The Sixes River flows about through coastal forests in southwestern
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
in the United States. It drains a rugged region of the
Klamath Mountains
The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast R ...
along the
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...
north of
Port Orford.
It rises in the mountains of northern
Curry County, south of
Sugarloaf Mountain
Sugarloaf Mountain (, ) is a peak situated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on a peninsula at the mouth of Guanabara Bay. Rising above the harbor, the peak is named for its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf suga ...
in the
Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest. It flows generally west, through
Grassy Knob Wilderness and the small community of
Sixes, and eventually enters the Pacific just north of
Cape Blanco, the westernmost point in Oregon. The mouth of the river is along the coast in
Cape Blanco State Park.
Name
Accounts vary as to the origin of the name "Sixes". One local postmaster said Sixes was named for a
Native American chief. Another source said that in 1851, the river was usually called the "Sikhs River" after the
Chinook Jargon
Chinook Jargon (' or ', also known simply as ''Chinook'' or ''Jargon'') is a language originating as a pidgin language, pidgin trade language in the Pacific Northwest. It spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to othe ...
word for "friend", and on maps it was called the "Sequalchin River". Another source says the Native American name for the river was "Sa-qua-mi". Hodge's ''Handbook of American Indians'' says that one of the variants of the name of the local tribe, the
Kwatami (a subdivision of the
Tututni
The Tututni tribe is a historic Native American tribe, one of Lower Rogue River Athabascan tribes from southwestern Oregon who signed the 1855 Coast Treaty, and were removed to the Siletz Indian Reservation in Oregon. They traditionally lived a ...
), was "Sik-ses-tene", which is said to mean "people by the far north country". Though this is most likely the real source of the name, the spelling "Sixes" was probably used by miners drawn to the Oregon
gold rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...
who were familiar with the Chinook word "sikhs". The current spelling was used as early as 1855.
Copper Salmon Wilderness
In 2009, along the north and south forks of the
Elk River and the upper Middle Fork Sixes River were designated as the
Copper Salmon Wilderness.
The area contains one of the nation's largest stands of low-elevation
old-growth forest
An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Natio ...
. Wildlife species include
salmon
Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...
,
steelhead
Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the Fish migration#Classification, anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or Columbia River redband trout (''O. m. gairdneri'', also called redband steelhead). Steelhead are native to cold-wa ...
,
coastal cutthroat trout
The coastal cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii'', sometimes referred as ''Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii''), also known as the sea-run cutthroat trout, blue-back trout or harvest trout, is one of the four speciesTrotter, Patrick; Bisson, Pete ...
,
marbled murrelets,
northern spotted owl
The northern spotted owl (''Strix occidentalis caurina'') is one of three spotted owl subspecies. A western North American bird in the family Strigidae, genus ''Strix (genus), Strix'', it is a medium-sized dark brown owl native to the Pacific N ...
s, and
Roosevelt elk
The Roosevelt elk (''Cervus canadensis roosevelti)'', also known commonly as the Olympic elk and Roosevelt's wapiti, is the largest of the four surviving subspecies of elk ('' Cervus canadensis'') in North America by body mass. Mature bulls we ...
, among others.
Tributaries
Named tributaries from source to mouth are Murphy Canyon, Haines Creek, North Fork Sixes River, Sugar and Sucker creeks, followed by the Middle Fork Sixes River. Below this come Big and Otter creeks, then the South Fork Sixes River. Further downstream are Elephant Rock, Little Dry, Pipeline, Dry, Edson, Koch, Jenny, Beaver, and Crystal creeks. Last is Sullivan Gulch.
See also
*
List of rivers of Oregon
References
{{authority control
Oregon Coast
Rivers of Oregon
Klamath Mountains
Rivers of Curry County, Oregon
Oregon placenames of Native American origin