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48-648: The Siskiyou Mountains are a coastal subrange of the Klamath Mountains , and located in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the United States . They extend in an arc for approximately 100 miles (160 km) from east of Crescent City, California , northeast along the north side of the Klamath River into Josephine and Jackson counties in Oregon. The mountain range forms

96-789: A barrier between the watersheds of the Klamath River to the south and the Rogue River to the north. Accordingly, much of the range is within the Rogue River – Siskiyou and Klamath national forests, and the Pacific Crest Trail follows a portion of the crest of the Siskiyous. These mountains are not the highest of the Klamath Mountains, but because of the relief so close to the Pacific Ocean ,

144-705: A piece of land for four years and legally claim the land for themselves. Along with other US land grant legislation , the Donation Land Claim Act discriminated against nonwhite settlers and had the effect of dispossessing land from Native Americans . The passage of the law was largely due to the efforts of Samuel R. Thurston , the Oregon territorial delegate to Congress. The act, which became law on 27 September 1850, granted 320 acres (1.3 km ) of designated areas free of charge to every unmarried white male citizen eighteen or older and 640 acres (2.6 km ) to every married couple arriving in

192-603: A piece of land for themselves. Claims under the law were granted at the federal land office in Oregon City . The most famous patent granted at the Oregon City Land Office was the plat for the city of San Francisco , which had to be sent up the coast from California by ship. The claims of the land were surveyed by the Surveyor General of Oregon, an office created out of the law. As part of

240-409: Is common for the highway to be closed one to four times per year by transportation authorities because of hazardous conditions. The speed limit is 55 miles per hour (89 km/h), but lower limits are set for larger vehicles. The climate of the mountains is distinctive in how it varies from the coast to the inland slopes. Generally, the mountains see milder temperatures and more precipitation nearer to

288-584: Is common in winter for cool unstable air masses from the Gulf of Alaska to make landfall in one of the Coast Ranges, resulting in heavy precipitation , both as rain and snow , especially on their western slopes. The same Winter weather occurs with less frequency and precipitation in Southern California, with the mountains' western faces and peaks causing an eastward rainshadow that produces

336-619: Is considerable biodiversity within the Siskiyou Mountains, including extensive forests. Forests vary by elevation and relative locations, being primarily divided into mixed evergreen forests , montane forests , and subalpine forests. The occurrences of tree species are divided by these forest types. Exceptions to this exist. Coast Douglas-fir ( Pseudotsuga menziesii subsp. menziesii ) occurs in both mixed evergreen and montane forests. Lawson's cypress (also known as Port Orford cedar, Chamaecypraris lawsoniana ) occurs throughout

384-456: Is dominant only in montane forests on steep south-facing slopes, but also grows with California black oak ( Quercus kelloggii ) and in mixed evergreen forests. Rare Pacific yew ( Taxus brevifolia ) grow at low elevations or at higher elevations near sources of water. Other conifers include weeping spruce ( Picea breweriana ), an endemic species, and coast redwood ( Sequoia sempervirens ). Various deciduous broadleaf trees grow in addition to

432-502: Is found within this mountain range; there is also the Scott Bar salamander . The variety of habitats in the mountains contributes to the number of bird species in the area, because the birds have more variety of habitat available to them. However, many birds disperse from the area following the breeding season. These birds include the endangered spotted owl , which lives in forests up to 5,800 feet (1,800 m). Endangered salmon live in

480-515: Is the highest pass on Interstate 5, at 4,310 feet (1,310 m). This pass is one of the most treacherous in the Interstate highway system. The California side has a more gradual slope than the Oregon side, where the freeway climbs or descends 2,300 feet (700 m) in elevation over about 7 miles (11 km). In addition, the pass includes several hazardous curves, and is frequently hit with snow, ice, and fog during winter storms. In winter, it

528-707: The Gulf of California . Although many of the ranges do share a common geologic history, the Pacific Coast Ranges province is not defined by geology, but rather by geography. Many of the various ranges are composed of distinct forms of rock from many different periods of geological time from the Precambrian in parts of the Little San Bernardino Mountains to 10,000-year-old rock in the Cascade Range. For one example,

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576-777: The Mojave (High) , and Sonoran (Low) Deserts, i.e. the Pacific Border province . The same term is used informally in Canada to refer to the Coast Mountains and adjoining inland ranges such as the Hazelton Mountains , and sometimes also the Saint Elias Mountains . The character of the ranges varies considerably, from the record-setting tidewater glaciers in the ranges of Alaska, to

