167-773: The Shasta River is a tributary of the Klamath River , approximately 58 miles (93 km) long, in northern California in the United States. It drains the Shasta Valley on the west and north sides of Mount Shasta in the Cascade Range . The river rises in southern Siskiyou County on the edge of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest , approximately 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Weed . It flows generally northwest through
334-643: A Tsnungwe community had re-established around the ancient principal village of łe:lding at the mouth of the South Fork of the Trinity River. The tribe is still surviving there today and is recognized by both Humboldt County and Trinity County. The federal government considers the Tsnungwe to be a "previously recognized" tribe. The Tsnungwe Council is working towards having their federally recognized tribal status restored. The Chimariko people lived along
501-735: A compromise between agricultural needs and fishery flows. The official beginning of the Klamath River is at Lake Ewauna , a small natural lake near Klamath Falls, Oregon . The primary inflow of Lake Ewauna is the short Link River , which connects it to Upper Klamath Lake . Upper Klamath, in turn, is fed by the Williamson River (originating in the Winema National Forest ) and Wood River (originating in Crater Lake National Park ). For
668-489: A few miles of Weaverville , the seat of Trinity County and the main population center of the area. It then turns northwest and receives Browns Creek, passes Junction City , and receives Canyon Creek and the North Fork Trinity River at Helena . Further west it passes the former mining settlement of Big Bar and receives Price Creek. It then enters a deep gorge, which provides the route for Highway 299 ,
835-486: A historical site maintained by the Forest Service. Although settlers had been farming and ranching in the Trinity River valley since the beginning of the gold rush, the number greatly increased after the gold rush when miners decided to settle down and homestead in the area. One of the major ranching areas was the wide valley known as Trinity Meadows, which is now flooded by Trinity Lake. The Webber family bought
1002-535: A large reservoir created by the Trinity Dam . These tributaries include Picayunne Creek, Nyott Creek, and Sherer Creek, Sunflower Creek, and more. Coffee Creek, the Little Trinity River, Tangle Blue Creek, and Eagle Creek are the largest tributaries above the lake. East Fork and Stuart Fork of the Trinity River also flow into the reservoir along with many other tributaries. Just below Trinity Dam
1169-486: A major center of recreational activities such as gold panning , fishing and whitewater rafting . Since 1964 the Trinity River has been dammed to create Trinity Lake , the third largest man-made lake in the state. As much as 90 percent of the upper Trinity River watershed was diverted for agriculture in the Central Valley . In 1991 environmental regulations were enacted, requiring a greater release of water to
1336-517: A malaria epidemic in the 1830s, accidentally introduced by Hudson's Bay Company fur trappers. In the following decades the remaining Wintu became embroiled in conflict as prospectors and settlers occupied their traditional lands. Some of these conflicts ended in deadly massacres. In 1846, one of the bloodiest single encounters occurred when soldiers led by John C. Frémont killed 175 Wintu, Maidu and Yana . In 1850 about 100 Trinity Wintu perished after being given poisoned food by white settlers. By 1910
1503-506: A prominent conservationist and staunch opponent of burning – began to manage what was traditionally Klamath lands. The Forest Service oversaw extensive logging, mining, and dam construction, which degraded much of the environment, particularly salmon stocks and redwood forests. In 1947, the lower section of Karuk Aboriginal Territory was made part of the Six Rivers National Forest. In 1964, the first wilderness area in
1670-689: A railroad branch line following the McCloud River —the final part of which was called the Bartle Fast Freight Road, after Bartle, California. The end of this line, Laird's Landing, was the beginning of the Lower Klamath Lake steamboat line, which began operating with an 80-foot (24 m) screw steamer in 1905. By 1909, however, the railroad had circumnavigated Lower Klamath Lake directly to Klamath Falls. The steamboat line fell into disuse—and much of Lower Klamath Lake
1837-776: A ranch along the Stuart Fork in 1922 and established a resort. Having traveled in Europe, the Webbers thought the area resembled the Austrian Alps, and so named the mountains along the upper Trinity River the "Trinity Alps". During the 1870s, the Southern Pacific Railroad was extended from Sacramento through Redding and would eventually reach Oregon, making travel to the area easier than ever before. Commercial logging had also been operating for years in
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#17327729820672004-490: A reduced scale, finally ending in 1959, when the last claim was bought by the federal government in preparation for dam construction of the Central Valley Project . Although most of the miners left, either to return home or settle elsewhere, some stayed to work in the ranching and logging industries that became the economic mainstay of the Trinity River area. Some also continued to search for gold long after
2171-626: A reservation here in 1876. They are the only Native American group in California to retain most of their original territory; today, the Hoopa Valley Reservation is the largest and most populous in the state. Jedediah Smith 's expedition to northwestern California in 1828 were some of the first Europeans to set foot in the Trinity River country. After departing from the Sacramento Valley Smith passed over
2338-470: A small creek that flows into the Trinity, was the biggest hydraulic mine in California, covering over 3,000 acres (1,200 ha). Tailings washed from this single mine buried the valley, the creek and the entire town of Oregon Gulch (which had been purchased by the mine owners in anticipation of this) under a staggering 110 million cubic yards (84,000,000 m ) of sediment. This is equal to thirty times
2505-495: A treaty in 1864 (that was ratified in 1870) which gave the Klamath sovereign rights to the new reservation. However, through the 1954 Termination Act, federal aid to the tribes was halted. After losing federal recognition in 1954, they regained the status in 1986. They are dispersed across Southern Oregon and Northern California. The Klamath Reservation covers around 300 acres along the western coast. The Klamath Tribes, made up of
2672-523: A wide agricultural valley. Running north, parallel to Interstate 5 , for the next few miles, the Shasta receives its first important tributary, Eddy Creek, from the left, 37 miles (60 km) from the mouth. It then crosses under the interstate, winds past a ridge, and passes the town of Weed . It then turns northeast into Lake Shastina , an artificial lake formed by a dam at its north end, and turns northwest. Bypassing Big Springs 30 miles (48 km) from
2839-730: Is 8,888-foot (2,709 m) Sawtooth Peak in the Trinity Alps; the elevation is 190 feet (58 m) where the Trinity meets the Klamath River in the town of Salyer. The watershed is almost entirely covered by mountains, with the only level land in a few narrow valleys: the Weaverville basin, and the Hoopa, Hyampom and Hayfork Valleys. The Hayfork Valley is the largest agricultural area in Trinity County, with about 52,000 acres (21,000 ha) of farmland. About 80 percent of
3006-526: Is a 257-mile (414 km) long river in southern Oregon and northern California . Beginning near Klamath Falls in the Oregon high desert , it flows west through the Cascade Range and Klamath Mountains before reaching the temperate rainforest of California's North Coast , where it empties into the Pacific Ocean . The Klamath River is the third-largest salmon and steelhead producing river on
3173-518: Is a predominantly rain-fed river, with the highest flows occurring between December and April and the lowest from August through October. The water level can rise quickly in the winter when large Pacific storms strike California's north coast. Almost no precipitation occurs in summer, when the primary source of flow is snowmelt from the higher elevations of the Klamath Mountains and groundwater base flow . In addition, diversion of water to
3340-472: Is named for pioneer John Walter Scott . Gold deposits are still present in the Klamath River watershed even though it was mined far past the end of the gold rush. After the establishment of California in 1850, the state government signed treaties with the Karuk establishing aboriginal territories, but the treaties were never ratified in the senate and so the Karuk never got their own reservation land. In 1864,
3507-645: Is on the left bank of the Klamath River, at the junction of State Route 263 and State Route 96 . The roughly 800-square-mile (2,100 km) watershed of the Shasta River consists of a semi-arid farming valley entirely in Siskiyou County . It is adjacent to the Scott River on the west, Butte Creek on the east, and the main Klamath River on the north. The watershed is located east of the Klamath Mountains and northwest of Mount Shasta. Some towns in
