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| Whiskeytown Lake |
Whiskeytown Lake, a reservoir formed by Whiskeytown Dam on Clear Creek, is located in the Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation area. This is a beautiful region of hills and valleys of the Klamath Mountains.
As with much of California's past history, it was gold that attracted folks to this area in 1848. And as is the predictable pattern, once European settlers arrive, there follow lasting changes to the landscape and surroundings as they set up permanent settlements. The rest becomes history.
Settlers like Camden and Levi first built a one-room cabin and mining operation, sawmill, and water ditches. A century later, with the need for irrigation water for California's Central Valley, the Whiskeytown Dam was constructed to hold the water diverted from the Trinity River through an eleven-mile tunnel. The water is released through a downstream hydro-electric powerplant and into the Sacramento River. When the dam was filled in 1963 it formed the Whiskeytown Lake which flooded the site of old Whiskeytown. The lake is now a popular recreational area for camping, hiking, boating, swimming and fishing.
Next stop was the Glory Hole, the affectionate term for Whiskeytown's overflow spillway. In 1935 the Central Valley Project began to move water from northern California to drier areas further south. A 10.5 mile-long 17.5 foot-diameter tunnel was blasted through solid granite to divert water from the Trinity River to the Sacramento River system.
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| spillway with a reader board depicting the underground tunnels |
In 1963, President Kennedy dedicated Whiskey Dam, two months before he was assassinated. There is a memorial plaque at the spillway dedicated to him.
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| Kennedy Memorial |
On the way to Crystal Creek Falls there is a rather quirky and colorful cemetery. We stopped to take a look. Before the dam was constructed, the original cemetery of the gold mining settlement was located in the original Whiskeytown, now under the lake. The graves were exhumed and moved to their present location in 1963 prior to the lake's filling.This is not a somber place. Far from it. Walking through the cemetery felt more like going on a treasure hunt. We were amused by the various adornments and whirligigs that decorated the majority of the grave sites. Several also had rather funny sayings. There were the traditional tombstones with bible verses, but the unexpected color and humor added a tone of quirkiness to this unique cemetery that was given a second chance at remembering its deceased residents.
As for the name Whiskeytown, the park ranger at the Information Center told us that the name stuck when a snake spooked a pack mule carrying a barrel of whiskey, which fell off and rolled into the creek. Another source claims that the miners at Whiskeytown could drink a barrel of the whiskey per day. Take your pick;it's all folk legend which adds to the colorful past of this area and makes for interesting stories.
Crystal Creek Falls, our next stop, was pretty. At only 40 feet high, it was more like a cascading river dropping down over a series of stepped rocks. Apparently it is a popular spot for swimming during the summer.
Our last stop for the day was at Shasta Dam. This 602-feet high, concrete arch-gravity marvel is quite a sight. It is the 8th tallest dam in the US and the largest reservoir in California. Its function is for long-term water storage, flood control, and hydroelectricity. Begun in 1937 and completed ahead of schedule in 1945, the building project provided welcome jobs during and after the depression. We walked across to the other side and back, enjoying the beautiful view of Mt Shasta to the east.