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Feather River Country History

A Window to the Past

The land we know as the Plumas National Forest has been used by humans for at least the last 8,000 years. Indigenous peoples, including the Maidu, Paiute and Washoe were the original caretakers of the land. Spanish exploration of northern California was limited to the Sacramento Valley, but the Hudson Bay Fur Company had entered the region by the early 1830s. For the most part, the ruggedness of the terrain discouraged European exploration until the Gold Rush.

Miners began spreading into the northern Sierra Nevada by 1850. Although Indians had always known about the lowest pass in the Sierras, James Beckwourth, an African American mountain man, did not formally "discover" it until 1851. Immigrants and miners soon began moving through the pass and into the Plumas Region in droves. Gold camps and towns began springing up almost overnight as miners searched for the elusive metal and the riches it promised.

A favorite winter activity of miners was competitive skiing on 12 to 14 foot "longboards" or "snowshoes," the name first given to skis. Beginning around the gold towns of Johnsville, La Porte and Onion Valley, these activities are now documented as the first competitive skiing events in the world.

While mining brought people into the area, supporting industries allowed them to stay. As the gold fields began to play out, timber and agriculture became mainstays of the local economy. Realizing the importance of the area's forests, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Plumas National Forest in March 1905, with boundaries that roughly encompassed the branches of the Feather River. Managing the land to provide diverse habitats, products such as sustainable timber, and recreation amenities was, and still is, central to the Plumas National Forest's multiple use mission.

Take a look at the Plumas National Forest Heritage Page.

 

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