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#17327729820673674-657: Is spawning site for a run of endangered Chinook salmon . Estimates suggest that 80,000 adults fish once returned to the river every year, the largest returning population of any tributary in the Klamath watershed besides the Trinity River Today, less than 10% of this population still returns, and recent droughts have severely hampered survival rates of juvenile fish. The river also supports coho salmon and steelhead . Download coordinates as: Klamath River The Klamath River ( Karuk : Ishkêesh , Klamath : Koke , Yurok : Hehlkeek 'We-Roy )
3841-446: Is the largest, and is characterized by volcanic features such as basalt flows and lava caves. The Shasta River flows northwest through the valley from Mount Shasta, the highest point in the Klamath River basin at 14,161 ft (4,316 m). Yreka and Montague are located within Shasta Valley. To the west is the smaller Scott Valley , which includes the towns of Fort Jones , Etna , Greenview and Callahan . Hayfork Valley and
4008-503: Is the smaller Lewiston Dam , which diverts part of the Trinity River through a hydroelectric plant to the Sacramento River Basin as part of the Central Valley Project , providing irrigation water to California's Central Valley . Below Lewiston Dam the Trinity River passes the towns of Lewiston and receives another large tributary named Grass Valley Creek, before passing Douglas City and turns west, passing within
4175-502: Is thought to have originated from volcanic activity in the Klamath Mountains. Miners searching for gold in the Klamath Mountains and Trinity Alps in the aftermath of the California Gold Rush first discovered gold along Salmon Creek in the spring of 1850, and additional deposits were found on the main stem by July. Gold was also discovered in great quantities in Shasta lands at French Gulch and Yreka . The Gold Rush
4342-627: The Basin and Range Province of the northern Great Basin to the southeast. This region extends from the southern Lower Klamath Lake area into the Lost River and Upper Klamath Lake basins. Crustal stretching and block faulting created a topography with characteristics similar to both regions. Almost the entire basin is a graben region, bearing basin and range characteristics, formed by uplifting and subsidence along several north–south faults . Pre- Quaternary , igneous and sedimentary rocks compose
4509-475: The California Gold Rush – Major Reading discovered gold on the Trinity River. The find attracted thousands of miners to the area and created boomtowns such as Douglas City, Francis, Hoboken, Lake City, Lewiston, Junction City and Quimby. Weaverville, located at the end of the trail Reading had established from the Sacramento Valley to the Trinity, prospered as the main trade center through which gold
4676-549: The Colorado River – which forms the border of California and Arizona and provided most of Southern California's water – was moving toward unsustainable levels. The Bureau of Reclamation restarted its surveys of the Trinity River basin as part of a larger proposal to move water from northern to southern parts of the state, and compensate for the shortages on the Colorado. The United Western Investigation, in 1951, proposed
4843-484: The Klamath , Yurok , Karuk , Hupa , and Shasta . The movement of forced creation of reservations in the United States resulted in the loss of culturally, ecologically, and economically significant land of indigenous peoples. While many of them are federally recognized sovereign nations, they are still fighting to reclaim the land and resources that were taken from them. The Klamath River tribes mission statements include
5010-798: The Klamath Basin , drains parts of Klamath, Lake and Jackson Counties in Oregon and Siskiyou, Modoc, Trinity, Humboldt and Del Norte Counties in California. About 37 percent of the basin is in Oregon and 63 percent is in California. More than half of the Klamath Basin is managed by the U.S. Forest Service, on the Fremont , Winema , and Rogue River National Forests in Oregon and the Modoc , Klamath , Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests in California. The Klamath Basin borders
5177-687: The Klamath River . The Trinity flows for 165 miles (266 km) through the Klamath Mountains and Coast Ranges , with a watershed area of nearly 3,000 square miles (7,800 km ) in Trinity and Humboldt Counties. Designated a National Wild and Scenic River , along most of its course the Trinity flows swiftly through tight canyons and mountain meadows. The river is known for its once prolific runs of anadromous fish , notably Chinook salmon and steelhead , which sustained Native American tribes for thousands of years. Due to its remoteness,
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5344-589: The North American Plate , causing uplift of the sea floor under what is now northwestern California. During the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, tectonic movement along the plate boundary produced a range of mountains much higher than those found in the area today. Over millions of years these mountains were eroded, then reformed again as the next oceanic terrane collided with the continental crust. This repeating cycle of erosion and orogeny created
5511-609: The Scott River and Shasta River, and further cited a Fish and Game report of beaver from 1915–1917 on High Prairie Creek at the mouth of the Klamath River near Requa, California. Fur trappers eventually moved southwest into the Sacramento Valley and extended the Siskiyou Trail , an early path between the Oregon Territory and San Francisco Bay . Within a matter of years, the plentiful beaver in
5678-652: The Smith , Rogue and Umpqua River watersheds to the northwest, the Mad and Eel River watersheds to the southwest, the Sacramento River watershed to the southeast, and various closed basins of interior Oregon to the northeast. Hydrologically, the Upper Klamath Basin is considered to be upstream from the former site of Iron Gate Dam , about 190 miles (310 km) from the river's mouth. Most of
5845-455: The massif of southwestern Oregon and northwestern California. Instead of being diverted southwards, however, the Klamath continued to flow westward and created a steep-walled gorge through the rising range. One of these terranes brought with it a long north–south band of easily eroded mica that now lies about 30 miles (48 km) inland from the Pacific coast of Northern California. When
6012-541: The 1800s. These have declined in part due to increasing environmental regulations. Tourism has been an increasingly important part of the economy especially after the creation of the Trinity Lake reservoir in 1964. The lands that make up the Trinity River basin today began to take shape over 200 million years ago by the collision of several exotic terranes – or crustal fragments of the Pacific Plate – with
6179-407: The 1920s, and the mining settlements were abandoned or fell into decline. This brought on the last stage of commercial gold mining along the Trinity, as floating dredges (called "doodle-bugs" by the miners) were used to turn over the river bottoms that had been inaccessible by the placer miners a half-century earlier. After World War II commercial dredges continued to operate on the Trinity, but at
6346-520: The 1980s. Many logged areas were on steep mountains, and improper construction of roads and skid trails exposed slopes to erosion and landslides. In 1988 several environmentalist groups including the Wilderness Society , Audubon Society and Sierra Club filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service, preventing the cutting of 18.4 million board feet of salvage lumber in an area with particularly high erosion risk. This generated pushback in
6513-559: The 20th century, before damming, the fall chinook salmon run was estimated at anywhere between 19,000 and 75,500. The spring chinook and coho salmon runs were about 10,000 each and the annual steelhead run was about 50,000. Forest and river habitats in the watershed have been heavily affected by human activities ever since Gold Rush mining began in the 1800s. Commercial logging has caused mountain slopes to become more prone to erosion; even in areas that are no longer logged and have seen secondary forest growth, abandoned logging roads pose
6680-541: The B Canal which heads east towards the Lost River Valley and the C Canal which heads south towards Tule Lake Valley. A diversion channel was opened to carry floodwaters from the Lost River to the Klamath, and a tunnel excavated to drain the remaining waters of Tule Lake towards Lower Klamath Lake, where the Klamath Straits Drain conveys excess water back to the Klamath River near Keno. A cut
6847-417: The California legislature rejected treaties to create federal designated land, the Karuk peoples do not have a reservation. The Klamath Forest Reserve was created by the U.S. government in 1905 and claimed Karuk land as public land. Members have been working to reclaim parcels of their original land and place them in trusts. The concept of World Renewal plays heavily into both Karuk and Yurok culture. Although
