Shasta Cascade

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Shasta Cascade
Shasta from south.jpg
View of Mount Shasta
Map of the Shasta Cascade region of California.png
Location of Shasta Cascade in California
State California
Subregions
Core cities Redding, Chico

The Shasta Cascade region of California is located in the northeastern and north-central sections of the state bordering Oregon and Nevada, [1] including far northern parts of the Central Valley [ citation needed ] and the Sierra Nevada mountain range. [1]

Contents

History

Indigenous cultures

Historically, the Shasta Cascade region was home to Native Americans of the Modoc, Maidu, Okwanuchu, Paiute, Shasta, Wintu, and Yana tribes, and sub-groups of those tribes.

Colonialism

The first non-Native Americans entered the Shasta Cascade region by coming south along the Siskiyou Trail from Oregon, or north along the Siskiyou Trail from central California or the San Francisco Bay Area. These earliest explorers were probably British and American fur-trappers and traders in the 1820s and 1830s, although it is also possible that Spanish explorers reached the southern edge of the Shasta Cascade region before 1820.

Gold rush

The discovery of gold in 1851 at Yreka (and throughout Siskiyou and Trinity counties) brought the California Gold Rush-era prospectors up the rivers of the region in search of gold, leading to the first non-Native American settlements in the area, including at Old Shasta, Portuguese Flat, Upper Soda Springs, Weaverville, and Yreka itself.

Geography

There are seven national forests in the Shasta Cascade region: Klamath National Forest, Lassen National Forest, Modoc National Forest, Plumas National Forest and Shasta–Trinity National Forest, as well as the Lava Beds National Monument.

The area is also well known for its numerous lakes, rivers, and waterfalls, including Shasta Lake, Trinity Lake, Lake Almanor, Eagle Lake, and Lake Siskiyou, the Sacramento River, McCloud River, Feather River, Trinity River, and Pit River, as well as Mossbrae Falls, the McCloud River Falls, and Burney Falls.

Numerous parks and recreation opportunities fill the area including Shasta Lake, Lake Siskiyou, Castle Crags State Park, a new park at Upper Soda Springs, the Trinity Alps, Lava Beds National Monument, Clair Engle Lake, Castle Lake, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Caribou Wilderness, Thousand Lakes Wilderness, and climbing Mount Shasta.

Metropolitan areas

The civic "capital" of the Shasta Cascade area is Redding; other cities and towns are Alturas, Biggs, Chico, Susanville, Dunsmuir, Mount Shasta, Red Bluff, Oroville, Paradise, Weed, Fall River Mills, Burney, and Yreka. Counties included in the Shasta Cascade region include Butte, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama and Trinity.

Geology

Geologically, this region is similar to the main Cascade Range, dominated by volcanism.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Shasta</span> Stratovolcano in California, United States

Mount Shasta is a potentially active volcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California. At an elevation of 14,179 feet, it is the second-highest peak in the Cascades and the fifth-highest in the state. Mount Shasta has an estimated volume of 85 cubic miles, which makes it the most voluminous stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. The mountain and surrounding area are part of the Shasta–Trinity National Forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modoc County, California</span> County in California, United States

Modoc County is a county in the far northeast corner of the U.S. state of California. Its population is 8,700 as of the 2020 census, down from 9,686 from the 2010 census. This makes it California's third-least populous county. The county seat and only incorporated city is Alturas. Previous county seats include Lake City and Centerville. The county borders Nevada and Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siskiyou County, California</span> County in California, United States

Siskiyou County is a county located in the northernmost part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,076. Its county seat is Yreka and its highest point is Mount Shasta. It falls within the Cascadia bioregion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunsmuir, California</span> City in California, United States

Dunsmuir is a city in Siskiyou County, northern California. It is on the upper Sacramento River. Its population is 1,707 as of the 2020 census, up from 1,650 from the 2010 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yreka, California</span> City in California, United States

Yreka is the county seat of Siskiyou County, California, United States, near the Shasta River; the city has an area of about 10 square miles (26 km2), most of it land. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,807, reflecting a meager increase from 7,765 counted in the 2010 Census. Yreka is home to the College of the Siskiyous, Klamath National Forest Interpretive Museum and the Siskiyou County Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern California</span> American geographic and cultural region

Northern California is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers include the San Francisco Bay Area, the Greater Sacramento area, the Redding, California, area south of the Cascade Range, and the Metropolitan Fresno area. Northern California also contains redwood forests, along with most of the Sierra Nevada, including Yosemite Valley and part of Lake Tahoe, Mount Shasta, and most of the Central Valley, one of the world's most productive agricultural regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klamath Mountains</span> Mountain range in Oregon and California, United States

