Little Applegate River
Little Applegate River | |
---|---|
Etymology | Named after the Applegate River, which in turn was named after Lindsay Applegate[2] |
Location | |
Country | United States |
State | Oregon |
County | Jackson |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Near Siskiyou Peak |
• location | Siskiyou Mountains, Jackson County, Oregon |
• coordinates | 42°03′06″N 122°48′15″W / 42.05167°N 122.80417°W[1] |
• elevation | 5,735 ft (1,748 m)[a] |
Mouth | Applegate River |
• location | about 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Buncom, Jackson County, Oregon |
• coordinates | 42°11′55″N 123°02′43″W / 42.19861°N 123.04528°W[1] |
• elevation | 1,440 ft (440 m)[1] |
Length | 21 mi (34 km)[3] |
Basin size | 113 sq mi (290 km2)[4] |
Discharge | |
• location | Mouth[4] |
• average | 226 cu ft/s (6.4 m3/s)[4] |
The Little Applegate River is a 21-mile-long (34 km) tributary of the Applegate River located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is part of the Rogue River watershed, draining approximately 113 square miles (293 km2) of Jackson County. Rising in the Siskiyou Mountains, the river flows generally northwest to meet the Applegate about 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Buncom and 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Ruch.
The Little Applegate River's watershed was originally settled about 11,000 years ago by the Latgawa, Shasta, and Dakubetede Native American tribes. The first non-indigenous settlers arrived in the early 19th century. Two boomtowns—Sterlingville and Buncom—were founded in the 1850s and grew rapidly as gold and other precious metals were discovered. They slowly declined in population as the supply of gold was exhausted; only three buildings remain in Buncom, while Sterlingville was abandoned and later destroyed.
Despite low water quality, the Little Applegate watershed supports populations of coho and Chinook salmon, along with 138 known and 134 suspected species of other vertebrates. Sixty-four percent of the watershed is forested, although its health is slowly declining due to fire suppression.
Course
The Little Applegate River arises at several springs near Siskiyou Peak, in the Siskiyou Mountains.[5][6] It flows north, receiving McDonald Creek on the right, and Glade Creek on the left.[5] Water was diverted into Sterling Ditch near the Little Applegate's confluence with Glade Creek. Sterling Ditch is an approximately 23-mile-long (37 km) aqueduct, built in 1877 to provide water for hydraulic mining in the now destroyed town of Sterlingville.[7]
About one mile downstream of the location where stream flow was diverted from the Little Applegate River into Sterling Ditch, the river turns northwest. Five miles downstream of the diversion is the confluence with another major tributary, Yale Creek, on the left.[5] Yale Creek drains nearly 24 square miles (62 km2), making it the largest of the Little Applegate's tributaries by watershed area.[4] From Yale Creek, the Little Applegate flows northwest, receiving water from Sterling Creek on the right.[5][4] The town of Buncom is located at the mouth of Sterling Creek.[5]
The stream empties into the Applegate River about 2 miles (3.2 km) northwest of Buncom and 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Ruch, 34 miles (55 km) above the Applegate's confluence with the Rogue River.
Watershed
The Little Applegate drains approximately 113 square miles (293 km2) of southern Oregon. It makes up just under 15 percent of the Applegate River's watershed, and just over 2 percent of the Rogue River basin. The Bureau of Land Management controls 40 percent of the watershed, and another 32 percent is owned by the United States Forest Service. Twenty-seven percent is privately owned, and the state of Oregon controls less than one percent. Approximately 96 percent of the land is either forested or woodlots, while farmland and rural areas make up the remaining 4 percent.[9]
The Little Applegate watershed experiences a Mediterranean climate; the average annual precipitation in the watershed is 38 inches (970 mm), however as much as 55 inches (1,400 mm) and as little as 20 inches (510 mm) have been recorded. Precipitation in the area consists of mostly rain, and occasionally snow in the higher elevations.[4]
The primary rock types in the watershed are early
Flora and fauna
The watershed is covered predominantly by
Prior to the 1940s, wildfires burned through the Little Applegate River watershed frequently. The United States Forest Service began fire suppression efforts in the 1920s, and a smokejumper station was built about 20 years later. Species that depend on fire to reproduce—such as ponderosa pine—declined in population, while Douglas-fir and white fir spread. Buckbrush and manzanita, normally chaparral plants, encroached on the oak savanna regions. The vegetation in the watershed continues to grow denser, making it more susceptible to insect infestations and disease.[11]
One hundred thirty-eight species of
The most common fish inhabiting the river include Chinook salmon, threatened coho salmon, and rainbow trout.[4][9] Fish populations are declining, however, due to low water quality and barriers such as dams and culverts.[12]
History
Humans have lived in the Little Applegate River watershed for approximately 11,000 years, based on