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7014-692: The Cascades. The mountain ridges are forested, while the valleys mostly consist of wetlands or farmland. Although many streams flowing into Upper Klamath Lake derive their flow from snowmelt, its largest sources – the Williamson and Wood Rivers – are predominantly fed by large springs . Upper and Lower Klamath Lakes and Tule Lake were once part of 350,000 acres (140,000 ha) of connected wetlands, over three-quarters of which have been drained for agriculture. The 3,000-square-mile (7,800 km ) Lost River basin, situated east and south of Klamath Falls,
7181-551: The Central Valley has greatly reduced the total flow of the river since the 1960s, though conversely, a required minimum dam release for protection of migrating salmon results in a flow rate during the dry season that is higher than it naturally would be. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) operates eight real-time stream gages on the Trinity River. The lowermost gage, located at Hoopa, measures runoff from 2,853 square miles (7,390 km ), or 97 percent of
7348-620: The Colorado River Basin. One of the key projects was an aqueduct to transport North Coast water to the Imperial Valley , reducing its reliance on water from the Colorado River. However, with the exception of the upper Trinity River project, none of these dam and diversion projects were ever realized. The Trinity River project was first drafted on October 1, 1951, and authorized by Congress on January 2, 1953, as
7515-575: The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management start collaborating with tribal peoples in the Offield Mountain Ceremonial Burning project and Tribal Forest Protection Act to incorporate traditional ecological knowledge and stewardship practices into land management. In the late 1820s, fur trappers of the Hudson's Bay Company traveling south from Fort Vancouver reached the Klamath River basin. The first party to see
7682-458: The Franciscan assemblage as a "nightmare of rocks" due to its complex and fragmented layers. The most common type of rock is greywacke , followed by other types of sandstones and shales. Landslides and mass wasting are common in this region due to erosion as well as earthquakes. An archaeological site on the Trinity River at Cox Bar, with spear points dating from 3000–6000 BC, has some of
7849-555: The Hayfork Wintu as norelmaq ("south-uphill people"). Many Wintu villages were located along the Trinity River, and were home to up to 150 people. Each village operated as an independent unit led by a chief, although the villagers interacted frequently through trade with each other as well as neighboring tribes, such as the Nomlaki , Achomawi and Shasta . Since about 1000 A.D. the lower Trinity River has been inhabited by
8016-471: The Klamath Basin had been mostly wiped out. Beaver dams had previously been an important factor in stream habitat in the Klamath River watershed, helping to moderate the power of floods and creating extensive wetlands. The loss of the beaver dams resulted in detrimental consequences for watercourses in the basin, exacerbating the power of winter floods, and causing severe erosion. Despite the environmental implications, extensive and fertile meadows left behind by
8183-517: The Klamath Irrigation Project, to drain and reclaim for agriculture over 250,000 acres (100,000 ha) of former lake beds and wetlands. The first homesteaders moved onto project lands in 1917, while expansions of the project continued into the 1940s. The Klamath Irrigation Project includes 185 miles (298 km) of main canals, chief of which are the A Canal which delivers water south from Upper Klamath Lake, dividing into
8350-463: The Klamath Mountains and arrived at what is probably now Hayfork Creek on April 18. They followed the creek to the South Fork and from there to the Trinity River and the Klamath River. After following the Klamath to the Pacific, they traveled north towards Oregon, thus becoming the first white men to travel from inland California to coastal Oregon. Smith and his party traded with the Hupas and Yuroks in
8517-480: The Klamath River and its tributaries have been designated National Wild and Scenic Rivers . Four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River were demolished by October 2024 , following almost two decades of negotiations between local representatives, tribes, conservation groups and the utility company operating the dams. This enabled salmon migration to the Upper Klamath Basin for the first time in over 100 years, and established new guidelines for Klamath water use to achieve
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#17327729820678684-524: The Klamath River near the confluence with the Salmon River, has been a traditional fishing ground for thousands of years. Tribes of the upper basin were primarily hunter-gatherers, and did not depend on salmon as much as downstream tribes. The Klamath River's name was recorded by Europeans in the 19th century derived from the word klamet or the Klamath Tribe. Prior to European contact,
8851-706: The Klamath River was led by Alexander McLeod in the winter of 1826–27. In 1828, the Jedediah Smith fur trapping expedition was helped across the Trinity River by the Yurok and camped on the east side of the Trinity River. His clerk, Harrison G. Rogers, wrote, "Mr. Smith purchases all the beaver furs he can from them," suggesting that beaver were then plentiful on the Trinity. Joseph Grinnell , in Fur-bearing Mammals of California , noted that beaver had been present on other Klamath River tributaries such as
9018-417: The Klamath basin was designated, effectively banning timber harvesting and road development in the area. Indigenous people were not allowed to steward their traditional territories because the Forest Service believed they would further deplete the damaged ecosystems. This led to a legal battle in 1970 over whether Klamath tribes could fish in these territories. Not until the late 1990s and early 2000s did
9185-479: The Klamath encountered this layer, it began cutting its canyon along the mica instead of continuing southwest to the Pacific, resulting in the sharp northward bend where the Trinity River joins. The lower Trinity also follows portions of the mica and its south fork as well. Human habitation on the Klamath dates to at least 7,000 years ago. Many of the Native American groups along the river depended on
9352-603: The Klamath reaches Weitchpec , where it receives the Trinity River , its largest tributary, from the left. State Route 96 follows the Klamath River for 137 miles (220 km) from Hornbrook to Weitchpec. Downstream of the Trinity River, the Klamath turns sharply northwest. The entire 44-mile (71 km) lower section of the river flows through coast redwood forests in the Yurok Indian Reservation . State Route 169 follows most of this section of
9519-669: The Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin-Paiute people, reside in the Klamath Basin but hold many of their sacred ceremonies along the Sprague River . The Upper Klamath Lake , and its fish populations, is also an important cultural and subsistence location for the Klamath Tribes. In 1905, the United States Forest Service , an agency of the Department of Agriculture headed by Gifford Pinchot –
9686-416: The Lower Basin, even though it only accounts for 62 percent of the land area. The Trinity River is the largest sub-basin of the Lower Klamath; the main stem originates in the Trinity Alps west of Redding , while the South Fork Trinity River 's origin at North Yolla Bolly Mountain is the southernmost point in the entire Klamath Basin. Much of the Lower Klamath and Trinity River basins are bounded on
9853-425: The Natinixwe, now known as the Hupa people. Natinixwe is an endonym meaning "people of the place where the trails return". Their name for the Trinity River was hun' simply meaning "river". The name "Hupa" or "Hoopa" appears to originate from the Yurok word for the Trinity River country, hopah , which was first recorded by ethnologist George Gibbs in 1852. The Hupa lived in the fertile Hoopa Valley along
10020-440: The Native Americans of the Klamath Basin and surrounding area signed a treaty that had them cede 20 million acres (8,100,000 ha) of land to the United States and forced them to move to the newly created Klamath Indian Reservation . This reservation clumped the Yurok, Karuk, and Hoopa tribes into one small area. These reservation lands were created as a result of wars between American settlers and indigenous peoples including
10187-453: The Red Cap War in 1855. The US government wanted to stop these violent clashes and relegate the indigenous people to limited territory where they could be sovereign. The reservation policy was reversed in 1887 with the Dawes Act which designated allotments to individuals of indigenous descent who could stake claim. However into the 1920s many of these individual land owners sold away their allotments to timber companies as they could not afford
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#173277298206710354-471: The Shasta Valley, past Weed, through Lake Shastina , and past Montague . It joins the Klamath from the south approximately 8 miles (13 km) north-northeast of Yreka . The Shasta Valley is dominated by nearby Mount Shasta and underlain with volcanic basalt from eruptions of the mountain in recent geologic time. Pluto's Cave is an example of voids remaining after highly fluid lava drained from underground conduits which were fed by volcanic vents to