624-725: The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers' San Francisco Bay , the Santa Clara River 's Oxnard Plain , the Los Angeles, San Gabriel, and Santa Ana Rivers' Los Angeles Basin  – a coastal sediment-filled plain between the peninsular and transverse ranges with sediment in the basin up to 6 miles (10 km) deep, and the San Diego River's Mission Bay . From the vicinity of San Francisco Bay north, it

672-976: The Sierra Madre Occidental . The term Coast Range is used by the United States Geological Survey to refer only to the ranges south of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Washington to the California-Mexico border , and to those west of Puget Sound , the Willamette Valley , and the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys (the California Central Valley ). That definition excludes the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges ,

720-629: The Sierra Nevada , the Great Basin mountain ranges , and other ranges and various plateaus and basins. The Pacific Coast Ranges designation, however, only applies to the Western System of the Western Cordillera, which comprises the Saint Elias Mountains , Coast Mountains , Insular Mountains , Olympic Mountains , Cascade Range , Oregon Coast Range , California Coast Ranges , Transverse Ranges , Peninsular Ranges , and

768-1005: The Siskiyou Wilderness , which protects 153,432 acres (620.9 km). Coast Ranges The Pacific Coast Ranges are part of the North American Cordillera (sometimes known as the Western Cordillera, or in Canada , as the Pacific Cordillera and/or the Canadian Cordillera), which includes the Rocky Mountains , the Columbia Mountains , the Interior Mountains , the Interior Plateau ,

816-815: The United States Congress in late 1850, intended to promote homestead settlements in the Oregon Territory . It followed the Distribution-Preemption Act 1841. The law, a forerunner of the later Homestead Act , brought thousands of settlers into the new territory, swelling their ranks along the Oregon Trail . 7,437 land patents were issued under the law, which expired in late 1855. The Donation Land Claim Act allowed white men or partial Native Americans (mixed with white) who had arrived in Oregon before 1850 to work on

864-605: The 1820s. As settlement increased with a variety of new incentives, tensions over relations with the natives increased. In the 1850s, following the Donation Land Claim Act , miners came to the area to prospect for gold . Thousands of miners flooded into the area as profitable claims were made. The new settlements grew enough for Jackson County to be founded, with its seat in Jacksonville, in 1853. The large and sudden influx of white population deteriorated

912-478: The 1850 deadline but before 1854. Claimants were required to live on the land and to cultivate it for four years to gain ownership title to it. The provisional government formed at Champoeg had limited the land claims offered in the hope of preventing land speculation . The Organic Act of the Oregon Territory had granted 640 acres (1 square mile, 2.6 km ) to each married couple. The new law voided

960-645: The California portion of the range is Preston Peak at 7,309 feet (2,228 m). There are also several lower mountains, including Ben Johnson Mountain , which reaches 4,398 feet (1,341 m). The main drainage basins in the mountains are those of the Rogue and Klamath rivers. Interstate 5 passes through the Siskiyou Mountains at Siskiyou Summit, located just north of the Oregon-California border, and just south of Ashland, Oregon . Siskiyou Summit

1008-483: The Oregon Territory before 1 December 1850. In the case of a married couple, the husband and wife each owned half of the total grant under their own names. The law was one of the first that allowed married women in the United States to hold property under their own name. American " half-breed Indians " were also eligible for the grant. A provision in the law granted half the amount to those who arrived after

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1056-632: The Peninsular Ranges, composed of Mesozoic batholitic rock, are geologically extremely different from the San Bernardino Mountains , composed of a mix of Precambrian metamorphic rock and Cenozoic sedimentary rock. However, both are considered part of the Pacific Coast Ranges due to their proximity and similar economic and social impact on surrounding communities. These are the members of the Pacific Coast Ranges, from north to south: These are not named as ranges, but amount to

1104-513: The Rogue and Klamath watersheds. Mammals in the area include small rodents, deer and elk, and bear and coyote. Medium-sized mammals also live in the region, including red fox , gray fox , and weasel . Another rare animal is the fisher , a predatory medium-sized mammal that lives in old-growth forest . The Siskiyou Mountains have federal protection in several forms. Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve protects 4,558 acres (18 km) in

1152-428: The Siskiyous only in the last 20 years. It has little value to habitat and is able to outcompete many native plants. Purple loosestrife is a plant that is invasive to waterways. The diversity of fauna in the region is exhibited by the number of amphibian , reptile , and avian species in the region. Many of the amphibian and reptiles are endemic species. The eponymous endangered Siskiyou Mountains salamander

