Archive for June 1, 2002
The Vibrant and Resilient Yurok Culture
The Klamath River, California’s second largest, and its abundant fisheries provide the central focus for Yurok civilization. In fact the river iS so important to the Yuroks that their language traditionally expressed directions as upstream and downstream rather than the cardinal points used by most cultures. This Was true even along the coast where settlements…
Read MoreThe Struggle for Redwood National Park
The Redwood Highway, Highway 101 north from San Francisco to the Oregon border, represented a substantial engineering achievement when it opened in 1917, negotiating the twisting, slide-prone Eel River Canyon and the steep coastal cliffs south of Crescent City. The road’s most significant accomplishment, however, was opening California’s north coast to mass tourism. Among the…
Read MoreWatch Out for That Wave!
The waves we see dashing against the coast start hundreds of miles offshore. As winds blow across the ocean’s surface, they create waves of various sizes. A wave’s size depends on wind velocity, duration and the distance the wind blows across the open ocean. Waves break, showing a churning crest of foam along their leading…
Read MoreCalifornia Lighthouses
CALIFORNIA’S RUGGED 1200-MILE COASTLINE has long been renowned for the fury of its hazardous waters and the deception of its offshore reefs and rocks. Only after California entered the United States in 1850 was any effort made to provide navigational aids. In 1854 Alcatraz Island Lighthouse in San Francisco Bay became the Golden State’s first,…
Read MoreThe Native Californians and the Center of the World
Before contact with white civilization, the abundant natural resources of California supported one of the highest population densities in North America. Most estimates place the California native population around 250,000, some argue two or three times that, about 10% of the native U.S. population. Like today’s pattern, the highest concentration of people lived on or…
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