10521-420: The Siskiyou Mountains to the north and west of the river, and the Marble Mountains and Salmon Mountains to the east and south. These mountains experience heavy winter snowfall, while summers are warm and dry with little precipitation. Closer to the coast, winters are cool with heavy rainfall, while summer temperatures are mild and often foggy. About 88 percent of the Klamath River's total flow originates in
10688-413: The Trinity Alps – the highest range in northwest California – were also sculpted by glaciation during successive Ice Ages, the last of which ended roughly 10,000 years ago. Glacial erosion produced numerous granite outcroppings, tarns , cirques and knife-edged ridges. Remnants of these glaciers, or "glacierets", are still extant in the higher valleys. The Coast Ranges pass through the western part of
10855-417: The Trinity Mountains to the Whiskeytown Lake reservoir, and from there it flows 2.4 miles (3.9 km) through the Spring Creek Tunnel to join the Sacramento River at Keswick Dam . Along the way the water drops some 1,500 feet (460 m) through three hydroelectric plants, generating nearly one billion kilowatt hours each year. Water flow data for the Judge Francis Carr hydroelectric station located at
11022-443: The Trinity River Basin and consist of even younger rock formations, chiefly the Franciscan Assemblage . The Franciscan formation consists of more unstable sedimentary and igneous rocks and soils that are highly breakable and prone to erosion. They formed even more recently in geologic history than the Klamath Mountains, primarily due to uplift along the Cascadia subduction zone . The Natural Resources Conservation Service refers to
11189-470: The Trinity River Division of the Central Valley Project. In 1955 Congress authorized an annual diversion of 704,000 acre-feet (0.868 km ) of water (56 percent of total flow) from the Trinity River, stating that the water could be exported "without detrimental effect on the fishery resources" of the Trinity. In 1957 the Bureau of Reclamation revised the export volume to 865,000 acre-feet (1.067 km ). Construction of Trinity Dam started in 1956 and
11356-455: The Trinity River and the Hyampom Valley on the South Fork – some of the few flat lands in a region otherwise dominated by rugged mountains. A Yurok village called Weitspus stood at the site of present-day Weitchpec at the confluence of the Trinity and Klamath Rivers. The Hupa traded with the coastal Yurok and Karok by using canoes to navigate the Trinity and Klamath Rivers. The trade arrangements with neighboring tribes were complex and involved
11523-430: The Trinity River area. Their traditional lands included much of the upper (eastern) Trinity River in the present day area of Shasta-Trinity National Forest . There were nine major groups of Wintu spread across the Trinity, Upper Sacramento, and McCloud River valleys as well as parts of the South Fork Trinity River and its tributary Hayfork Creek . The Trinity River Wintu were known as nomsu's ("those being west"), and
11690-418: The Trinity River canyon near its confluence with the New River. They were enemies of the Hupa, but had friendly relations with the Wintu. The now extinct Chimariko language was of Northern Hokan origin, in contrast to the Athabaskan dialect of the Hupa and the Wintuan languages spoken by the Wintu. Carl Waldman describes in Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes (2014) that "the Chimariko occupied one of
11857-415: The Trinity River country led to conflict with indigenous tribes, many of which saw severe depopulation due to fighting and foreign diseases. In the following decades logging and ranching, combined with mining runoff, significantly changed the river's ecology and led to the decline of its fish populations. The Trinity River is an important water source for irrigation and hydroelectricity generation, as well as
12024-409: The Trinity River country, but most of the timber produced was used locally. After World War II , logging greatly increased both due to high demand for housing domestically and abroad, and the introduction of more advanced technologies. In 1959 alone, loggers took 439 million board feet from Trinity County. The rate dropped after that, but logging continued at 200–300 million board feet per year well into
12191-512: The Trinity River each year. Native peoples also made meal of berries, seeds and acorns, and hunted game animals such as deer and elk that were drawn to the Trinity River. Due to their proximity to trade routes in and around the Central Valley, the Wintu came into frequent contact with European explorers, traders and settlers. These initial meetings were peaceful, but the Wintu population – along with many other Central Valley tribes – were decimated by
12358-696: The Trinity River in order to protect fish. However, the use of Trinity River water remains a contentious issue, especially in years of drought. The Trinity River begins deep in the Scott Mountains , in Trinity County , at the confluence of High Camp Creek and Chilcoot Creek. It flows south through a deep valley between the Trinity Mountains to the east as well as the Salmon Mountains / Trinity Alps and Scott Mountains to
12525-467: The Trinity River valley were heavily opposed to the dam, but they had no recourse against eminent domain used by the federal government (although property owners were paid for their land). Many buildings in Trinity Center were moved to a new location on the western shore of the reservoir. The dam blocked salmon runs to 109 miles (175 km) of habitat in the upper Trinity River basin, destroying
12692-563: The Trinity River watershed is federal land managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management . The remaining 20 percent are privately owned; about half are owned by logging companies. The overall climate is Mediterranean , with cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Annual precipitation over the Trinity River watershed averages 57 inches (1,400 mm). Precipitation ranges from 37 inches (940 mm) in lowlands around Weaverville and Hayfork, to as high as 85 inches (2,200 mm) in some mountain ranges close to
12859-473: The Trinity River watershed. The annual discharge , averaged over the 1964–2013 period, was 4,849 cubic feet per second (137.3 m /s). The average discharge between 1912–1960, prior to construction of Trinity and Lewiston Dams, was 5,618 cubic feet per second (159.1 m /s). The maximum flow was 231,000 cubic feet per second (6,500 m /s) on December 22, 1964, during the Christmas flood of 1964 , and
13026-583: The Trinity River, while SR 299 runs along the Trinity River between Willow Creek and Junction City . SR 169 follows most of the lower Klamath below the Trinity, except for an unconstructed segment between river miles 8-23 (13-37 km) which is only accessible by boat. Although the Lower Klamath Basin is almost entirely covered by mountains, there are also several prominent valleys used for agriculture. Shasta Valley in Siskiyou County
13193-407: The Trinity did not feature prominently in the early European colonization of California, but the gold rush in the mid-1800s brought thousands of gold seekers to the area. The river was named by Major Pierson B. Reading who, upon reaching the river in 1848, mistakenly believed it to flow into the Pacific Ocean at Trinidad Bay . During and after the gold rush, the influx of settlers and miners into
13360-504: The Upper Klamath Basin is in Oregon, with some parts extending south into California. Situated between the Cascades and the Oregon high desert and northwest of the Modoc Plateau , it features a semi-arid climate and is characterized by large, flat alluvial valleys separated by long mountain ridges. Elevations range from 4,000 to 4,500 ft (1,200 to 1,400 m) in the valleys to 7,000 to 9,000 ft (2,100 to 2,700 m) in
13527-461: The Wintu population had been reduced to about 1,000, from an estimated 12,000 prior to European contact. The Chimariko also suffered heavily when European prospectors entered the region in the 19th century searching for gold. After clashing with the Europeans, many members of the tribe were dispersed to Shasta territory or killed. Some returned to the Trinity River in the late 19th century, after
13694-508: The Yonna Formation, which crosses much of the region and rises above the surface in large outcroppings of solid rock in many of the ridges. Underlying rocks are generally younger from east to west. The many ridges crossing the upper Klamath Basin divide it into valleys with up to 330 feet (100 m) of vertical relief, and drainage patterns generally follow the topography. An extensive geothermal system occurs deep underground within
13861-576: The Yurok people, the health of the river and the salmon is indicative of the health of the tribe, making the current policies surrounding river dams, and declining salmon populations deeply personal. Like with other Klamath Basin Tribes, an annual salmon ceremony takes place to honor and celebrate the salmon, which the Yurok people see as ancestors. The Yurok tribe’s ceremonies emphasize the Klamath River, and many traditional practices require close proximity to
