Scott River

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title: "Scott River" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["rivers-of-siskiyou-county,-california", "tributaries-of-the-klamath-river", "rivers-of-northern-california", "wild-and-scenic-rivers-of-the-united-states"] topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_River" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox river"]

FieldValue
nameScott River
name_otherBeaver River
pushpin_mapUSA California
pushpin_map_size300
pushpin_map_captionLocation of the mouth of Scott River in California
subdivision_type1Country
subdivision_name1United States
subdivision_type2State
subdivision_name2California
subdivision_type3Region
subdivision_name3Siskiyou County
length60 mi
discharge1_locationnear Fort Jones
discharge1_min3.4 cuft/s
discharge1_avg627 cuft/s
discharge1_max54600 cuft/s
source1Confluence of South Fork Scott River and East Fork Scott River
source1_locationCallahan, California
source1_coordinates
source1_elevation3120 ft
mouthConfluence with the Klamath River
mouth_coordinates
mouth_elevation1460 ft
basin_size804 sqmi
extra{{Designation list
embedyes
designation1nwsr
designation1_dateJanuary 19, 1981
::

| name = Scott River | name_native = | name_native_lang = | name_other = Beaver River | name_etymology = | image = | image_caption = | map = | map_size = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = USA California | pushpin_map_size = 300 | pushpin_map_caption= Location of the mouth of Scott River in California | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = United States | subdivision_type2 = State | subdivision_name2 = California | subdivision_type3 = Region | subdivision_name3 = Siskiyou County | subdivision_type4 = | subdivision_name4 = | subdivision_type5 = | subdivision_name5 = | length = 60 mi | width_min = | width_avg = | width_max = | depth_min = | depth_avg = | depth_max = | discharge1_location= near Fort Jones | discharge1_min = 3.4 cuft/s | discharge1_avg = 627 cuft/s | discharge1_max = 54600 cuft/s | source1 = Confluence of South Fork Scott River and East Fork Scott River | source1_location = Callahan, California | source1_coordinates= | source1_elevation = 3120 ft | mouth = Confluence with the Klamath River | mouth_location = | mouth_coordinates = | mouth_elevation = 1460 ft | progression = | river_system = | basin_size = 804 sqmi | tributaries_left = | tributaries_right = | custom_label = | custom_data = | extra = {{Designation list | embed = yes | designation1 = nwsr | designation1_date = January 19, 1981 The Scott River is a 60 mi river in Siskiyou County, California, United States. It is a tributary of the Klamath River, one of the largest rivers in California.

History

Historically, fur trappers called the river the Beaver River, before the Hudson's Bay Company nearly extirpated beaver from the area in the early 19th century. Scott Valley was first entered ( first Europeans) Stephen Meek, Thomas McKay, George Adolphus Duzel and 16 other Hudson's Bay trappers in 1836. In 1850 alone, Meek reportedly trapped 1,800 beaver in Scott Valley, which was then known as Beaver Valley. Meek, who had hunted all over the West, declared the Beaver Valley one of the best places he had ever seen to trap beaver and hunt game, and returned to retire there at the Josiah Doll ranch from 1871 until his death in 1889 at the age of 90. The 1850 discovery of gold during the California Gold Rush by pioneer John W. Scott at Scott Bar, downriver from Scott Valley, brought many prospectors into the area; Scott's discovery led to the naming of the valley and the river in his honor.

Watershed

The Scott River's watershed covers about 800 sqmi. About two-thirds of the land is privately owned and about one-third is publicly owned. About 45 percent of the land is used for forestry, grazing for 40 percent, 13 percent for cropland and the remaining 2 percent of land is used for various purposes. The Scott River enters the Klamath River above Hamburg, California where its waters flow to the Pacific Ocean.

Habitat and conservation

Dredges that operated in the Scott Valley between 1934 and 1950 did some of the most visible damage done during the mining era. Large Yuba dredges, which also used mercury to process sand and gravel, excavated material 50 to below the river channel and flood plains and created piles of tailings more than 25 ft high downstream of the town of Callahan.

In Sugar Creek, a Scott River tributary that is usually ephemeral, local landowner Betsy Stapleton worked with Michael Pollock of NOAA to create "beaver dam analogues" by driving posts into the creekbed to attract beavers to build dams. Now Stapleton's reach on Sugar Creek has perennial beaver ponds while the neighboring creeks run dry in summer and fall. Pollock's method had been used successfully in Bridge Creek, Oregon where the subsequent increase in beaver dams led to a dramatic increase in rainbow trout abundance.

References

References

  1. (1941–2012). "USGS Gage #11519500 on the Scott River near Fort Jones, CA". U.S. Geological Survey.
  2. (1941–2012). "USGS Gage #11519500 on the Scott River near Fort Jones, CA". U.S. Geological Survey.
  3. {{Gnis. 1654942. Scott River
  4. (1911–1913). "USGS Gage #11519500 on the Scott River near Scott Bar, CA". U.S. Geological Survey.
  5. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. [http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ The National Map], accessed March 9, 2011
  6. Erwin G. Gudde, William Bright. (2004). "California Place Names:The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names". University of California Press.
  7. Will Harling. (2010-11-16). "Restoring Coho Salmon in the Klamath River, One Beaver At A Time". Forest and River News.
  8. Gail L. Fiorini-Jenner. (2002). "Western Siskiyou County: Gold and Dreams". Arcadia Publishing.
  9. Sabrina Litton. (Spring 2003). "A Review of the History of Water Use throughout the Klamath River Basin". University of California Davis.
  10. Mcgregor Campbell. (October 22, 2016). "How beavers could help save the western US from a dry future". New Scientist.
  11. Pollock, M.M.. (2012). "Working with beaver to restore salmon habitat in the Bridge Creek intensively monitored watershed: Design rationale and hypotheses, NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-NWFSC-120". U.S. Dept. Commererce.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

rivers-of-siskiyou-county,-californiatributaries-of-the-klamath-riverrivers-of-northern-californiawild-and-scenic-rivers-of-the-united-states