. Built by the USACE between 1972 and 1976, it impounds Lost Creek Lake . The dam, which

1341-548: A lot of public controversy before his enactment, but virtually none among historians and biographers of the 19th and early 20th century. However, his recent reputation has been negatively affected by his treatment of the Indians. Historians who admire Jackson's strong presidential leadership, such as Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. , would gloss over the Indian Removal in a footnote. In 1969, Francis Paul Prucha defended Jackson's Indian policy and wrote that Jackson's removal of

1490-587: A new treaty with some but not all of the Indian bands, removing them from Bear Creek and other tributaries on the south side of the main stem. At about the same time, more white emigrants, including women and children, were settling in the region. By 1852, about 28  donation land claims had been filed in the Rogue Valley. Further clashes in 1853 led to the Treaty with the Rogue River (1853) that established

1639-658: A party of 15 men led by Jesse Applegate developed a southern alternative to the Oregon Trail ; the new trail was used by emigrants headed for the Willamette Valley. Later called the Applegate Trail , it passed through the Rogue and Bear Creek valleys and crossed the Cascade Range between Ashland and south of Upper Klamath Lake. From 90 to 100 wagons and 450 to 500 emigrants used

SECTION 10

#1732797631413

1788-487: A political issue, urging President Martin Van Buren to prevent the enforcement of Cherokee removal. Other individual settlers and settler social organizations throughout the United States also opposed removal. Native groups reshaped their governments, made constitutions and legal codes, and sent delegates to Washington to negotiate policies and treaties to uphold their autonomy and ensure federally-promised protection from

1937-536: A population of about 181,300, most of them living in the Rogue River Valley cities of Ashland (19,500), Talent (5,600), Phoenix (4,100), Medford (63,200), Central Point (12,500), and Jacksonville (2,200). Others in Jackson County lived in the cities of Shady Cove (2,300), Eagle Point (4,800), Butte Falls (400) and Rogue River (1,800). Josephine County had a population of 75,700, including

2086-527: A scale equal to their wants, and under regulations calculated to protect them from imposition and extortion, its influence in cementing their interests with our's [sic] could not but be considerable. In his seventh annual message to Congress in 1795, Washington intimated that if the US government wanted peace with the Indians it must behave peacefully; if the US wanted raids by Indians to stop, raids by American "frontier inhabitants" must also stop. In his Notes on

2235-589: A single arch. Built in 1920 for $ 48,400, it replaced a wooden bridge at the same site. The bridge was closed in September 2009 for repairs to its deck and railings . The project is expected to cost $ 3.9 million. Caveman Bridge in Grants Pass is a 550-foot (170 m), three-arch concrete structure. Designed by McCullough and built in 1931, it replaced the Robertson Bridge. The city calls

2384-672: A small faction of twenty Cherokee tribal members (not the tribal leadership) on December 29, 1835. Most of the Cherokee later blamed the faction and the treaty for the tribe's forced relocation in 1838. An estimated 4,000 Cherokee died in the march, which is known as the Trail of Tears . Missionary organizer Jeremiah Evarts urged the Cherokee Nation to take its case to the US Supreme Court . The Marshall court heard

2533-726: A state referendum banned commercial fishing on the Rogue, but this decision was reversed in 1913. As fish runs continued to dwindle, the state legislature finally closed the river to commercial fishing in 1935. As of 2010, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) operates the Cole M. Rivers Hatchery near the base of the dam at Lost Creek Lake, slightly upstream of the former Rogue–Elk Hatchery built by Hume. It raises rainbow trout (steelhead), Coho salmon , spring and fall Chinook salmon , and summer and winter steelhead. The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) built

2682-597: Is 345 feet (105 m) high and 3,600 feet (1,100 m) long, prevents salmon migration above this point. When the lake is full, it covers 3,428 acres (1,387 ha) and has an average depth of 136 feet (41 m). Ranked by storage capacity, its reservoir is the seventh-largest in Oregon. The only artificial barrier on the main stem of the Rogue upstream of Lost Creek Lake is a diversion dam at Prospect at RM 172 (RK 277). The concrete dam, 50 feet (15 m) high and 384 feet (117 m) wide, impounds water from

2831-452: Is charged with controlling water pollution in the basin. United States National Forests and other forests cover about 83 percent of the basin; another 6 percent is grassland, 3 percent shrub, and only 0.2 percent wetland . Urban areas account for slightly less than 1 percent and farms for about 6 percent. Precipitation in the Rogue basin varies greatly from place to place and season to season. At Gold Beach on

2980-487: Is estimated to have been about 3,800. The population before the arrival of explorers and European diseases is thought to have been at least one-third larger, but "there is insufficient evidence to estimate aboriginal populations prior to the time of first white contact... ". The first recorded encounter between whites and coastal southwestern Oregon Indians occurred in 1792 when British explorer George Vancouver anchored off Cape Blanco , about 30 miles (48 km) north of

3129-635: Is to be entered into as soon as may be with the Six Nations; their Limits to be ascertained and secured to them; their Land not to be encroached on, nor any private or Colony Purchases made of them hereafter to be held good, nor any Contract for Lands to be made but between the Great Council of the Indians at Onondaga and the General Congress. The Boundaries and Lands of all the other Indians shall also be ascertained and secured to them in

SECTION 20

#1732797631413

3278-569: The Chinook Jargon word ilahekh , meaning "land" or "earth". Propelled by rowing, poling, pushing, pulling, and sometimes by sail, the mail boat delivered letters and small packages, including groceries from Wedderburn, where a post office was established later in 1895. In 1897, the department established a post office near the confluence of the Rogue and the Illinois rivers, 8 miles (13 km) downriver from Illahe. The postmaster named

3427-569: The Martin Van Buren administration. After the enactment of the Act, approximately 60,000 members of the Cherokee , Muscogee (Creek), Seminole , Chickasaw , and Choctaw nations (including thousands of their black slaves ) were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands, with thousands dying during the Trail of Tears . Indian removal, a popular policy among incoming settlers,

3576-539: The Mississippi River . In an 1803 letter to William Henry Harrison , Jefferson wrote: Should any tribe be foolhardy enough to take up the hatchet at any time, the seizing the whole country of that tribe, and driving them across the Mississippi, as the only condition of peace, would be an example to others, and a furtherance of our final consolidation. In that letter, Jefferson spoke about protecting

3725-424: The Mississippi River —specifically, to a designated Indian Territory (roughly, present-day Oklahoma ), which many scholars have labeled a genocide . The Indian Removal Act of 1830 , the key law which authorized the removal of Native tribes, was signed into law by United States president Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. Although Jackson took a hard line on Indian removal, the law was primarily enforced during