The first European Americans to visit the area were a group of
The mining washed hundreds of thousands of tons of earth and sediment into the Little Applegate and its tributaries, devastating the landscape.[11] The Sterlingville post office opened in 1879, but was closed four years later as the town's population declined. Buncom's post office opened in 1896.[13] By 1910, however, most mining operations had ended, and it was closed in 1918. Hydraulic mines were reopened from 1933 to 1957 during the Great Depression. Three buildings remain in Buncom, but Sterlingville was abandoned and destroyed.[7][13]
In the late 1990s, 41 irrigators in the lower watershed agreed to transfer their water rights to the nearby Applegate River (supplemented by Applegate Lake), allowing for the removal of two large fish barriers on the Little Applegate River.[14] The first, the Buck and Jones irrigation dam near Buncom, was removed in 2006.[15] The second, the Farmers Ditch irrigation dam, was removed in 2012.[14] Altogether, the removal of the two dams returned 15 cubic feet per second (0.42 m3/s) of water back to the Little Applegate River and opened up 35 miles (56 km) of streams to migrating fish.[14][15]
Pollution
The water quality of the Little Applegate River watershed is generally poor due to high temperatures, sedimentation, and oxygen saturation levels which occur throughout the region. Most of these problems are created by human activity; forests and riparian zones have been cleared to make way for agriculture, and high road densities cause slope failures.[4] Hydraulic mining near Sterlingville devastated the surrounding landscape, leaving the slopes bare and sending rocks and gravel downstream.[4][13] Cattle and sheep were introduced to the area in the late 19th century; they have since overgrazed some areas of the watershed, reducing native grasses and allowing noxious weeds to spread. Overgrazing also contributes to soil erosion.[11] Large amounts of water is diverted from the river and its tributaries, sometimes to such an extent that the mouth is left nearly dry.[4]
A major contributor to the sedimentation of the Little Applegate River is McDonald Ditch, an irrigation ditch near McDonald Creek. Built in 1920 to provide water to residents of nearby Wagner Creek, the ditch has failed numerous times, sending several tons of dirt and mud downstream.[16] The Talent Irrigation District approved purchasing a $10,000 monitoring system for the ditch in September 2010, and applied for a $100,000 United States Bureau of Reclamation grant to replace the ditch with pipes.[17]
See also
Notes and references
Notes
- ^ Source elevation derived from Google Earth search using Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) source coordinates.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d "Little Applegate River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. November 28, 1980. Retrieved August 4, 2009.
- ISBN 978-0875952772.
- ^ "Applegate Subbasin Water Quality Management Plan (WQMP)" (PDF). Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. December 2003. p. 11. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 29, 2010. Retrieved August 4, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q "Little Applegate River Watershed Analysis" (PDF). Bureau of Land Management. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved August 4, 2009.
- ^ OCLC 466904230.
- ^ United States Geological Survey (January 31, 2010). Siskiyou Peak quadrangle (Topographic map). Reston, VA: United States Geological Survey. Retrieved January 31, 2010 – via TopoQuest.
- ^ OCLC 22111690. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
- ^ United States Geological Survey (January 31, 2010). Ruch quadrangle (Topographic map). Reston, VA: United States Geological Survey. Retrieved January 31, 2010 – via TopoQuest.
- ^ a b c d e "Little Applegate River Watershed Overview" (File titled '1 Assessment Overview'). Applegate River Watershed Council. January 2002. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
- ^ Rogue River National Forest. Archived(PDF) from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Environmental History" (File titled '2 Environmental History'). Applegate River Watershed Council. January 2002. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
- ^ "Native Fish Populations And Stream Habitat" (File titled '7 Fisheries Assessment'). Applegate River Watershed Council. January 2002. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011. Retrieved August 18, 2010.
- ^ from the original on January 31, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
- ^ a b c Fattig, Paul (September 18, 2012). "Breaking Barriers". Mail Tribune. Medford, Oregon. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
- ^ a b Fattig, Paul (September 8, 2006). "Little Applegate River dam ready for removal". Mail Tribune. Medford, Oregon. Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
- ^ Freeman, Mark (May 10, 2010). "Muddied waters and 'Band-Aid' fixes". Mail Tribune. Medford, Oregon. Archived from the original on September 22, 2012. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
- ^ Freeman, Mark (September 6, 2010). "Troubled ditch will be closely monitored". Mail Tribune. Medford, Oregon. Archived from the original on September 22, 2012. Retrieved October 3, 2010.