14028-471: The amount of sediment carried into the rivers. Dam building has had the opposite effect, by blocking natural sediment sources to a long section of the Trinity River. Both have had notable impacts on river geomorphology , altering the development of riparian zones and fish habitat. The Trinity River watershed borders several major California drainage basins; these are the Mad River and Redwood Creek to
14195-415: The annual Salmon ceremony. Yurok culture and religion emphasizes direct connection and communication with the Klamath river. Yurok cosmologies and oral histories emphasize the importance of the Klamath river and its salmon as a gift from the creator to provide for the Yurok people. “Without this river we would not know who we are, where we’re from or where we’re going” said an elder in the tribal community. For
14362-502: The area and their encounters were generally friendly. Early maps of the area label the South Fork, the lower Trinity and the lower Klamath as "Smith's River". The name was later applied to the Smith River further north, which Smith also crossed on the same expedition. Harrison Rogers, a member of Smith's party, called the Trinity "Indian Scalp River" although the reason for this name is unknown. The Old Trinity Trail, which crosses
14529-410: The beaver furs he can from them", suggesting that beaver were then plentiful on the Trinity or at least in the surrounding area. The Trinity River was once known for its prolific anadromous fish ( salmon , steelhead and sturgeon ) runs. The actual number of fish returning to the river each year to spawn, prior to European settlement, is uncertain due to the lack of records. During the first half of
14696-459: The children by forcing them to speak English and dress in Western clothing and eat Western foods. This led to a generational disconnect and loss of knowledge of many cultural practices. Beginning in the early 20th century, steamboats began operating on Lower Klamath Lake between Siskiyou County, California , and Klamath Falls, Oregon . The steamboats completed a link between Klamath Falls and
14863-407: The coast. The high rainfall combined with the rugged geography results in extremely fast runoff and a high risk of flooding during winter storms. Large volumes of rocks and sediment carried by floods are spread along the rivers forming wide alluvial channels. In general, human activities such as mining and road construction have increased the rate of erosion within the watershed and consequentially
15030-569: The community of Hayfork are located in Trinity County, while Hoopa Valley and the surrounding Hoopa Reservation are on the Trinity River in Humboldt County. The below table lists major sub-basins of the Klamath River system. The lower and middle sections of the Klamath River are vulnerable to flooding, and major floods have occurred in years where major flooding has taken place in Northern California , particularly in
15197-455: The complex "jumble of different rock types" that characterizes the region today. Rocks commonly found in the Trinity River area include gabbro , chert , granite , diorite , limestone , sandstone , serpentine , schist and marble . Gold -bearing quartz veins are widespread in local metamorphic rock formations; the richness of the area made it among the focal points of the California Gold Rush . The Klamath Mountains, which make up
15364-547: The damming of nearly every river in the North Coast region of California, chiefly the Trinity, Klamath and Eel. The Ah Pah Dam would have flooded the canyons of the Klamath and Trinity Rivers to form the largest reservoir in California. These grandiose plans culminated in the Pacific Southwest Water Plan of 1964, which sought to comprehensively link the water systems of California and the rest of
15531-424: The draining of beaver ponds attracted many settlers to the region later on. Klamath River ever since the discovery of gold in its bed has been continuously mined and is still a long way from being worked out. The conditions for river mining in this stream are very favorable. Though carrying a large volume of water, it has nearly everywhere a considerable grade and velocity of current with no great depth ... ... At
15698-444: The east. The Shasta Valley is covered with small hillocks extending from the base of Mt. Shasta north to just beyond the city of Montague, that are the debris from the liquefication of the ancestral Mount Shasta sometime within the past 400,000 years. Rising on the east slope of Mount Eddy several miles west of Mount Shasta and about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Shasta Lake , the Shasta River immediately proceeds to flow through
15865-530: The eastern (upper) valleys of the Trinity River around Weaverville, as the hostile Native Americans and treacherous gorges around Burnt Ranch precluded the transport of rations and equipment to places further west. For about two decades the area was extremely productive, second only to the Sierra Nevada (the Mother Lode ) itself. The rate at which gold was extracted, and new methods pioneered to access
16032-438: The eastern part of the watershed are quite young in geologic terms, no more than 2 or 3 million years old. The present shape of the mountains was highly influenced by underground volcanic activity, which created batholiths , domes of igneous rock formed by cooled magma. They raised the elevation of the terrain above and created the widespread granite and diorite formations found in the area today. The higher mountains, including
16199-399: The end of Trinity Tunnel indicates an annual average of 1,257 cubic feet per second (35.6 m /s), or 910,700 acre-feet (1.1233 km ), diverted from the river between 1963 and 2013. The filling of the reservoir flooded the town of Trinity Center, one of the original main population centers of Trinity County, as well as the smaller communities of Stringtown and Minersville. Residents of
16366-404: The end. This style of fishing works to naturally limit the amount of fish caught in a fishing session, thus ensuring that many salmon are able to spawn upstream and resupply the fishery. The Karuk language also revolves around the Klamath River, and the word "karuk" means "upriver". To indicate uphill, the word maruk is used, meaning away from the river. Conversely, the word saruk, meaning towards
16533-477: The extra water was not yet needed. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation took over the Central Valley Project from the bankrupt state of California during the Great Depression in 1933 as a federal public works project, and in 1942 it began investigations to dam the Trinity River. However, the Trinity River plan was dropped in 1945, after the completion of nearby Shasta Dam . As the 1950s began, demand on
16700-527: The first 18 miles (29 km) below Lake Ewauna, the Klamath River takes a slow meandering course through what was formerly the Klamath Marshes, which were drained for agriculture in the early 20th century. An artificial channel diverts water from the Lost River , which normally flows into Tule Lake , into the Klamath during periods of high runoff. Below Keno Dam (which controls the level of
16867-432: The first salmon of the season, which they think of as "salmon medicine" with ceremonies similar to the other Klamath basin tribes. Their relationship to the Klamath and its salmon was, and continues to be, deep-seated in their culture. The Klamath Tribes, consisting of the Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin-Paiute, are a federally recognized tribe with around 4,800 members. The Klamath and United States federal government created
17034-409: The fishing economy that had sustained local people for generations. Other residents welcomed the dam project for the economic benefits it would bring via hydropower and tourism, as the gold mining industry that had long supported the region was greatly diminished by the 1950s. By 1986 tourism in the Trinity River country accounted for 50–75 percent of business in the summer and 25 percent in
17201-506: The gold seekers had left. People of Chimariko ancestry continue to live in the region, although the tribe functionally no longer exists. Because of the geographic isolation of their homeland, the Hupa had few interactions with early European explorers, although they later came in conflict with miners looking for gold. Even after California became a US state in 1850, the Hupa continued to live on their traditional lands and were eventually granted
17368-433: The harder to reach deposits, was feverish. Author James Hilton remarked that Weaverville was a "Shangri-La, that strange and wonderful somewhere which is not a place but a state of mind." The area was soon profiting $ 1.5 million a year, with hundreds of claims along the Trinity River equipped with flumes, waterwheels and other apparatus to separate fine gold from river gravel. The Great Flood of 1862 largely obliterated
17535-455: The huge runs of Pacific salmon , the third largest on the Pacific coast of what is now the United States. These groups included the Shasta along the middle and upper parts of the river, the Yurok , Hupa , and Karuk along the canyons of the lower river, and the Modoc , Klamath and Yahooskin in the desert valleys of the upper basin. About 129 miles (208 km) of the Klamath River, or half