3874-674: The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 (a precedent for US territorial expansion would occur for years to come), calling for the protection of Native American "property, rights, and liberty"; the US Constitution of 1787 (Article I, Section 8) made Congress responsible for regulating commerce with the Indian tribes. In 1790, the new US Congress passed the Indian Nonintercourse Act (renewed and amended in 1793, 1796, 1799, 1802, and 1834) to protect and codify

4023-895: The Oregon Superintendent of Indian Affairs , ordered their removal, involving a forced march of 33 days, to the newly established Grande Ronde Reservation in Yamhill County, Oregon . After the Rogue River War, a small number of newcomers began to settle along or near the Rogue River Canyon. These pioneers , some of whom were white gold miners married to native Karok women from the Klamath River basin, established gardens and orchards, kept horses, cows, and other livestock, and received occasional shipments of goods sent by pack mule over

4172-673: The Oregon Territory passed through the Rogue Valley on their way to the Sacramento River basin. After Indians attacked a group of returning miners along the Rogue in 1850, former territorial governor Joseph Lane negotiated a peace treaty with Apserkahar , a leader of the Takelma Indians. It promised protection of Indian rights and safe passage through the Rogue Valley for white miners and settlers. The peace did not last. Miners began prospecting for gold in

4321-515: The Post Office Department resisted the idea for many years, in early 1895 it agreed to a one-year trial of the water route, established a post office at Price's log cabin at Big Bend, and named Price postmaster . Price's job, for which he received no pay during the trial year, included running the post office and making sure that the mail boat made one round trip a week. He named the new post office Illahe . The name derives from

4470-540: The Rogue River Wars of 1855–56 and removal of most of the natives to reservations outside the basin. After the war, settlers expanded into remote areas of the watershed and established small farms along the river between Grave Creek and the mouth of the Illinois River . They were relatively isolated from the outside world until 1895, when the Post Office Department added mail boat service along

4619-591: The Second Seminole War . Osceola was a Seminole leader of the people's fight against removal. Based in the Everglades , Osceola and his band used surprise attacks to defeat the US Army in a number of battles. In 1837, Osceola was duplicitously captured by order of US General Thomas Jesup when Osceola came under a flag of truce to negotiate peace near Fort Peyton . Osceola died in prison of illness;

Elk Creek (Rogue River tributary) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4768-575: The Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino . Historical views of Indian removal have been reevaluated since that time. Widespread contemporary acceptance of the policy, due in part to the popular embrace of the concept of manifest destiny , has given way to a more somber perspective. Historians have often described the removal of Native Americans as paternalism , ethnic cleansing , or genocide . Historian David Stannard has called it genocide. Andrew Jackson's Indian policy stirred

4917-712: The Senecas transferred all their land in New York (except for one small reservation) in exchange for 200,000 acres (810 km ) of land in Indian Territory. The federal government would be responsible for the removal of the Senecas who opted to go west, and the Ogden Land Company would acquire their New York lands. The lands were sold by government officials, however, and the proceeds were deposited in

5066-672: The South Fork Rogue River , Elk Creek , Larson Creek , Bear Creek , the Applegate River , and the Illinois River . Arising at 5,320 feet (1,622 m) above sea level , the river loses more than 1 mile (1.6 km) in elevation by the time it reaches the Pacific. It was one of the original eight rivers named in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968, which included 84 miles (135 km) of

5215-646: The Table Rock Indian Reservation across the river from the federal Fort Lane. As the white population increased and Indian losses of land, food sources, and personal safety mounted, bouts of violence upstream and down continued through 1854–55, culminating in the Rogue River War of 1855–56. Suffering from cold, hunger, and disease on the Table Rock Reservation, a group of Takelma returned to their old village at

5364-477: The anadromous fish population of the river, plied its lower 12 miles (19 km). During his 32-year tenure, Hume's company caught, processed, and shipped hundreds of tons of salmon from the Rogue. Upriver commercial fishermen also captured large quantities of fish. On a single day in 1913, Grants Pass crews using five drift boats equipped with gill nets caught 5,000 pounds (2,300 kg) of salmon. In 1877, in connection with his commercial fishery, Hume built

5513-440: The left , Swanson and Bitter Lick creeks from the right , and Button Creek from the left. From here to the creek mouth, Elk Creek Road runs parallel to the stream along its right bank. Thereafter, Dodes Creek enters from the left and Sugarpine, Jones, Shell, and Flat creeks from the right. Near river mile (RM) 7 or river kilometer (RK) 11, Middle Creek enters from the right, and shortly thereafter Alco Creek also enters from

5662-429: The 17th century and were escalating into the early 19th century (as settlers pushed westward in accordance with the cultural belief of manifest destiny ). Historical views of Indian removal have been reevaluated since that time. Widespread contemporary acceptance of the policy, due in part to the popular embrace of the concept of manifest destiny , has given way to a more somber perspective. Historians have often described

5811-580: The 1850s and large-scale commercial fishing that began shortly thereafter. The fishing industry fed demands for salmon in the growing cities of Portland and San Francisco and for canned salmon in England. By the 1880s, Robert Deniston Hume of Astoria had bought land on both sides of the lower Rogue River and established such a big fishing business that he became known as the Salmon King of Oregon. His fleet of gillnetting boats, controlling most of

5960-520: The 20th century. Draining 5,156 square miles (13,350 km ), the Rogue River watershed covers parts of Jackson, Josephine, Curry, Douglas, and Klamath counties in southwestern Oregon and Siskiyou and Del Norte counties in northern California . The steep, rugged basin, stretching from the western flank of the Cascade Range to the northeastern flank of the Siskiyou Mountains , varies in elevation from 9,485 feet (2,891 m) at

6109-833: The Cascade Range in Oregon and reach the Pacific Ocean. The others are the Umpqua River and Klamath River . These three Southern Oregon rivers drain mountains south of the Willamette Valley ; the Willamette River and its tributaries drain north along the Willamette Valley into the Columbia River , which starts in British Columbia rather than Oregon. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) operates five stream gauges along

Elk Creek (Rogue River tributary) - Misplaced Pages Continue

6258-707: The Cascades rose, the Rogue maintained its flow to the ocean by down-cutting, which created steep narrow gorges and rapids in many places. Bear Creek, a Rogue tributary that flows south to north, marks the boundary between the Western Cascades to the east and the Klamath Mountains to the west. Much more ancient than the upstream mountains are the exotic terranes of the Klamath Mountains to the west. Not until plate tectonics separated North America from Europe and North Africa and pushed it westward did

6407-525: The Chactas were leaving their country. "To be free," he answered, could never get any other reason out of him. We ... watch the expulsion ... of one of the most celebrated and ancient American peoples. While the Indian Removal Act made the move of the tribes voluntary, it was often abused by government officials. The best-known example is the Treaty of New Echota , which was signed by

