CALIFORNIA DISCOVERY #2

Fall River Valley

From one valley (the Pit) you see a little more of Mt. Lassen. 

In the more verdant Fall River Valley, Shasta is seldom out of sight as seen in the above image.

This pano gives you a small sense of the scope and flavor of the Fall River Valley. With Shasta anchoring on the right and Lassen on the left, you have a whole lot of beautiful in between. Fall River has more farm land than timber and seems to have plenty of water for irrigation.

In places there is enough water to grow rice. This dredge sat adjacent to some wild rice growing fields. I never did find out what purpose it served. Besides rice, there are broad fields of alfalfa and hay and beef cattle everywhere. And of course all this water draws a multitude of waterfowl. Those are Canadian Geese in the shot above.

The Fall and Pit Rivers come together near the boundary of the two valleys. Perhaps not at showy as Burney Falls, Pit River Falls still has its own beauty. The bridge in view used to be the main road into the area until realignment of California Hwy 299 bypassed it.

Still remote by today's standards, the former Fort Crook was extremely isolated in the 1850s & 60s. It was at least a 10 day ride to the Presidio in San Francisco, assuming the weather cooperated. After the Civil War the Fort was abandoned. One marker commemorates the fort site, the other an early guide who accompanied the first soldiers into the area. The man who founded the fort later became better known as General George Crook who became a decorated hero of the Civil War.