17702-560: The largest federally recognized tribe in California. Federal recognition was given in 1855, in which the Yurok Reservation was created. Throughout the late 1800s, Yurok were moved to several newly established reservations, several of which were later destroyed or closed. The reservation covers around 63,000 acres along the coastal region of the lower Klamath River. The Yurok people think of the Klamath river as “the Bloodline:
17869-704: The left then flows west into the Siskiyou Mountains (a sub-range of the Klamath Mountains ), entering the Klamath National Forest . It receives the Scott River from the left, passing through Seiad Valley and Happy Camp . Turning south, it flows towards Somes Bar , where it receives the Salmon River from the left as it enters Humboldt County and the Six Rivers National Forest . After passing Orleans ,
18036-473: The life blood of the people” relying on it for foods like salmon (ney-ouy), sturgeon (Kaa-ka), candlefish (kwor-ror), and seaweed (chey-gel’). These foods, specifically fish and specifically from the Klamath river are of utmost important to the culture and religion of the Yurok tribe. Located along the river are various villages important to specific ceremonial practices of the Yurok, like the Jump Dance or
18203-514: The local timber industry, whose decline has partly been attributed to more stringent environmental regulations. As early as the 1930s, the state of California had floated the idea of diverting water from the rainy north to support irrigation in the fertile, but dry San Joaquin Valley . A diversion of the Trinity River was contemplated in order to boost the available water supply for the Central Valley watershed, but planners eventually determined that
18370-479: The lowest was 162 cubic feet per second (4.6 m /s) on October 4, 1931. The peak flow in 1964 was greatly attenuated by the Trinity Dam which had just started reservoir filling at the time, perhaps by as much as 100,000 cubic feet per second (2,800 m /s). However, the record-breaking rains of that winter swelled tributaries below the dam and contributed to a crest fully 20 feet (6.1 m) higher than
18537-493: The lumber companies shut down due to drought. About 500,000 acres (200,000 ha) of farmland are irrigated in the Upper Klamath Basin, divided between the federal Klamath Irrigation Project located south of Upper Klamath Lake, and various local and private irrigation districts, mostly located north of the lake. In 1905, the Reclamation Service (today's U.S. Bureau of Reclamation ) was authorized to construct
18704-488: The major deposits were gone; even today, recreational gold panning remains a popular activity along the Trinity. One Mr. Jorstad who had been mining in the Trinity River country since the 1930s, continued to live in a small cabin at Pfeiffer Flat on the North Fork until his death in 1989. Jorstad's cabin was an important rest stop for miners, hunters, hikers and fishermen along the North Fork for many years; it remains as
18871-460: The mountains between Redding and Weaverville (approximately where State Route 299 is today) was used by Native Americans for generations before Europeans came to the area. Hudson's Bay Company fur trappers may have used this route in search of beaver as early as the 1830s and 1840s; trapping was common in the area until about 1845. The trail pioneered by Smith was also used by fur trappers, including mountain man Ewing Young in 1832. Today part of
19038-421: The mouth, the river picks up more agricultural runoff as it meanders north between irrigated fields. The river then passes between Yreka and Montague , 10 miles (16 km) from the mouth, crossed by California State Route 3 and Interstate 5 for the final time. It then enters a canyon in the Klamath Mountains , 3 miles (4.8 km) from the mouth, and begins to parallel California State Route 263 . Its mouth
19205-430: The neighboring Butte Valley– Meiss Lake basin – have been artificially altered to discharge floodwaters into the Klamath River via diversion dams and drainage facilities. The Lower Klamath Basin, consisting mostly of mountains and coniferous forest, is located almost entirely in California except for the headwaters of a few tributaries that flow south from Oregon. The Klamath Mountains include numerous sub-ranges, with
19372-599: The occasional high elevation thunderstorm. The Shasta-Trinity National Forest encompasses nearly the entire Trinity River watershed with the exception of private inholdings and the small area in Humboldt County. Large mammals found in the national forest include black bear, mountain lion, bobcat, coyote, gray fox, Columbian black-tailed deer (mule deer), and elk. River otters inhabit most streams. Other mammals include ringtails , raccoons, skunks, jackrabbits, martens and many squirrel and rat species including northern flying squirrel . Several species of bats are also found in
19539-403: The old bridge still stand. The mouth of the Klamath and nearby sections of the river are susceptible to oceanic tsunami surges, and fatalities have occurred there during the 1964 Alaskan and 2011 Japanese tsunamis . The Upper Klamath Basin, defined by the drainage area of the Klamath River above Iron Gate Dam , is a unique transitional area between the Cascade Range to the west and
19706-465: The oldest evidence of human habitation in Northern California. This site is believed to be part of the early Borax Lake Pattern culture. Archaeological evidence in the Whiskeytown area also indicates human presence as early as 5000 BC, although it is uncertain at what point the ancestors of modern Native American tribes arrived here. The Wintu people are the first recorded indigenous group in
19873-417: The outlet of the lake. Many of the seasonal marshlands surrounding the lake and rivers were diked in this period to host lumber operations. In 1919, the first Link River Dam , a timber crib dam, was constructed at the outlet of Upper Klamath Lake, raising it by about 16 feet (5 m). Steamboats continued mail, passenger and freight operations on Upper Klamath Lake until about 1928, in a period when many of
20040-572: The past 10 million years, successive oceanic terranes dating from the Cambrian to the late Jurassic were added to the bulk of the North American continent. There are four distinct terranes from west to east. While the coastal mountains date to less than 3 million years ago, the farther inland High Cascades are as old as 7.5 million years. Granite batholiths , overlying sedimentary rock, and volcanic rock were crumpled into
20207-498: The placer mining claims along this part of the Trinity River, spurring prospectors to push west, establishing a pack trail to the area around the New River and the South Fork of the Trinity. In fact, the New River was named thusly for being a "new" river to explore for gold. Although the river gold petered out by the 1870s, lode gold was discovered in the 1880s in the mountains above the Trinity River country. Because hard rock mining
20374-419: The places they live in over the course of hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It encompasses knowledge, beliefs, and practices that native people have accumulated through their immersive stewardship of the natural world. On the Klamath River, tribes have historically, and continue to, use traditional ecological knowledges and practices to care for and manage their landscape. The Klamath River tribes consist of
20541-447: The present time there are about twenty-five claims being worked on the Klamath and Salmon Rivers, employing three hundred men. Operations in this locality are generally on a small scale and involve the use of but little capital. —R.L. Dunn (1889) The 1850s saw discoveries of rich placer and lode gold deposits along the predominantly Shasta areas of the Klamath, Trinity, Shasta and other rivers in northwestern California. The gold
20708-401: The preservation of their cultural heritage along with their land and the resources it provides. The Klamath River basin tribes are deeply connected and entwined with their land. The Klamath river, the food it provides and the spiritual significance it holds, is centrally situated in the identities of all four tribes that live along the Klamath. The Yurok tribe has almost 5,000 members, making it
20875-601: The principal road connecting Redding to the Humboldt Bay area. At Burnt Ranch it receives the New River from the north. At Salyer the South Fork , its main tributary, enters from the south, nearly doubling the flow. At the confluence of the South Fork, the Trinity River turns sharply north, entering Humboldt County . It flows through the wider steep-sided namesake valley of the Hoopa Valley Reservation , past
21042-475: The region. In the 1840s many white Americans started moving west into the region with the Gold Rush. Many more members of the Klamath tribes were displaced or killed in the destruction of villages and a series of wars over territory, among other threats. Into the 20th century, many Klamath children were separated from their tribes and families and forced to attend boarding schools which attempted to assimilate