6556-576: The Creek population to leave voluntarily, Creeks who had not participated in the war were not forced west (as others were). The Creek population was placed into camps and told that they would be relocated soon. Many Creek leaders were surprised by the quick departure but could do little to challenge it. The 16,000 Creeks were organized into five detachments who were to be sent to Fort Gibson. The Creek leaders did their best to negotiate better conditions, and succeeded in obtaining wagons and medicine. To prepare for

6705-541: The Five Civilized Tribes from the hostile political environment of the Old South to Oklahoma probably saved them. Jackson was sharply attacked by political scientist Michael Rogin and historian Howard Zinn during the 1970s, primarily on this issue; Zinn called him an "exterminator of Indians". According to historians Paul R. Bartrop and Steven L. Jacobs , however, Jackson's policies do not meet

6854-408: The Gold Ray Dam, a log structure, to generate electricity near Gold Hill. They installed a fish ladder . The California-Oregon Power Company, which later became Pacific Power , acquired the dam in 1921. Replacing the log dam in 1941 with a concrete structure 35 feet (11 m) high, it added a new fish ladder and a fish-counting station. The company closed the hydroelectric plant in 1972, although

7003-417: The Gold Ray Dam. Originally built to provide power for a cement company, it was 3 to 14 feet (0.91 to 4.27 m) high and 900 feet (270 m) long. The dam and a diversion canal later delivered municipal water to the city until Gold Hill installed a pumping station to supply its water. Savage Rapids Dam was 5 miles (8 km) upstream from Grants Pass. Built in 1921 to divert river flows for irrigation,

7152-689: The Grants Pass pluton, the Gold Hill pluton, the Jacksonville pluton, and others. Miners have worked rich deposits of gold, silver, copper , nickel , and other metals in several districts of the Klamaths. Placer mining in the mid-19th century soon led to lode mining for gold. Aside from a mine in eastern Oregon, the Greenback Mine along Grave Creek , a Rogue tributary, was the most productive gold mine in Oregon. In Curry County,

7301-418: The House of Representatives by the Georgia delegation. President John Quincy Adams assumed the Calhoun–Monroe policy, and was determined to remove the Indians by non-forceful means; Georgia refused to consent to Adams' request, forcing the president to forge a treaty with the Cherokees granting Georgia the Cherokee lands. On July 26, 1827, the Cherokee Nation adopted a written constitution (modeled on that of

7450-434: The Indian Territory. In 1832, the Sauk leader Black Hawk led a band of Sauk and Fox back to their lands in Illinois; the US Army and Illinois militia defeated Black Hawk and his warriors in the Black Hawk War , and the Sauk and Fox were relocated to present-day Iowa . The Miami were split, with many of the tribe resettled west of the Mississippi River during the 1840s. In the Second Treaty of Buffalo Creek (1838),

7599-432: The Indian tribes is gaining strength daily... and will amply requite us for the justice and friendship practiced towards them ... [O]ne of the two great divisions of the Cherokee nation have now under consideration to solicit the citizenship of the United States, and to be identified with us in-laws and government, in such progressive manner as we shall think best. As some of Jefferson's other writings illustrate, however, he

SECTION 50

#1732797631413

7748-483: The Indians from injustices perpetrated by settlers: Our system is to live in perpetual peace with the Indians, to cultivate an affectionate attachment from them, by everything just and liberal which we can do for them within ... reason, and by giving them effectual protection against wrongs from our own people. According to the treaty of February 27, 1819, the US government would offer citizenship and 640 acres (260 ha) of land per family to Cherokees who lived east of

7897-399: The Kalmiopsis Wilderness are among the world’s best examples of rocks that form the mantle." Metamorphosed peridotite appears as serpentine along the west side of the Illinois River. Chemically unsuited for growing plants, widespread serpentinite in the Klamaths supports sparse vegetation in parts of the watershed. The Josephine peridotite was a source of valuable chromium ore, mined in

8046-583: The Marial post office closed in 1954, "it was the last postal facility in the United States to still be served only by mule pack trains." The first mail boat was an 18-foot (5.5 m), double-ended craft made of cedar. By 1930, the mail-boat fleet consisted of three 26-foot (7.9 m) boats, equipped with 60-horsepower Model A Ford engines and designed to carry 10 passengers. By the 1960s, rudderless jetboats powered by twin or triple 280-horsepower engines, began to replace propeller-driven boats. The jetboats could safely negotiate shallow riffles , and

8195-470: The Mississippi (present-day Oklahoma ), where they could exist without state interference. At Jackson's request, Congress began a debate on an Indian-removal bill. After fierce disagreement, the Senate passed the bill by a 28–19 vote; the House had narrowly passed it, 102–97. Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law on May 30, 1830. That year, most of the Five Civilized Tribes —the Chickasaw , Choctaw , Creek , Seminole , and Cherokee —lived east of

8344-412: The Mississippi River. Friends and Brothers – By permission of the Great Spirit above, and the voice of the people, I have been made President of the United States, and now speak to you as your Father and friend, and request you to listen. Your warriors have known me long. You know I love my white and red children, and always speak with a straight, and not with a forked tongue; that I have always told you

8493-516: The Mississippi. Native American land was sometimes purchased, by treaty or under duress . The idea of land exchange, that Native Americans would give up their land east of the Mississippi in exchange for a similar amount of territory west of the river, was first proposed by Jefferson in 1803 and first incorporated into treaties in 1817 (years after the Jefferson presidency). The Indian Removal Act of 1830 included this concept. Under President James Monroe , Secretary of War John C. Calhoun devised

8642-424: The Mississippi. The Indian Removal Act implemented federal-government policy towards its Indian populations, moving Native American tribes east of the Mississippi to lands west of the river. Although the act did not authorize the forced removal of indigenous tribes, it enabled the president to negotiate land-exchange treaties. On September 27, 1830, the Choctaw signed the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek and became

8791-453: The Muscogee were confined to a small strip of land in present-day east central Alabama . The Creek national council signed the Treaty of Cusseta in 1832, ceding their remaining lands east of the Mississippi to the US and accepting relocation to the Indian Territory. Most Muscogee were removed to the territory during the Trail of Tears in 1834, although some remained behind. Although the Creek War of 1836 ended government attempts to convince

8940-462: The Pacific Coast it averages about 80 inches (2,000 mm) a year, whereas at Ashland, which is inland, it averages about 20 inches (510 mm). The average annual precipitation for the entire basin is about 38 inches (970 mm). Most of this falls in winter and spring, and summers are dry. At high elevations in the Cascades, much of the precipitation arrives as snow and infiltrates permeable volcanic soils; snowmelt contributes to stream flows in