1200-846: The Southern California coast the Channel Islands archipelago of the Santa Monica Mountains extends for 160 miles (260 km). There are coastal plains at the mouths of rivers that have punched through the mountains spreading sediments, most notably at the Copper River in Alaska, the Fraser River in British Columbia, and the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon. In California:

1248-649: The State Senate in 1852, is that the French name Six Cailloux , meaning "six-stones", was given to a ford on the Umpqua River by Michel Laframboise and a party of Hudson's Bay Company trappers in 1832, because six large stones or rocks lay in the river where they crossed. According to some, the Six Cailloux name was appropriated to this region by Stephen Meek , another Hudson's Bay Company trapper who

1296-795: The accretion of the Siletzia terrane began in the Pacific Northwest. This began the volcanic activity in the Cascadia subduction zone , forming the modern Cascade Range, and lasted into the Miocene . Events here may relate to the ignimbrite flare-up of the southern Basin and Range . As extension in the Basin and Range Province slowed by a change in North American Plate movement circa 7 to 8 Million years ago, rifting began on

1344-722: The area came from the coast, beginning in 1775, when the Spanish lieutenant Bruno de Heceta came to the Northwest . He would be followed in 1791 and 1792 by other explorers like captain George Vancouver , James Baker, and Robert Gray . The early western overland expeditions all avoided the area around the Oregon–California border. The first land-based expeditions came when the North West Company came to

1392-520: The area in 1820, followed by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821. The Siskiyou Trail stretched from California's Central Valley through the Siskiyous to Oregon's Willamette Valley . Originally based on existing Native American foot trails winding their way through river valleys, the Siskiyou Trail provided the shortest practical travel path between early settlements in California and Oregon in

1440-754: The arid desert regions . Omitted from the list below, but often included is the Sierra Nevada, a major mountain range of eastern California that is separated by the Central Valley over much of its length from the California Coast Ranges and the Transverse Ranges. On the West coast of North America, the coast ranges and the coastal plain form the margin. Most of the land is made of terranes that have been accreted onto

1488-508: The coast, especially in summer. Most precipitation at lower elevations comes as rain. At higher elevations, snow is a major source of water. Temperature tends to change most in the east–west direction because of the ocean's major influence. The mean annual temperature is around 11 to 11.5 °C (51.8 to 52.7 °F) at low elevations. Higher in the mountains and farther east, the temperatures range from overnight lows just above freezing to highs around 21 to 23 °C (70 to 73 °F). There

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1536-461: The coast. The interior is drier and warmer in the summer months, and the eastern slopes resemble an interior climate. The coast tends to receive about 60 inches (1,500 mm) of precipitation each year, rising to 100 inches (2,500 mm) at the peaks. The arid eastern areas receive around 30 inches (760 mm) annually. Precipitation is greatest in the winter and least in the summer. Fogs provide an additional source of water at low elevations near

1584-401: The conifers. The largest extant California black oak is found in the Siskiyou Mountains. The blue oak , Quercus douglasii , is beyond its contiguous range; however, there are disjunctive populations of blue oak within the Siskiyou Mountains. Invasive species have become a concern in some areas. Some of these include yellow starthistle and scotch broom . Starthistle has become a problem in

1632-705: The end of the 19th century led to a boom in the fruit orchard industry. Apple blights around 1900 diminished the crop and pears began to be a major crop. By 1910, pears had begun to replace apples as the major fruit grown in the region. In 1927, the Jackson County seat moved to Medford, which had become much larger than Jacksonville. The highest peaks in the range include Mount Ashland at an elevation of 7,533 feet (2,296 m), Dutchman Peak at 7,410 feet (2,260 m), Siskiyou Peak at 7,147 feet (2,178 m), and Wagner Butte at 7,140 feet (2,180 m), all of which are in Oregon. The highest peak in

1680-537: The general survey, the Willamette Stone was placed just west of Portland, defining the Willamette Meridian . After the 1855 cutoff date, the designated land in Oregon was no longer free but was still available, selling at $ 1.25 an acre ($ 3.09/hectare), with a limit of 320 acres (1.3 km ) in any one claim. The law expired on December 1, 1855. In the following years, the price was raised and

1728-409: The lower creeks. Commercial orchards began to be planted in 1885. The Southern Pacific Railroad was completed over Siskiyou Summit in 1887. The new railroads were focused around Medford . The Klamath Lake Railroad Company built a railroad into Pokegama from 1900 to 1903. It became a vital part of the lumber industry and was acquired by Weyerhaeuser in 1905. Irrigation projects that began at