21209-501: The river and include some type of bathing in or ingesting of the water. Recreational games are played on constructed “courts” along the river banks. The cycle of life in the Yurok culture is closely tied to the Klamath and those who have passed away are thought to take one last boat ride upriver. Like the Karuk, the Yurok language references the Klamath river in their descriptions of direction. The Karuk tribe recognized self-governance in 1994 and gained federal recognition in 1979. As
21376-466: The river as the Yurok and Karuk people, including practices of jump dances and cultural/subsistence reliance on the Klamath's salmon runs. Located in Northern California and Southern Oregon, the Shasta tribe is not federally recognized by the U.S. government due to the California legislature rejecting a treaty in 1851 that would have created a Shasta reservation. The tribe is currently in the process of gaining federal recognition. Shasta people celebrate
21543-527: The river was called by many different names, including Ishkêesh and Koke . The Klamath Tribe's name came from the Upper Chinookan word /ɬámaɬ/ , literally "they of the river". The tribes along the Klamath River, in their hunting, fishing, and landscape stewardship practices, employed traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Traditional ecological knowledge describes the type of natural science information that indigenous people have gathered about
21710-400: The river's length, was on Shasta territory. The Yurok were the second most prominent group on the river, controlling about 30 miles (48 km) of the lower Klamath River and a large section of the Northern California coast. Along with the Hupa and Karuk, the lower to mid-upper Tribes caught salmon from the river with weirs , basket traps and harpoons . Ishi Pishi Falls, a set of rapids on
21877-532: The river, except for an unconstructed segment between river miles 8-23 (13-37 km) which is only accessible by boat. The river enters Del Norte County , where Highway 101 bridges it at the town of Klamath . The river empties into the Pacific Ocean at a tidal estuary near Requa , in an area shared by the Yurok Reservation and Redwood National and State Parks , about 16 miles (26 km) south of Crescent City . The Klamath River watershed , known as
22044-565: The river, is used to indicate downhill. The Hupa Valley Tribe is a federally recognized tribe with around 3,000 members. The reservation spans 80,000 acres and is the largest in California. It is located in the lower area of the Klamath River along the Trinity River. Around 3,000 people reside in the Hoopa Valley Reservation. Spanning around 85,000 acres, it is the largest reservation in California. The Hupa Valley tribe hold similar ceremonial and religious beliefs regarding
22211-423: The river. Salmon are an integral aspect of Karuk identity, culture, and subsistence. Karuk fisherman continue to sustainably fish for Salmon despite their decreasing numbers, drought and myriad other ecological issues. Ishi Pishi falls, located near the town of Somes Bar , remains the traditional location for Karuk men to fish. Karuk fishermen use a traditional dip-net fishing technique using long poles with nets on
22378-472: The river. As salmon runs declined in the mid-20th century, tribes pushed for legal recognition of their senior water rights to support Klamath River fisheries, which have led to controversial reductions in irrigation water supply. In the 21st century, the Klamath River hosts a wide variety of uses, including tribal subsistence fishing and ceremonies, recreational fishing and whitewater boating, and agricultural and domestic water supply. Starting in 1981, much of
22545-468: The second highest peak, recorded in December 1955. The other USGS gages are located at Coffee Creek (above Trinity Lake), below Lewiston Dam , above and below Douglas City , at Junction City , at Helena , and at Burnt Ranch . The Trinity River's 2,936-square-mile (7,600 km ) watershed drains a rugged, forested region of California's North Coast . The highest point in the watershed
22712-505: The smallest homelands, if not the smallest, of any distinct linguistic group in North America." The abundant salmon, steelhead and sturgeon runs in the Trinity River were central to the lives of indigenous peoples along the entire length of the river. Fishing provided their primary sustenance as well as goods for trade. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, native peoples took as much as 2,000,000 pounds (910,000 kg) of salmon from
22879-467: The taxes. Eventually, the tribes began to profit from the sale of timber produced on the reservation, although unfairly distributed because of the lack of consideration of the three differing tribes. In 1954, however, Congress removed their federal recognition and the reservation was no longer economically successful. The tribes won back federal recognition in the 1970s, but by then poverty was widespread among tribal members. Additionally more indigenous land
23046-498: The term "world renewal" was coined by anthropologist Kroeber and Gifford, the Karuk tribe has adopted the phrase to refer to their annual ceremony that they view as essential to maintaining the reciprocal and stewarding relationship they have with the environment. The ceremony is meant to renew and sustain this relationship. Many aspects of the larger ceremony involve being near or on the Klamath river, such as boat dances that take place in canoes and involve giving thanks and gratitude to
23213-406: The towns of Willow Creek and Hoopa . It joins the Klamath River at Weitchpec , 44 miles (71 km) above the mouth of the larger river on the Pacific Ocean . The confluence marks the point where the Klamath turns from its generally southwesterly course to flow north towards the sea. As the crow flies , Weitchpec is situated about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Eureka . The Trinity River
23380-605: The trail also forms the route of California State Route 36 . Major Pierson B. Reading (for whom the present city of Redding is named) explored the upper Trinity area in 1845 and is credited with the modern name of the river. Reading mistakenly thought that the Trinity flowed west to empty into the Pacific Ocean at Trinidad Bay . In 1849 prospectors confirmed the actual path of the river to flow into what, twenty years earlier had been called "Smith's River"; however, Reading's name stuck. In July 1848, not too long after James Marshall's famous gold find at Sutter's Mill – which started
23547-516: The upper Klamath were settled by Euro-Americans following exploration by fur trappers in the early to mid-19th century. Violent conflict and displacement of tribes occurred during the California Gold Rush as prospectors pushed into the lower Klamath basin, leading to a bitter fight over establishing reservation lands . In the early 20th century, the federal government drained the upper basin's once extensive lakes and wetlands for agriculture, while private utilities constructed hydroelectric dams along
23714-419: The upper Trinity River; Oregon white oak is widespread throughout lower elevations. Fir forests comprise almost 74 percent of the forests in the Trinity River watershed; pine and hardwoods account for 13 percent each. There are also limited amounts of chaparral , brush and grass/rangeland within the basin. Wildfires are common in the dry summers which receive little to no precipitation, aside from
23881-576: The upper basin, creating hot springs and artesian springs , but is not well understood. Further south, in the Shasta River area in Siskiyou County , much of the underlying rock is composed of lava flows issuing from the Mount Shasta volcanic region. The same age pattern is true in the Cascade Range and Klamath Mountains that cover the western half of the Klamath River watershed. As the North American Plate moved slowly southwestward over
24048-471: The upstream Klamath River and Lake Ewauna), the river flows swiftly through the narrow Klamath River Canyon, which cuts through volcanic rock of the southern Cascade Range. Entering Siskiyou County, California , it passes the former sites of four hydroelectric dams operated by PacifiCorp until their demolition in 2024 . After passing under Interstate 5 , the Klamath receives the Shasta River from
24215-625: The use of dentalium shells as currency. The Tsnungwe people, also known as the South Fork Hupa, lived pre-contact in the South Fork of the Trinity River area and Burnt Ranch/New River area. After the Gold Rush of 1849, many years of battles occurred between the Trinity River Indians and the miners/soldiers. Most surviving Tsnungwe were taken to the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. By 1900,
24382-484: The use of pressurized water to demolish hillsides in search of gold bearing ore. This had an enormous impact on the landscape – leveling forests, carving huge gullies and burying streambeds under dozens of feet of sediment – which still characterizes the area today. Elaborate flume, reservoir and tunnel systems were built to supply the massive quantities of water required by these "hydraulicking" operations. The La Grange Mine which began operating in 1862 on Oregon Gulch,
24549-562: The volume of the Great Pyramid of Giza . In 1884 the California legislature banned hydraulic mining as the flow of tailings from hydraulic mines in the Sierra Nevada was silting up the Sacramento River , making it unnavigable. However, the Trinity hydraulic mines escaped this ban, as the remote and swift flowing Trinity River was not considered a navigable watercourse. Nevertheless, the largest deposits had been played out by