9089-469: The Pacific Northwest". Named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1982 by the American Society of Civil Engineers , the 1,898-foot (579 m) structure was the first in the U.S. to use the Freyssinet method of stress control in concrete bridges. It features 7 open- spandrel 230-foot (70 m) arch spans, 18 deck-girder approach spans, and many ornate decorative features such as Art Deco entrance pylons. Several historic bridges cross

SECTION 60

#1732797631413

9238-417: The Rogue main stem , and the Applegate Dam on the Applegate River . When the Elk Creek Dam was about one-third finished, lawsuits to protect endangered salmon and other migratory fish led to a court injunction that stopped construction in 1987. After 1992, fish trying to swim past the dam were trapped and hauled around it in trucks. Litigation and political battles lasting more than 20 years led to

9387-431: The Rogue River Loop Highway ( Oregon Route 260 ) over the river west of the city. The bridge was named for pioneers who settled in the area in the 1870s. Indian removal The Indian removal was the United States government 's policy of ethnic cleansing through the forced displacement of self-governing tribes of American Indians from their ancestral homelands in the eastern United States to lands west of

9536-426: The Rogue River and its tributaries for at least 8,500 years. European explorers made first contact with Native Americans (Indians) toward the end of the 18th century and began beaver trapping and other activities in the region. Clashes, sometimes deadly, occurred between the natives and the trappers and later between the natives and European-American miners and settlers. These struggles culminated with

9685-413: The Rogue River canyon, the Kalmiopsis Wilderness , the Illinois River basin, and Mount Ashland , are composed of exotic terranes. Among the oldest rocks in Oregon, some of the formations in these terranes date to the Triassic , nearly 250 million years ago. Between 165 and 170 million years ago, in the Jurassic , faulting consolidated the Klamath terranes offshore during what geologists call

9834-456: The Rogue River flows from the geologically young High Cascades through the somewhat older Western Cascades and then through the more ancient Klamath Mountains. The High Cascades are composed of volcanic rock produced at intervals from about 7.6 million years ago through geologically recent events such as the catastrophic eruption of Mount Mazama in about 5700  BCE . The volcano hurled 12 to 15 cubic miles (50 to 63 km ) of ash into

9983-446: The Rogue River. They are located, from uppermost to lowermost, near Prospect, Eagle Point , Central Point , Grants Pass, and Agness. Between 1960 and 2007, the average discharge recorded by the Agness gauge at river mile (RM) 29.7 or river kilometer (RK) 47.8 was 6,622 cubic feet per second (188 m /s). The maximum discharge during this period was 290,000 cubic feet per second (8,200 m /s) on December 23, 1964, and

10132-466: The Rogue and nearby streams and diverts it to power plants, which return the water to the river further downstream. PacifiCorp operates this system, called The Prospect Nos. 1, 2, and 4 Hydroelectric Project. Built in pieces between 1911 and 1944, it includes separate diversion dams on the Middle Fork Rogue River and Red Blanket Creek , and a 9.25-mile (14.89 km) water-transport system of canals, flumes , pipes, and penstocks . Several dams along

10281-413: The Rogue basin. In addition to Lost Creek Lake on the main stem, large reservoirs in the basin include Applegate Lake , Emigrant Lake , and Fish Lake . In 2008, USACE removed part of the Elk Creek Dam and restored Elk Creek to its original channel. Construction on the dam had been halted by a court injunction in the 1980s after about 80 feet (24 m) of the proposed height of 240 feet (73 m)

10430-414: The Rogue between Gold Hill and Grants Pass. The Gold Hill Bridge, designed by McCullough and built in 1927, is the only open-spandrel, barrel-arch bridge in Oregon. Its main arch is 143 feet (44 m) long. Also designed by McCullough, the Rock Point Bridge carries U.S. Route 99 and Oregon Route 234 over the river near the unincorporated community of Rock Point . The 505-foot (154 m) structure has

10579-447: The Rogue, from 7 miles (11.3 km) west of Grants Pass to 11 miles (18 km) east of the mouth at Gold Beach. In 1988, an additional 40 miles (64 km) of the Rogue between Crater Lake National Park and the unincorporated community of Prospect was named Wild and Scenic. Of the river's total length, 124 miles (200 km), about 58 percent is Wild and Scenic. The Rogue is one of only three rivers that start in or east of

10728-769: The Seminole Tribe of Florida, and the Creeks in Alabama (including the Poarch Band ). Tribes in the Old Northwest were smaller and more fragmented than the Five Civilized Tribes, so the treaty and emigration process was more piecemeal. Following the Northwest Indian War , most of the modern state of Ohio was taken from native nations in the 1795 Treaty of Greenville . Tribes such as

10877-668: The Senecas and the Tonawanda Senecas in 1842 and 1857, respectively. Under the treaty of 1857, the Tonawandas renounced all claim to lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for the right to buy back the Tonawanda Reservation from the Ogden Land Company. Over a century later, the Senecas purchased a 9-acre (3.6 ha) plot (part of their original reservation) in downtown Buffalo to build

11026-577: The Siskiyou orogeny . This three- to five-million-year episode of intense tectonic activity pushed sedimentary rocks deep enough into the mantle to melt them and then forced them to the surface as granitic plutons. Belts of plutons , which contain gold and other precious metals, run through the Klamaths and include the Ashland pluton, the Grayback batholith east of Oregon Caves National Monument ,

11175-560: The State of Virginia (1785), Thomas Jefferson defended Native American culture and marveled at how the tribes of Virginia "never submitted themselves to any laws, any coercive power, any shadow of government" due to their "moral sense of right and wrong". He wrote to the Marquis de Chastellux later that year, "I believe the Indian then to be in body and mind equal to the whiteman". Jefferson's desire, as interpreted by Francis Paul Prucha ,

11324-659: The US Treasury. Maris Bryant Pierce , a "young chief" served as a lawyer representing four territories of the Seneca tribe, starting in 1838. The Senecas asserted that they had been defrauded, and sued for redress in the Court of Claims . The case was not resolved until 1898, when the United States awarded $ 1,998,714.46 (~$ 62.5 million in 2023) in compensation to "the New York Indians". The US signed treaties with

11473-533: The US. or remove beyond the Missisipi. The former is certainly the termination of their history most happy for themselves. But in the whole course of this, it is essential to cultivate their love. As to their fear, we presume that our strength & their weakness is now so visible that they must see we have only to shut our hand to crush them, & that all our liberalities to them proceed from motives of pure humanity only. As president, Thomas Jefferson developed

11622-614: The United States for their lands east of the Mississippi River. They reached an agreement to purchase of land from the previously-removed Choctaw in 1836 after a bitter five-year debate, paying the Chocktaw $ 530,000 for the westernmost Choctaw land. Most of the Chickasaw moved in 1837 and 1838. The $ 3 million owed to the Chickasaw by the US went unpaid for nearly 30 years. The Five Civilized Tribes were resettled in

