Little Applegate Falls

For the past few months I've been working with a local watershed council to investigate the possibility that an existing fish barrier was created by humanity.  If that was the case, then we'd have a compelling case in moving forward with modifying the falls in some way to pass fish.

But after a field visit with historians, archaeologists, and geologists, we all concluded that Little Applegate Falls is most likely a natural feature that has in fact been around for millennia.  All this despite extensive landscape manipulation by miners about a century ago.

 1920s era mining cabin

 Hydraulic mine face cut.  Basically everything in this picture was washed downriver about a century ago.  Left behind is the bedrock and a meadow.

 Hydraulic mine face cut

 tailing piles washed to this point by hydraulic mining (above and below)

Nonetheless, the scenery was awesome and the day in the field was pretty darn neat!