24716-437: The wake of Pineapple Express storms that bring large amounts of warm rain to Northern California. Fort Ter-Waw , located at what is now the town of Klamath Glen , was destroyed by the flood in December 1861 and abandoned on June 10, 1862. Other significant floods on the Klamath River have occurred in 1926–1927, 1955, 1964, 1997, and 2005, in several cases changing the course of the river. The Christmas flood of 1964
24883-588: The watershed include Weed , Edgewood , Gazelle , Big Springs, Grenada , Montague , and Yreka . Major bodies of water include Lake Shastina (Dwinnell Reservoir) and Trout Lake. Receiving just 14 inches (36 cm) of rain yearly on average, the 30-mile (48 km)-wide Shasta River Valley receives most of its surface water flow from groundwater, and now, agricultural return flows. It also receives some water from snow runoff at Mount Shasta - which flows out of lava tubes as springs and feeds east-side Shasta River tributaries such as Big Springs Creek. The Shasta River
25050-471: The watershed, little brown bats being the most common. The area around Trinity Lake has a significant nesting bald eagle population. Beaver also inhabit the Trinity River watershed although their numbers were much higher before fur trappers came to the area. In 1828, the Jedediah Smith expedition was helped across the Trinity River by the Yurok and camped on the east side of the Trinity River. His clerk, Harrison G. Rogers wrote, "Mr. Smith purchases all
25217-419: The watershed. Less than 2 percent of the watershed is urbanized . About 86 percent of the Trinity River watershed is in Trinity County. As of the 2010 census, the population of Trinity County was 13,786. With a population density of 4.3 people per square mile (1.7/km ) it is one of the least densely populated counties in California. Only 415 square miles (1,070 km ), or about 14 percent of
25384-481: The west by South Fork Mountain, which forms one of the longest continuous ridgelines in North America. South Fork Mountain defines much of the boundary between the Klamath Mountains and the Northern Coast Ranges . Most of the Lower Klamath Basin is remote and rugged, with limited access routes. In California, SR 96 provides access to the entire stretch of the middle Klamath River from Hornbrook to
25551-474: The west coast of the contiguous United States. The river's watershed – the Klamath Basin – encompasses more than 15,000 square miles (39,000 km ), and is known for its biodiverse forests, large areas of designated wilderness , and freshwater marshes that provide key migratory bird habitat. Native Americans have used the river as a source of food and trade for thousands of years, and it continues to hold great cultural significance for tribes. Most lands along
25718-616: The west, the Salmon River and Scott River (tributaries of the Klamath River) to the north, and Clear Creek and Cottonwood Creek (both tributaries of the Sacramento River) to the east and south, respectively. Fir, oak, and pine forests cover about 92 percent of the watershed. Chaparral and shrubs account for slightly over 5 percent, and grassland and barren land each cover approximately 1 percent. Riparian zones and wetlands encompass 0.5 percent of
25885-523: The west. The river picks up its first large tributary called Bear Creek near a series of large spring filled meadows roughly one mile from the headwaters. The short but steep Bull Creek comes in just shortly down stream from the West. Cedar Creek is the next major tributary that meets from the East. The river continues to flow in a Southwestern direction picking up numerous tributaries before entering Trinity Lake ,
26052-427: The western part of the basin, is in Humboldt County. The part of the Trinity River watershed in Humboldt County is also sparsely populated, with the exception of the Hoopa Valley Reservation, which was home to 2,930 people as of 2011. Extractive industries such as mining and logging, and to a limited extent farming and ranching, have been the main economic drivers in the Trinity River basin since European settlement in
26219-824: The winter. Many locals remained "so bitter about the dam that they tore down signs and misdirected tourists" for many years after the dam was built. With the exception of rocky alpine regions in the highest mountains, the Trinity River watershed is almost entirely forested. Mixed coniferous (fir and pine) forests dominate the landscape at elevations of up to 6,000 feet (1,800 m). Common tree species include ponderosa pine , Jeffrey pine , Douglas fir , white fir , red fir , sugar pine , knobcone pine and incense cedar . The watershed also includes some hardwood forests, typically located along canyon bottoms and streams, which are home to California black oak ( Quercus kelloggii ), madrone , tanbark oak , canyon live oak and bigleaf maple . Stands of Port Orford cedar are common along
26386-405: The world at its completion in 1962 (it was surpassed by Oroville Dam , also in California, in 1968). Trinity Lake can store a maximum of 2,447,650 acre-feet (3.01913 km ), or about twice the Trinity River's flow at this point. Below Trinity Dam is the much smaller Lewiston Dam , the actual point at which the water is diverted. The 10.7-mile (17.2 km) Clear Creek Tunnel conveys water under
26553-406: Was blasted through Keno Reef, the natural bedrock barrier that historically backed up floodwaters into Lower Klamath Lake. This enabled the near complete draining of both Tule and Lower Klamath Lakes. Trinity River (California) The Trinity River ( Yurok : Hoopa or Hupa; Hupa : hun') is a major river in northwestern California in the United States and is the principal tributary of
26720-418: Was completed on December 23, 1963. The reservoir was originally named "Clair Engle Lake" to commemorate United States Senator Clair Engle , who played a crucial role in shepherding the Trinity bill through Congress; however, the name proved unpopular with locals, and it was changed to Trinity Lake in 1997. Trinity Dam, an earth embankment structure 538 feet (164 m) high, was the tallest embankment dam in
26887-522: Was exchanged for imported supplies and services. The initial discoveries were placer deposits, carried by the river to settle in gravel bars. The Trinity River gold rush is also noted for the large number of Chinese miners attracted to the area, as many as 2,500 by 1854. Many of the Chinese were from the Pearl River Delta ( Guangdong region). Mining activity was initially concentrated in
27054-511: Was historically a closed basin terminating at Tule Lake. During high water events, the Klamath River overflowed into Lost River Slough near Klamath Falls and flow into Tule Lake. A topographic constriction occurred further west at the Keno Reef, a bedrock barrier where water backed up during flood events and flowed south along Klamath Straits into Lower Klamath Lake. Since the 20th century, the Lost River and Lower Klamath Lake basins – as well as
27221-406: Was later drained and filled in. In the early 1910s and 1920s, logging was a growing industry on the west side of the upper Klamath River valley, especially around Upper Klamath Lake. The Great Northern Railway and Southern Pacific Railroad built a joint-use line running along the eastern shore of the lake, delivering logs from the north side to a sawmill 3 miles (4.8 km) downstream from
27388-515: Was lost in the 1970s after the completion of the construction of a section of highway 96 which ran through traditional Karuk territory and paved over cemeteries, villages, spiritual sites and allotments. One of the main Klamath tribal land stewardship practices of cultural burning was first disrupted with the beginning of Spanish colonization in California in the 1780s. Spanish colonization led to diseases, genocide, forced removal of indigenous people, relocation to missions, and laws banning burning in
27555-457: Was particularly devastating. The Klamath River reached flows of 557,000 cubic feet per second (15,800 m /s), with high water reaching 55 feet (17 m), inundating the towns of Klamath and Klamath Glen under as much as 15 feet (4.6 m) of water, and destroying most of the Highway 101 bridge crossing the river. The highway bridge was rebuilt in a different location, though entrances to
27722-406: Was required to access the gold bearing veins, new industries such as iron forges and stamp mills prospered in the region. Another profitable way to access gold was hydraulic mining operations, which sprang up across the Trinity River country starting in the 1860s. At one point, there were 307 hydraulic mines in Trinity County alone, of which 145 were "fully operational", all of which depended on
27889-477: Was the first large incursion into the Klamath River region, and conflict soon broke out between tribes and gold seekers. As miners established claims along the river, they forced indigenous peoples from their settlements and fishing grounds; many natives were killed, while others died of introduced diseases. Several place names in the Klamath Basin originate from this era, including that of the Scott River, which
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