11771-603: The United States) which declared that they were an independent nation with jurisdiction over their own lands. Georgia contended that it would not countenance a sovereign state within its own territory, and asserted its authority over Cherokee territory. When Andrew Jackson became president as the candidate of the newly-organized Democratic Party , he agreed that the Indians should be forced to exchange their eastern lands for western lands (including relocation) and vigorously enforced Indian removal. Although Indian removal

11920-487: The United States, and on the sincerity and zeal with which I am myself animated in the furthering of this humane work. You are our brethren of the same land; we wish your prosperity as brethren should do. Farewell. When a delegation from the Cherokee Nation's Upper Towns lobbied Jefferson for the full and equal citizenship promised to Indians living in American territory by George Washington, his response indicated that he

12069-516: The air, covering much of the western U.S. and Canada with airfall deposits. The volcano's subsequent collapse formed the caldera of Crater Lake. Older and more deeply eroded, the Western Cascades are a range of volcanoes lying west of and merging with the High Cascades. They consist of partly altered volcanic rock from vents in both volcanic provinces, including varied lavas and ash tuffs ranging in age from 0 to 40 million years. As

12218-548: The already-displaced Lenape (Delaware tribe), Kickapoo and Shawnee , were removed from Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio during the 1820s. The Potawatomi were forced out of Wisconsin and Michigan in late 1838, and were resettled in Kansas Territory . Communities remaining in present-day Ohio were forced to move to Louisiana, which was then controlled by Spain. Bands of Shawnee , Ottawa , Potawatomi , Sauk , and Meskwaki (Fox) signed treaties and relocated to

12367-821: The border between Klamath and Douglas counties near the northern edge of Crater Lake National Park . Although it changes direction many times, it flows generally west for 215 miles (346 km) from the Cascade Range through the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest and the Klamath Mountains to the Pacific Ocean at Gold Beach . Communities along its course include Union Creek , Prospect , Trail , Shady Cove , Gold Hill and Rogue River , all in Jackson County ; Grants Pass and Galice in Josephine County ; and Agness , Wedderburn and Gold Beach in Curry County . Significant tributaries include

12516-740: The case in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), but declined to rule on its merits; the court declaring that the Native American tribes were not sovereign nations, and could not "maintain an action" in US courts. In an opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall in Worcester v. Georgia (1832), individual states had no authority in American Indian affairs. The state of Georgia defied the Supreme Court ruling, and

12665-685: The cities of Grants Pass (23,000) and Cave Junction (1,400). Gold Beach (1,900) is the only city in Curry County (21,100) in the Rogue River basin. Only small, sparsely inhabited parts of the watershed are in Klamath and Douglas counties in Oregon and Siskiyou and Del Norte counties in California. The watershed's average population density is about 32 people per square mile (12.4/km ). Many overlapping entities including city, county, state, and federal governments share jurisdiction for parts of

12814-454: The commission of outrages upon the Indians; without which all pacific plans must prove nugatory. To enable, by competent rewards, the employment of qualified and trusty persons to reside among them, as agents, would also contribute to the preservation of peace and good neighbourhood. If, in addition to these expedients, an eligible plan could be devised for promoting civilization among the friendly tribes, and for carrying on trade with them, upon

12963-542: The compromise of demolishing about 15 percent of the dam and leaving the rest intact so that it might be restored in the future. In 2008, the United States Army Corps of Engineers dismantled part of the dam with explosives and restored the creek to its original channel. Originally scheduled to be 240 feet (73 m) high, the dam had reached a height of 80 feet (24 m) before work was stopped. Rogue River (Oregon) People have lived along

13112-491: The continent acquire, bit by bit, what became the Pacific Northwest , including Oregon. The Klamath Mountains consist of multiple terranes—former volcanic islands and coral reefs and bits of subduction zones, mantle , and seafloor—that merged offshore over vast stretches of time before colliding with North America as a single block about 150 to 130 million years ago. Much of the Rogue River watershed, including

13261-441: The creek enters the Rogue River 5.25 miles (8.45 km) downstream from Lost Creek Lake and 3.2 miles (5.1 km) river miles upstream of the small town of Trail . Elk Creek Dam, an incomplete flood-control structure that blocked fish migration for more than 20 years, was partly demolished in 2008 to restore endangered anadromous fish passage. In its first 6 miles (10 km) or so, Elk Creek receives Brush Creek from

13410-734: The dam was 39 feet (12 m) tall and created a reservoir that seasonally extended up to 2.5 miles (4.0 km) upstream. Its removal began in April 2009, and was completed in October 2009. Twelve newly installed pumps provide river water to the irrigation canals serving 7,500 acres (3,000 ha) of the Grants Pass Irrigation District (GPID). The Ament Dam, built in 1902 by the Golden Drift Mining Company to provide water for mining equipment,

13559-514: The dams on the Rogue main stem, at one time or another "several hundred dams were built on tributaries within the range of salmon migration", most of which supplied water for mining or irrigation. Before 1920, many of these dams made no provision for fish passage; public pressure as well as efforts by turn-of-the-century cannery owner R.D. Hume led to the installation of fish ladders on the most destructive dams. As of 2005, there were about 80 non-hydroelectric dams, mostly small irrigation structures, in

13708-446: The date stipulated in the treaty. When Andrew Jackson became president of the United States in 1829, his government took a hard line on Indian removal; Jackson abandoned his predecessors' policy of treating Indian tribes as separate nations, aggressively pursuing all Indians east of the Mississippi who claimed constitutional sovereignty and independence from state laws. They were to be removed to reservations in Indian Territory, west of

13857-423: The desire of settlers and land speculators for Indian lands continued unabated; some whites claimed that Indians threatened peace and security. The Georgia legislature passed a law forbidding settlers from living on Indian territory after March 31, 1831, without a license from the state; this excluded missionaries who opposed Indian removal. The Seminole refused to leave their Florida lands in 1835, leading to

14006-518: The detachments faced bad roads, worse weather, and a lack of drinkable water. When all five detachments reached their destination, they recorded their death toll. The first detachment, with 2,318 Creeks, had 78 deaths; the second had 3,095 Creeks, with 37 deaths. The third had 2,818 Creeks, and 12 deaths; the fourth, 2,330 Creeks and 36 deaths. The fifth detachment, with 2,087 Creeks, had 25 deaths. In 1837 outside of Baton Rouge, Louisiana over 300 Creeks being forcibly removed to Western prairies drowned in

14155-399: The encroachment of states. They thought that acclimating, as the US wanted them to, would stem removal policy and create a better relationship with the federal government and surrounding states. Native American nations had differing views about removal. Although most wanted to remain on their native lands and do anything possible to ensure that, others believed that removal to a nonwhite area

