Chetco River - History

History

Humans have lived in the Chetco River watershed since approximately 1,000 to 3,000 years ago. The first inhabitants were perhaps ancestors of the Chetco Indians and other Native American tribes, themselves descendants of the first humans who traveled across the Bering land bridge from Siberia over 10,000 years ago. At least nine separate Native American villages were constructed along the Chetco River, including two on either side of its mouth. The first European American to visit the area may have been Sir Francis Drake on June 5, 1579, during his circumnavigation of the world. The Vancouver Expedition also explored the area in 1792. In June 1828 Jedediah Smith and his company of fur traders camped on the south bank of the river near a Native American village. Between 1853 and 1855, many Native Americans were killed and their villages destroyed in skirmishes occurring around the same time as the nearby Rogue River Wars. On July 9, 1856, the remaining Chetco were marched north to the Siletz Reservation.

Oregon—and therefore the Chetco watershed—was jointly occupied by the United Kingdom and the United States after the Treaty of 1818 was signed. The Oregon Treaty was ratified in 1846, giving the United States ownership of Oregon. Soon after, the Oregon Territory was established, and Oregon became a U.S. state on February 14, 1859.

Gold and other precious metals were discovered in the watershed during the 1840s and 1850s by explorers, and settlers soon arrived. Nickel, cobalt, and chromium were also mined. Very few roads were built in the late 19th century because of the region's mountainous terrain, so the area was left relatively isolated. The town of Harbor was founded in 1891, and a ferry service across the Chetco River opened in 1904. It was shut down in 1915 when the Chetco Bridge opened. In 1912, the Brookings Lumber & Box Company moved north from the San Bernardino Mountains in southern California to the southern Oregon coast region. The company constructed a sawmill in 1914, and founded the town of Brookings. Brookings was not incorporated until 1951. In 1917, a 1,200-foot (366 m) long wharf was built at the mouth of the river. Jetties were constructed on either side of its mouth by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1957.

The Siskiyou National Forest was created on October 5, 1906, protecting the entire upper portion of the Chetco watershed. The nearby Rogue River National Forest was combined with it in 2004, creating the nearly 1,800,000-acre (730,000 ha) Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest. In 1964, the United States Congress set aside over 80,000 acres (32,000 ha) of the eastern Chetco River watershed and surrounding regions to create the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. The wilderness was expanded several times in the 1970s, and now encompasses over 180,000 acres (73,000 ha).

On October 28, 1988, a 44.5-mile (71.6 km) stretch of the Chetco River was designated a National Wild and Scenic River, from its headwaters to the boundary of the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest. In a court case in 1994, the Chetco was determined to be navigable. In 2002, over 500,000 acres (200,000 ha) of the eastern portion of the watershed and surrounding regions were destroyed in the Biscuit Fire. Originally five separate fires, it was caused by several lightning strikes between July 12 and 15. By August 17, all five had burned together, creating one massive fire. It burned for over five months and was not fully extinguished until December 31.

In 2002, 45 acres (18 ha) of land on the Little Chetco River were sold to real estate developer David Rutan, only several months after the Biscuit Fire tore through the region. He opened a gold mining camp on the site in 2007, flying in customers via helicopter. Curry County officials soon stated that the camp violated zoning and sanitation laws, but inspections were stymied because of the area's inaccessibility. Rutan bought another claim on the Chetco River in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness in 2008. Despite environmentalists' concerns, he proposed mining the Chetco riverbed for gold and minerals by using commercial suction dredges, permitted by the General Mining Act of 1872. The claim begins 6 miles (10 km) within the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, and ends 24 miles (39 km) downstream. All 24 miles are designated Wild and Scenic. Oregon's governor, Ted Kulongoski, two senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and congressman Peter DeFazio have all asked the United States Department of Agriculture to withdraw the Chetco River from the 1872 Mining Act, thus preventing mineral mining on the river. In 2010, the Chetco River was identified as the seventh most endangered river in America by advocacy organization American Rivers, facing a threat of "motorized instream mining".