Yuba river history?

vince · Senior Member

Yuba river history?

lightfoot · Senior Member

The concrete some distance below the bridge was there well before the '96 flood. It always looked like an old bridge of some sort to me but no real idea what it used to be.

If memory serves me correct, the old hwy 20 bridge was still standing in the '96 flood. I seem to remember a picture of somebody out on that thing.....no way The flows were rather impressive.

A 20'? wall of water flowing uncontrolled over the face of Englebright. I believe it was somewehre in the neighborhood of 180k cfs, perhaps up to the low 200's.

Dguerre per google and the State of Cal.

The 24-foot-high Daguerre Point Dam, owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), was built on the Yuba River in Yuba County in 1906 to prevent hydraulic mining debris from washing into the Feather and Sacramento Rivers. The dam was equipped with two fish ladders in 1937 that Chinook salmon and steelhead have difficulty, under certain flow conditions, locating and navigating. The dam was rebuilt in 1964 following damage from floods. The dam currently provides hydraulic head for upstream diversion.

bingo....old bridge

Quick little read on the bigger dam upriver

-- Edited by lightfoot on Thursday 31st of May 2012 11:30:58 PM

vince · Senior Member

Thanks lightfoot! Knowing the name of the dam made Googling easier.

I did some more Googling about Parks Bar Bridge and found this photo from 1913:

It definitely has changed quite a bit.

I also found this about the Sawyer decision, one of the first landmark environmental court decisions in the US (1884) which stopped hydrolic mining and the dumping of tailings in the Yuba: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Bloomfield_Mining_and_Gravel_Company

And some info on the Yuba Goldfields. This Wikipedia page reads, "Unfortunately hundreds of area residents poach the Goldfields each month." Interesting...

Black Cloud · Senior Member

And the gold is still out there. North Yuba near Goodyear Bar.

windknots · Senior Member

Funny, the other night I stumbled on the 1997/1998 study when on a lark I was searching for info on depth of alluvial sediments on the Yuba from hydraulic mining in the 19th century. I'm curious if the hydraulic tailings that were blasted down the valley by spring run off events resulted in the heavier gravels and cobbles forming a significant depth around the highway 20 bridge as the flows spread out and slowed down. The finer stuff is what eventually settled in and filled the Sac delta and SF bay.

The study was kind of dry reading (but it beats reality tv) but what stopped me in my tracks was reading about the origins of Englebright Dam and the fact that it does pretty much nothing but sit there, serving virtually no purpose whatsoever (insignifcant hydro, no irrigation, etc.). It was originally built to block 20th century hydraulic mining tailings but there have been no such permits issued in decades. Everyone is probably familiar with the public outcry and subsequent law that blocked hydraulic mining in the later part of the 1800's, but less is known that about 10 years later it was partially lifted and hydraulic mining continued though on a much much smaller scale. The legacy of this mining is the presence of innumerable, unmapped earthen and brush dams and impoundments that were constructed as part of a permiting requirement that allowed hydraulic mining and in the early to mid 20th century the construction of this dam. The study commented that the sediments in the upper Yuba watershed flushed out pretty quickly, but Englebright todays is about 25% (can't remember the specific number) filled in with sediments varying from 10 to 30m in depth in areas.

I'm a big fan of the idea of taking out Englebright to open up the south and middle forks for salmon and steelhead. WRT to the rant & rave thread on Hetch Hetchy, Englebright would be a much better candidate to target for removal. Get rid of a pointless dam and restore a significant component of the Sacramento watershed.

lightfoot · Senior Member

Looks good Black Cloud. I've wanted to try panning with my wife and kids for some time as a family outing event. Just have't done it yet. Unknown claims, what's legal etc just complicates things.

Black Cloud · Senior Member

We have a 20 acre claim on the N Yuba, not much public access. The S yuba at the Hwy 49 bridge is a state park with easy access and also good gold. The problem is they restrict tools to hands and pans. Send me a PM and I will get you started.