14304-640: The first Native American tribe to be removed. The agreement was one of the largest transfers of land between the US government and Native Americans which was not the result of war. The Choctaw signed away their remaining traditional homelands, opening them up for European–American settlement in Mississippi Territory . When the tribe reached Little Rock , a chief called its trek a "trail of tears and death". In 1831, French historian and political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville witnessed an exhausted group of Choctaw men, women and children emerging from

14453-511: The first dinosaur fossil find in Oregon. Archaeologists believe that the first humans to inhabit the Rogue River region were nomadic hunters and gatherers. Radiocarbon dating suggests that they arrived in southwestern Oregon at least 8,500 years ago, and that at least 1,500 years before the first contact with whites, the natives established permanent villages along streams. The home villages of various groups shared many cultural elements, such as food, clothing, and shelter types. Intermarriage

14602-512: The first plans for Indian removal. Monroe approved Calhoun's plans by late 1824 and, in a special message to the Senate on January 27, 1825, requested the creation of the Arkansaw and Indian Territories ; the Indians east of the Mississippi would voluntarily exchange their lands for lands west of the river. The Senate accepted Monroe's request, and asked Calhoun to draft a bill which was killed in

14751-614: The fish ladder remained, and biologists from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife used the station to count migrating salmon and steelhead. Jackson County, which owned the dam, had it removed with the help of a $ 5 million federal grant approved in June 2009. The dam was demolished in the summer of 2010. In 2008, the city of Gold Hill removed the last of the Gold Hill Dam, a diversion dam slightly downstream of

14900-433: The forest during an exceptionally cold winter near Memphis, Tennessee , on their way to the Mississippi to be loaded onto a steamboat. He wrote, In the whole scene there was an air of ruin and destruction, something which betrayed a final and irrevocable adieu; one couldn't watch without feeling one's heart wrung. The Indians were tranquil but sombre and taciturn. There was one who could speak English and of whom I asked why

15049-423: The friendship and cooperation of many Native American tribes as president, repeatedly articulating his desire for a united nation of whites and Indians as in his November 3, 1802, letter to Seneca spiritual leader Handsome Lake : Go on then, brother, in the great reformation you have undertaken ... In all your enterprises for the good of your people, you may count with confidence on the aid and protection of

15198-423: The friendship between them and the United States. Later that year, in his fourth annual message to Congress, Washington stressed the need to build peace, trust, and commerce with Native Americans: I cannot dismiss the subject of Indian affairs without again recommending to your consideration the expediency of more adequate provision for giving energy to the laws throughout our interior frontier, and for restraining

15347-458: The ground, and covered with split sugar pine or red cedar planks. People left the villages during about half of the year to gather camas bulbs, sugar-pine bark, acorns , and berries, and hunted deer and elk to supplement their main food, salmon . The total early-1850s native population of southern Oregon, including the Umpqua, Coos , Coquille, and Chetco watersheds as well as the Rogue,

15496-653: The hatchery in 1973 to offset the loss of fish habitat and spawning grounds in areas blocked by construction of the Lost Creek Dam on the main stem and the Applegate and Elk Creek dams on Rogue tributaries. It is the third-largest salmon and steelhead hatchery in the United States. In 1926, author Zane Grey bought a miner's cabin at Winkle Bar, near the river. He wrote Western books at this location, including his 1929 novel Rogue River Feud . Another of his books, Tales of Fresh Water Fishing (1928), included

15645-551: The inland Rogue River natives when he crossed the Siskiyou Mountains to look for beaver. Friction between Indians and whites was relatively minor during these early encounters; however, in 1834, an HBC expedition led by Michel Laframboise was reported to have killed 11 Rogue River natives, and shortly thereafter a party led by an American trapper, Ewing Young , shot and killed at least two more. The name Rogue River apparently began with French fur trappers who called

15794-586: The land rights of recognized tribes. President George Washington , in his 1790 address to the Seneca Nation which called the pre-Constitutional Indian land-sale difficulties "evils", said that the case was now altered and pledged to uphold Native American "just rights". In March and April 1792, Washington met with 50 tribal chiefs in Philadelphia—including the Iroquois—to discuss strengthening

15943-431: The land, and you can live upon it you and all your children, as long as the grass grows or the water runs, in peace and plenty. It will be yours forever. For the improvements in the country where you now live, and for all the stock which you cannot take with you, your Father will pay you a fair price ... Unlike other tribes, who exchanged lands, the Chickasaw were to receive financial compensation of $ 3 million from

16092-435: The largest could carry nearly 50 passengers. Rogue mail-boat excursions, which had been growing more popular for several decades, began in the 1970s to include trips to as far upriver as Blossom Bar, 20 miles (32 km) above Agness. As of 2010, jet boats, functioning mainly as excursion craft, still deliver mail between Gold Beach and Agness. The Rogue River mail boat company is "one of only two mail carriers delivering

16241-598: The left, flows under Crater Lake Highway / Oregon Route 62 , and enters the Rogue River 152 miles (245 km) from its mouth on the Pacific Ocean . Elk Creek Dam was about 3 miles (5 km) from the mouth of the creek. It was one of three dams authorized by Congress in 1962 to help control flooding along the Rogue River. The other two were the Lost Creek Dam , later renamed the William L. Jess Dam, on

16390-854: The lower Rogue passes through the Galice Formation, metamorphosed shale , and other rocks formed when a small oceanic basin in the merging Klamath terranes was thrust over other Klamath rocks about 155 million years ago. The lowest part of the seafloor of the Josephine Basin, as this ancient sea came to be called, rests on top of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, where it is known as the Josephine ophiolite . Some of its rocks are peridotite , reddish-brown when exposed to oxygen but very dark green inside. According to geologist Ellen Morris Bishop, "These odd tawny peridotites in

16539-418: The lower Rogue. As of 2010, the Rogue has one of the two remaining rural mail-boat routes in the United States. Dam building and removal along the Rogue has generated controversy for more than a century; an early fish-blocking dam (Ament) was dynamited by vigilantes , mostly disgruntled salmon fishermen. By 2010, all of the main-stem dams downstream of a huge flood-control structure 157 miles (253 km) from

16688-689: The lower river. By then, fighting had also ended near the coast, where, before retreating upstream, a separate group of natives had killed about 30 whites and burned their cabins near what later became Gold Beach. Most of the Rogue River Indians were removed in 1856 to reservations further north. About 1,400 were sent to the Coast Reservation , later renamed the Siletz Reservation . To protect 400 natives still in danger of attack at Table Rock, Joel Palmer ,

16837-476: The mail by boat in the United States"; the other is along the Snake River in eastern Oregon. For thousands of years, salmon was a reliable food source for Native Americans living along the Rogue. Salmon migrations were so huge that early settlers claimed they could hear the fish moving upstream. These large runs continued into the 20th century despite damage to spawning beds caused by gold mining in

