Castle Crags is a dramatic and well-known

rock formation A rock formation is an isolated, scenic, or spectacular surface rock (geology), rock outcrop. Rock formations are usually the result of weathering and erosion sculpting the existing rock. The term ''rock Geological formation, formation ...

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

. Elevations range from along the

Sacramento River The Sacramento River () is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–San Joaquin River D ...

near the base of the crags, to over at the summit of the tallest crag. Located just west of

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

, between the towns of Castella and Dunsmuir, Castle Crags is today a popular tourist stop along the highway. Mount Shasta is 10 miles to the north. The formation and surrounding

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are protected by Castle Crags State Park, located on both sides of

at them, and by Castle Crags Wilderness Area of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

Geology

Although the Northern Coast Ranges of northwestern California consist largely of rocks of

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

and

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock formed by the cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or deposited at Earth's surface. Sedime ...

origin,

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

bodies ( plutons) intruded many parts of the area during the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

period. Heavy glaciation at this location during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

eroded much of the softer surrounding rock leaving the towering

crag Crag may refer to: * Crag (climbing), a cliff or group of cliffs, in any location, which is or may be suitable for climbing * Crag (dice game), a dice game played with three dice * Crag, Arizona, US * Crag, West Virginia, US * Crag and tail, a ...

s and spires exposed, from which the Castle Crags pluton derives its name. Exfoliation of huge, convex slabs of granite yielded rounded forms such as the prominent Castle Dome feature of Castle Crags.

History

Situated along an ancient trade and travel route known as the Siskiyou Trail, Castle Crags has witnessed dramatic events. Strained relationships between 1850s

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

miners and the local native Indian populations resulted in the 1855 Battle of Castle Crags, in which the poet

Joaquin Miller Cincinnatus Heine Miller ( ; September 8, 1837 – February 17, 1913), better known by his pen name Joaquin Miller ( ), was an American poet, author, and frontiersman. He became known as the "Poet of the Sierras" after the Sierra Nevada, about wh ...

was wounded, and which he later described in an essay of the same name. Exploitation of the land by lumber and

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

operations encouraged concerned citizens in 1933 to acquire much of the land, which would eventually become Castle Crags State Park. However much of the crags themselves are part of the Castle Crags Wilderness Area within the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, managed by the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering of land. The major divisions of the agency are the Chief's ...

. The forested area of Castle Crags State Park was used by several native groups. The wilderness was the ancestral home to the Okwanuchu Shasta people. The Crags were also revered by the Indigenous people surrounding them including the

Wintu The Wintu (also Northern Wintun) are Native Americans who live in what is now Northern California. They are part of a loose association of peoples known collectively as the Wintun (or Wintuan). There are three major groups that make up the Wi ...

, Achumawi and Modoc people. Many features of the Castle Crags Wilderness are considered sacred to Native Americans including all of the streams, the

, and the region's abundance of natural springs. During the 1848

, miners flocked to California from all over the world, invading the original homelands and destroying the life-sustaining resources and environments of the native people. Thousands of miners invaded the Castle Crags Wilderness when false rumors of the fabled "Lost Cabin Mine" began to circulate in the region. This invasion led to the genocide, slavery and forcible displacement of Indigenous people.

wrote about the atrocities committed on the regions native populations during the 1855 Battle of Castle Crags, in one instance describing in detail a massacre of Native American women, children and infants who were ambushed by a mob of drunken settlers while they slept. More than two-thirds of the native California Indian people died as a result of the conquest, with its gruesome violence and contagious diseases—among them, many Okwanuchu Shasta,

and Modoc people from this area. Native Americans utilized a natural mineral spring in the Castle Crags Wilderness which is known today as Castle Rock Mineral Spring, and is situated on the edge of the

inside of Castle Crags State Park. The mineral spring is supported within a rock-built enclosure which was constructed by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

back in the 1930s. Today it still has a sulfuric smell and bubbles up from the ground. The natural mineral waters are widely reputed to have restorative, healing, medicinal and therapeutic properties. The massacre of Indigenous people from the Castle Crags Wilderness opened up the region for commercial and industrial exploitation of the land's resources, which are sacred to native people. The Castle Rock Mineral Spring was one of the earliest land resources seized after a genocidal campaign that eliminated Native Americans from this region. During the 1890s, the Castle Rock Mineral Springs Bottling Works was formed, and cases of the mineral water were bottled, sold and shipped all over the world to prestigious clients.

Castle Rock Water Company

Castle Rock Mineral Springs Bottling Works was founded in 1889 in

Dunsmuir, California Dunsmuir is a city in Siskiyou County, California. It is on the upper Sacramento River. Its population is 1,707 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 1,650 from the 2010 United States census, 2010 census. Dunsmuir is curren ...

, United States. The company bottled natural spring water which was shipped all over the world. George Washington Bailey operated a resort and a hotel across the river from the Castle Rock Mineral Springs. A footbridge provided convenient access for tourists from the hotel to the springs. People traveled from all over the nation to visit the resort and mineral springs, which were said to contain healing properties. The company operated profitably until 1906, when the

San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensit ...

ended its plans to further divide up and develop the area commercially. The company subsequently went bankrupt during the 1929 stock market crash. In 1943 the State of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

purchased 925 acres of the Castle Rock Springs property, which was the beginning of Castle Crags State Park. ;Flora Castle Crags June 2007

Two native species of plants which are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Castle Crags are: * Castle Crags ivesia (''Ivesia longibracteata'') * Castle Crags bellflower (''Campanula shetleri'')

References

*Aune, Quintin A., 1970, A Trip to Castle Crags: Mineral Information Service, Vol. 23, pp. 139–144. *Miller, Joaquin 1837-1913. The Battle of Castle Crags. In: Rosenus, Alan. Selected Writings of Joaquin Miller. No place: Urion Press, 1977. *http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/454/files/CastleCragsSP_WebBrochure2014.pdf *Lapena, Frank R. "Wintu," in Handbook of North American Indians: Volume 8-California. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1978.

External links

Shasta-Trinity National Forest: Castle Crags website

California State Parks: Castle Crags State Park website

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120415171721/http://www.museumsiskiyoutrail.org/ Museum of the Siskiyou Trail {{authority control Rock formations of California Stocks (geology) Trinity Mountains (California) Landforms of Shasta County, California State parks of California Parks in Siskiyou County, California Shasta-Trinity National Forest Protected areas established in 1933 1933 establishments in California Campgrounds in California Jurassic California Landmarks in California Religious places of the Indigenous peoples of North America Sacred mountains of the United States

Geology

History

Castle Rock Water Company

See also

References

External links