1776-417: The margin. In the north, the insular belt is an accreted terrane, forming the margin. This belt extends from the Wrangellia Terrane in Alaska to the Chilliwack group of Canada. A rupture in Rodinia 750 million years ago formed a passive margin in the eastern Pacific Northwest. The breakup of Pangea 200 million years ago began the westward movement of the North American plate, creating an active margin on

1824-433: The northern part of the range south of Grants Pass, Oregon . The Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument protects 52,940 acres (214 km) at the junction of the Siskiyou and Cascade ranges. There are three designated wilderness areas in the range in Oregon and California—the Red Buttes Wilderness , which protects 19,940 acres (80.7 km); the Kalmiopsis Wilderness , which protects 179,755 acres (727.4 km); and

1872-402: The peaks receive significant precipitation from the ocean, including wintertime snow on the peaks. Western canyons can receive over 100 inches (2,500 mm) of rain in some winters and are densely forested, while eastern areas are more arid. The greatly varied topography and climate contribute to high biodiversity , and the Siskiyous are noted for a number of endemic species. The origin of

1920-401: The previous statutes but essentially continued the same policy and was worded in such a way as to legitimize existing claims. One such claim legitimized by the act was that of George Abernethy , who had been elected to the governorship in the days of the provisional government. His claim became famous for Abernethy Green , where new emigrants camped at the end of the Oregon Trail while seeking

1968-485: The range west of the summit. California white fir ( Abies concolor subsp. lowiana ) occurs in montane and subalpine forests above 4,000 feet (1,200 m). In the montane forest, occurring in the snowzone, sugar pine ( Pinus lambertiana ) also occurs. The subalpine forests above 5,000 feet (1,500 m) include mountain hemlock ( Tsuga mertensiana ) and Shasta red fir ( A. magnifica subsp. shastensis ) in addition to Douglas-fir. Ponderosa pine ( Pinus ponderosa )

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2016-412: The relationship with the natives in the area. This led to the 1855 Rogue River Wars , which ended in 1856. The new population needed to be supported by an improved infrastructure. By 1859, the trail had been replaced by a toll road. A telegraph line was built over the summit in 1864. By the end of the 1870s, the first private lumber mills were established in the mountains had been established in some of

2064-457: The rugged Central and Southern California ranges, the Transverse Ranges and Peninsular Ranges , in the chaparral and woodlands eco-region with Oak Woodland , Chaparral shrub forest or Coastal sage scrub -covering them. The coastline is often seen dropping steeply into the sea with photogenic views. Along the British Columbia and Alaska coast, the mountains intermix with the sea in a complex maze of fjords , with thousands of islands. Off

2112-404: The same thing. The Pacific Coast Ranges are home to the largest temperate-latitude icefields in the world. Only the largest icefields are listed above; smaller icefields may be listed on the various range pages. Formally unnamed icefields are not listed Donation Land Claim Act The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 , sometimes known as the Donation Land Act , was a statute enacted by

2160-418: The subducting Farallon plate split and formed the Kula Plate to the North. This formed an area in what is now Northern California, where the plates converged forming a Mélange . North of this was the Columbia Embayment , where the continental margin was east of the surrounding areas. Many of the major batholiths date from the late Cretaceous . As the Laramide Orogeny ended around 48 million years ago,

2208-420: The western continent. As the continent drifted West, terranes were accreted onto the west coast. The timing of the accretion of the insular belt is uncertain, although the closure did not occur until at least 115 million years ago. Other Mesozoic terranes that accreted onto the continent include the Klamath Mountains , the Sierra Nevada, and the Guerrero super-terrane of western Mexico. 90–80 million years ago

2256-530: The word siskiyou is unclear. One version is that it is the Chinook Jargon word for "bob-tailed horse". According to historian Richard Mackie, "siskiyou" was a Cree word for a bob-tailed horse, one of which perished in 1829 during Alexander McLeod's journey over a pass later named for the "siskiyou" (today's Siskiyou Pass ). The Cree were in the area as part of McLeod's Hudson's Bay Company expedition, and had been recruited far away in their homeland in eastern Canada. Another version, given in an argument before

2304-418: Was known for his "discovery" of Scott Valley , in regard to a crossing on the Klamath River near Hornbrook . Still others attribute the name to a local tribe of Native Americans . Natives speaking the Athapaskan Language lived along the Rogue River prior to 1850. These settlements were primarily winter residences, and the people likely spent much of the summer in the mountains. Most early exploration of

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