16986-548: The minimum discharge was 608 cubic feet per second (17 m /s) on July 9 and 10, 1968. This was from a drainage basin of 3,939 square miles (10,202 km ), or about 76 percent of the entire Rogue watershed. The maximum flow occurred between December 1964 and January 1965 during the Christmas flood of 1964 , which was rated by the National Weather Service as one of Oregon's top 10 weather events of

17135-399: The mountains. Until the 1890s, these settlers remained relatively isolated from the outside world. In 1883, one of the settlers, Elijah H. Price, proposed a permanent mail route by boat up the Rogue River from Ellensburg (later renamed Gold Beach) to Big Bend, about 40 miles (64 km) upstream. The route, Price told the government, would serve perhaps 11 families and no towns. Although

17284-445: The mouth of Little Butte Creek in October 1855. After a volunteer militia attacked them, killing 23 men, women, and children, they fled downriver, attacking whites from Gold Hill to Galice Creek. Confronted by volunteers and regular army troops, the Indians at first repulsed them; however, after nearly 200 volunteers launched an all-day assault on the remaining natives, the war ended at Big Bend (at RM 35 or RK 56) on

17433-531: The mouth of the Rogue River, and Indians visited the ship in canoes. In 1826, Alexander Roderick McLeod of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) led an overland expedition from HBC's regional headquarters in Fort Vancouver to as far south as the Rogue (4 miles inland) along with botanist David Douglas . In 1827, an HBC expedition led by Peter Skene Ogden made the first direct contact between whites and

17582-665: The new Indian Territory. The Cherokee occupied the northeast corner of the territory and a 70-mile-wide (110 km) strip of land in Kansas on its border with the territory. Some indigenous nations resisted the forced migration more strongly. The few who stayed behind eventually formed tribal groups, including the Eastern Band of Cherokee (based in North Carolina), the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians ,

17731-399: The new trail later in 1846, passing through Rogue Indian homelands between the headwaters of Bear Creek and the future site of Grants Pass and crossing the Rogue about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) downstream of it. Despite fears on both sides, violence in the watershed in the 1830s and 1840s was limited; "Indians seemed interested in speeding whites on their way, and whites were happy to get through

17880-554: The office Agnes after his daughter, but a transcription error added an extra "s" and the name became Agness . Upriver, a third post office, established in 1903, was named Marial after another postmaster's daughter. Marial, at (RM) 48 (RK 77), is about 13 miles (21 km) upriver from Illahe and 21 miles (34 km) from Agness. To avoid difficult rapids, carriers delivered the mail by mule between Illahe and Marial, and after 1908 most mail traveling beyond Agness went by mule. The Illahe post office closed in 1943, and when

18029-631: The region between 1917 and 1960. At the mouth of the Rogue River, along the coast of Curry County, is the Otter Point Formation , a mélange of metamorphosed sedimentary rocks such as shales, sandstones , and chert . Although the rocks formed in the Jurassic, evidence suggests that they faulted north as part of the Gold Beach Terrane after the Klamaths merged with North America. Oregon's only dinosaur fragments , those of

18178-633: The region without being attacked." In 1847, the Whitman massacre and the Cayuse War in what became southeastern Washington raised fears among white settlers throughout the region and led to the formation of large volunteer militias organized to fight Indians, though no whites were yet living in the Rogue River drainage. Along the Rogue, tensions intensified in 1848 at the start of the California Gold Rush , when hundreds of men from

18327-523: The relocation, Creeks began to deconstruct their spiritual lives; they burned piles of lightwood over their ancestors' graves to honor their memories, and polished the sacred plates which would travel at the front of each group. They also prepared financially, selling what they could not bring. Many were swindled by local merchants out of valuable possessions (including land), and the military had to intervene. The detachments began moving west in September 1836, facing harsh conditions. Despite their preparations,

18476-588: The removal of American Indians as paternalism , ethnic cleansing , or genocide . American leaders in the Revolutionary and early US eras debated about whether Native Americans should be treated as individuals or as nations. In the indictment section of the Declaration of Independence , the Indigenous inhabitants of the United States are referred to as "merciless Indian Savages", reflecting

18625-548: The removal treaty was illegitimate; it was a "sham treaty", which the US government should not uphold. He describes removal as such a dereliction of all faith and virtues, such a denial of justice...in the dealing of a nation with its own allies and wards since the earth was made...a general expression of despondency, of disbelief, that any goodwill accrues from a remonstrance on an act of fraud and robbery, appeared in those men to whom we naturally turn for aid and counsel. Emerson concludes his letter by saying that it should not be

18774-466: The right. Elk Creek receives West Branch Elk Creek from the right about 3 miles (5 km) from the mouth, slightly upstream of the Elk Creek Dam. Below the dam, the creek passes a United States Geological Survey (USGS) stream gauge , which is on the right at RM 1.3 (RK 2.1). Shortly thereafter, Berry Creek enters from the right. The creek then passes Rogue Elk County Park, which is on

18923-456: The river La Riviere aux Coquins because they regarded the natives as rogues ( coquins ). In 1835, Rogue River people killed four whites in a party of eight who were traveling from Oregon to California. Two years later, two of the survivors and others on a cattle drive organized by Young killed the first two Indians they met north of the Klamath River. The number of whites entering the Rogue River watershed greatly increased after 1846, when

19072-623: The river mouth had been removed. Aside from dams, threats to salmon include high water temperatures. Although sometimes too warm for salmonids , the main stem Rogue is relatively clean, ranking between 85 and 97 (on a scale of 0 to 100) on the Oregon Water Quality Index (OWQI). Although the Rogue Valley near Medford is partly urban, the average population density of the Rogue watershed is only about 32 people per square mile (12 per km ). Several historic bridges cross

19221-425: The river near the city. Salmon could pass the dam during high water, but most were blocked: "For half a mile below the dam, the river was crowded with fish throughout the summer." After a flood destroyed this dam in 1905, it was replaced by a 6-foot (1.8 m) dam that, like its predecessor, lacked a fish ladder. By 1940, the dam had deteriorated to the point that it no longer blocked migratory fish. In addition to

19370-503: The river near the more populated areas. Many public parks, hiking trails, and campgrounds are near the river, which flows largely through forests, including national forests . Biodiversity in many parts of the basin is high; the Klamath-Siskiyou temperate coniferous forests , which extend into the southwestern Rogue basin, are among the four most diverse of this kind in the world. The Rogue River begins at Boundary Springs on

19519-522: The river's middle reaches were removed or destroyed during the first half of the 20th century. After decades of controversy about water rights, costs, migratory fish, and environmental impacts, removal or modification of remaining middle-reach dams as well as a partly finished dam on Elk Creek, a major tributary of the Rogue, began in 2008. The de-construction projects were all meant to improve salmon runs by allowing more fish to reach suitable spawning grounds. In 1904, brothers C.R. and Frank Ray built

