Siskiyou Mountains

The Siskiyou Mountains are a coastal mountain range in the northern Klamath Mountains in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the United States. They extend in an arc for approximately 100 mi (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 a barrier between the watersheds of the Klamath River to the south and the Rogue River to the north.

The highest peaks in the range include Mt. Ashland (elevation 7,533 ft/2,296 m), Dutchman Peak (7,410 ft/2,259 m), Siskiyou Peak (7,147 ft/2,178 m) and Wagner Butte (7,140 ft/2,176 m) all of which are in Oregon. The highest peak in the California portion of the range is Preston Peak (7,309 ft/2,228 m). Due to this high elevation and proximity to the Pacific Ocean, the peaks get high precipitation (rainfall and snowfall) and thus its forests are a lush green.

Much of the range is embraced by the Rogue River, Klamath, and Siskiyou National Forests. The Pacific Crest Trail follows a portion of the ridge of the range. The Klamath-Siskiyou forests are noted for their high biodiversity.

Name origins

The origin of the word "siskiyou" is not known. 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. [cite book |last= Mackie |first= Richard Somerset |title= Trading Beyond the Mountains: The British Fur Trade on the Pacific 1793-1843 |year= 1997 |publisher= University of British Columbia (UBC) Press |location= Vancouver |isbn= 0-7748-0613-3 |pages= pp. 66] Another version, given in an argument before 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 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 company trapper who 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.

Protection

The Siskiyou range has federal protection in several forms. Oregon Caves National Monument protects convert|488|acre|km2|0|sing=off in the northern part of the range south of Grants Pass, Oregon. The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument protects convert|52940|acre|km2|0|sing=off at the junction of the Siskiyou and Cascade Ranges. There are two designated wilderness areas in the range in Oregon - Red Buttes Wilderness, which protects convert|19940|acre|km2|1|sing=off, and Kalmiopsis Wilderness, which protects convert|179755|acre|km2|1|sing=off.

Siskiyou Trail

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 the 1820s.

Siskiyou Summit

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 is the highest pass on Interstate 5, at 4,310 ft (1,314 m). This pass is one of the most treacherous in the Interstate highway system. The California side has a more gradual ascent/descent, but the Oregon side of the pass (the side which is more hazardous), the freeway gains (loses) 2,300 feet (701 m) in altitude over a 7 mile (11 km) stretch of freeway. In addition, the pass includes several hazardous curves, and is frequently hit with bad weather (including snow, ice, and fog) during winter storms. During winter, it is common for the highway to be closed 1-4 times by transportation authorities due to hazardous conditions. The speed limit is 55 mph (90 km/h) but lower limits are set for larger vehicles.

References

External links

* [http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/MCT/docs/SiskiyouPass.pdf ODOT advisory on Siskiyou Pass]