The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly-populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast Ranges, the Klamath Mountains have a varied geology, with substantial areas of serpentinite and marble, and a climate characterized by moderately cold winters with very heavy snowfall and warm, very dry summers with limited rainfall, especially in the south. As a consequence of the geology and soil types, the mountains harbor several endemic or near-endemic trees, forming one of the largest collections of conifers in the world. The mountains are also home to a diverse array of fish and animal species, including black bears, large cats, owls, eagles, and several species of Pacific salmon. Millions of acres in the mountains are managed by the United States Forest Service. The northernmost and largest sub-range of the Klamath Mountains are the Siskiyou Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shasta River</span> River in California, United States

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity Alps</span> Mountain range in Siskiyou and Trinity Counties

The Trinity Alps are a mountain range in Trinity County and Siskiyou County in Northern California. They are a subrange of the Klamath Mountains located to the north of Weaverville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castle Crags</span> Rock formation in the Castle Grags Wilderness

Castle Crags is a dramatic and well-known rock formation in Northern California. Elevations range from 2,000 feet (610 m) along the Sacramento River near the base of the crags, to over 6,500 feet (2,000 m) at the summit of the tallest crag.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument</span> National monument in the United States

The Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument is a United States national monument that protects 114,000 acres (46,134 ha) of forest and grasslands at the junction of the Cascade Range and the Siskiyou Mountains in Southwestern Oregon and Northwestern California, United States. The monument is managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of the National Landscape Conservation System. It was established in a presidential proclamation by President Bill Clinton on June 9, 2000 and expanded by President Barack Obama on January 12, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shasta–Trinity National Forest</span> National forest in California, US

The Shasta–Trinity National Forest is a federally designated forest in northern California, United States. It is the largest National Forest in California and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The 2,210,485 acre forest encompasses five wilderness areas, hundreds of mountain lakes and 6,278 miles (10,103 km) of streams and rivers. Major features include Shasta Lake, the largest man-made lake in California and Mount Shasta, elevation 14,179 feet (4,322 m).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lassen National Forest</span> United States national forest

Lassen National Forest is a United States national forest of 1,700 square miles (4,300 km2) in northeastern California. It is named after pioneer Peter Lassen, who mined, ranched and promoted the area to emigrant parties in the 1850s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klamath National Forest</span> National forest in California, US

Klamath National Forest is a 1,737,774-acre national forest, in the Klamath Mountains and Cascade Range, located in Siskiyou County in northern California, but with a tiny extension into southern Jackson County in Oregon. The forest contains continuous stands of ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, Douglas fir, red fir, white fir, lodgepole pine, Baker Cypress, and incense cedar. Old growth forest is estimated to cover some 168,000 acres (680 km2) of the forest land. Forest headquarters are located in Yreka, California. There are local ranger district offices located in Fort Jones, Happy Camp, and Macdoel, all in California. The Klamath was established on May 6, 1905. This forest includes the Kangaroo Lake and the Sawyers Bar Catholic Church is located within the boundaries of the Forest. The Forest is managed jointly with the Butte Valley National Grassland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 530</span> Area code in northern California

Area code 530 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) in northeastern and Northern California. It was created in 1997 in an area code split of 916.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klamath Basin</span> Region in the U.S. states of Oregon and California drained by the Klamath River

The Klamath Basin is the region in the U.S. states of Oregon and California drained by the Klamath River. It contains most of Klamath County and parts of Lake and Jackson counties in Oregon, and parts of Del Norte, Humboldt, Modoc, Siskiyou, and Trinity counties in California. The 15,751-square-mile (40,790 km2) drainage basin is 35% in Oregon and 65% in California. In Oregon, the watershed typically lies east of the Cascade Range, while California contains most of the river's segment that passes through the mountains. In the Oregon-far northern California segment of the river, the watershed is semi-desert at lower elevations and dry alpine in the upper elevations. In the western part of the basin, in California, however, the climate is more of temperate rainforest, and the Trinity River watershed consists of a more typical alpine climate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thousand Lakes Wilderness</span> Protected wilderness area in California, United States

The Thousand Lakes Wilderness is located within the southern portion of the Cascade Range in northeastern California. The 16,335-acre (66 km2) wilderness was established in 1964 with the passage of the Wilderness Act and is administered by Lassen National Forest. The area lies within Shasta County, midway between the town of Burney and Lassen Volcanic National Park.

References

  1. 1 2 "Discover the multitude of forests full of fall colors this autumn in northern california's redding and shasta cascade: Over 200 miles of trails run through majestic mountains, rivers and valleys offering picturesque vista points of the changing autumn season". Proquest. PR Newswire. 6 October 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2024.

41°09′00″N121°40′23″W / 41.150°N 121.673°W / 41.150; -121.673