19668-654: The same manner; and Persons appointed to reside among them in proper Districts, who shall take care to prevent Injustice in the Trade with them, and be enabled at our general Expense by occasional small Supplies, to relieve their personal Wants and Distresses. And all Purchases from them shall be by the Congress for the General Advantage and Benefit of the United Colonies. The Confederation Congress passed

19817-542: The structure Caveman because the Redwood Highway ( U.S. Route 199 ) that crosses the bridge passes near Oregon Caves National Monument , about 50 miles (80 km) south of Grants Pass. Slightly downstream of Grants Pass, the Robertson Bridge, built around 1909, is a 583-foot (178 m) three-span, steel, through- truss structure moved downriver in 1929 to make way for the Caveman Bridge. It carries

19966-562: The summit of Mount McLoughlin in the Cascades to 0 feet (0 m), where the basin meets the ocean. The basin borders the watersheds of the Williamson River , Upper Klamath Lake , and the upper Klamath River on the east; the lower Klamath, Smith , and Chetco rivers on the south; the North Umpqua , South Umpqua , Coquille , and Sixes rivers on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. In 2000, Jackson County had

20115-446: The truth ... Where you now are, you and my white children are too near to each other to live in harmony and peace. Your game is destroyed, and many of your people will not work and till the earth. Beyond the great River Mississippi, where a part of your nation has gone, your Father has provided a country large enough for all of you, and he advises you to remove to it. There your white brothers will not trouble you; they will have no claim to

20264-535: The upper Rogue. In 1899, he built a hatchery near Wedderburn, across the river from Gold Beach, and until the time of his death in 1908 he had salmon eggs shipped to it from the Elk Creek station. Based on variations in the size of the yearly catch, Hume and others believed his methods of fish-propagation to be successful. However, as salmon runs declined over time despite the hatcheries, recreational fishing interests began to oppose large-scale operations. In 1910,

20413-648: The upper basin during the dry months. Along the Illinois River in the lower basin, most of the precipitation falls as rain on shallow soils; rapid runoff leads to high flows during winter storms and low flows during the dry summer. Average monthly temperatures for the whole basin range from about 68 °F (20 °C) in July and August to about 40 °F (4 °C) in December. Within the basin, local temperatures vary with elevation. Arising near Crater Lake,

20562-407: The war resulted in over 1,500 US deaths, and cost the government $ 20 million. Some Seminole traveled deeper into the Everglades, and others moved west. The removal continued, and a number of wars broke out over land. In 1823, the Seminole signed the Treaty of Moultrie Creek , which reduced their 34 million to 4 millions acres. In the aftermath of the Treaties of Fort Jackson , and the Washington ,

20711-415: The watershed, including a Bear Creek tributary called Jackson Creek, where they established a mining camp in 1852 at the site of what later became Jacksonville. Indian attacks on miners that year led to U.S. Army intervention and fighting near Table Rock between Indians and the combined forces of professional soldiers and volunteer miner militias. John P. Gaines , the new territorial governor, negotiated

20860-405: The watershed. About 60 percent of the basin is publicly owned and is managed by the United States Forest Service , the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the United States Bureau of Reclamation . Under provisions of the federal Clean Water Act , the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), assisted by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and other agencies in both states,

21009-437: Was a consequence of actions first by the European colonists and then later on by the American settlers in the nation during the thirteen colonies and then after the revolution , in the United States of America also until the mid-20th century. The origins of the policy date back to the administration of James Monroe , but it addressed conflicts which had occurred between the American settlers and Indigenous tribes since

21158-446: Was a popular policy, it was also opposed on legal and moral grounds; it also ran counter to the formal, customary diplomatic interaction between the federal government and the Native nations. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote the widely-published letter "A Protest Against the Removal of the Cherokee Indians from the State of Georgia" in 1838, shortly before the Cherokee removal. Emerson criticizes the government and its removal policy, saying that

21307-528: Was ambivalent about Indian assimilation and used the words "exterminate" and "extirpate" about tribes who resisted American expansion and were willing to fight for their lands. Jefferson intended to change Indian lifestyles from hunting and gathering to farming, largely through "the decrease of game rendering their subsistence by hunting insufficient". He expected the change to agriculture to make them dependent on white Americans for goods, and more likely to surrender their land or allow themselves to be moved west of

21456-509: Was common, and many people understood dialects of more than one of the three language groups spoken in the region. The Native Americans (Indians) included Tututni people near the coast and, further upstream, groups of Shasta Costa , Upper Rogue River Athabaskan tribes (Dakubetede and Tal-tvsh-dan-ni), Shasta , Takelma , and Latgawa . Houses in the villages varied somewhat, but were often about 12 feet (3.7 m) wide and 15 to 20 feet (4.6 to 6.1 m) long, framed with posts sunk into

21605-465: Was for Native Americans to intermix with European Americans and become one people. To achieve that end as president, Jefferson offered US citizenship to some Indian nations and proposed offering them credit to facilitate trade. On 27 February 1803, Jefferson wrote in a letter to William Henry Harrison : In this way our settlements will gradually circumbscribe & approach the Indians, & they will in time either incorporate with us as citizens of

21754-406: Was reached. Further controversy delayed the notching for two decades. Elk Creek enters the Rogue River 5 miles (8.0 km) downstream from Lost Creek Lake. Among the many bridges that cross the Rogue River is the Isaac Lee Patterson Bridge , which carries U.S. Route 101 over the river at Gold Beach. Designed by Conde B. McCullough and built in 1931, it is "one of the most notable bridges in

21903-442: Was slightly upriver of Grants Pass. After the company failed to keep promises to provide irrigation and electric power to the vicinity and because the dam was a "massive fish killer", vigilantes destroyed part of the dam with dynamite in 1912. The damaged dam was completely removed before construction of the Savage Rapids Dam in 1921. In 1890, the Grants Pass Power Supply Company had built a log dam 12 feet (3.7 m) high, across

22052-452: Was their only option to maintain their autonomy and culture. The US used this division to forge removal treaties with (often) minority groups who became convinced that removal was the best option for their people. These treaties were often not acknowledged by most of a nation's people. When Congress ratified the removal treaty, the federal government could use military force to remove Native nations if they had not moved (or had begun moving) by

22201-412: Was willing to grant citizenship to those Indian nations who sought it. In his eighth annual message to Congress on November 8, 1808, he presented a vision of white and Indian unity: With our Indian neighbors the public peace has been steadily maintained ... And, generally, from a conviction that we consider them as part of ourselves, and cherish with sincerity their rights and interests, the attachment of

#412587