Myrtle Creek is a short tributary of the

South Umpqua River The South Umpqua River is a tributary of the Umpqua River, approximately long, in southwestern Oregon in the United States. It drains part of the Cascade Range east of Roseburg. The river passes through a remote canyon in its upper reaches then ...

in Douglas County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. Its

main stem In hydrology, a mainstem (or trunk) is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". Water enters the mainstem from the river's drainage basin, the land area through which the mainstem and its tributaries flow.. A ...

, formed by the confluence of two forks just south of the city of Myrtle Creek, is only about long. Its only named tributaries are the two forks, North Myrtle Creek and South Myrtle Creek, each of which is much longer than the main stem. The Myrtle Creek watershed contains one of the largest blocks of land overseen by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

in western Oregon. The unbroken forest and its stream network provide habitat for species such as

coho salmon The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientific species name i ...

and the

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 No ...

as well as clean drinking water for humans. Recreation in the watershed includes hiking, mushroom gathering, camping, horseback riding, and a wide variety of other outdoor activities. In 1990, the City of Myrtle Creek acquired timbers from the former Horse Creek Bridge in Lane County and used them to build a

covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...

over Myrtle Creek. The bridge connects a parking area to the city's Mill Site Park.

North fork

North Myrtle Creek begins in the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

at on the slopes of Buck Peak, and it flows generally southwest. The named tributaries of North Myrtle Creek from source to mouth are Buck Fork followed by Lee, Slide, Frozen, Big Lick, Little Lick, and Bilger creeks.

China Ditch

Gold had been discovered in Douglas County as early as the 1860s. In 1891,

China Ditch The China Ditch in Douglas County, in the U.S. state of Oregon, was a canal built in part by Chinese laborers to supply water for the hydraulic mining of gold. The Myrtle Creek Consolidated Hydraulic Gold Mining and Manufacturing Company began p ...

, a artificial waterway dug with the help of hundreds of

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

workers, began diverting water from

Little River Little River may refer to several places: Australia Streams New South Wales *Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River *Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Hawk ...

in the

North Umpqua River The North Umpqua River is a tributary of the Umpqua River, about long, in southwestern Oregon in the United States. It drains a scenic and rugged area of the Cascade Range southeast of Eugene, flowing through steep canyons and surrounded by larg ...

basin to North Myrtle Creek to make hydraulic dredging with large machines possible near the headwaters during all seasons . By 1894, the project had failed to produce enough gold to meet expenses and closed down. The

oversees an segment of the ditch that has been preserved. A loop formed by existing county roads—supplemented by a trail—allows visitors to see remnants of the ditch by automobile. The self-guided loop includes a series of signs detailing the history of the ditch.

South fork

South Myrtle Creek begins at near Deadman Mountain in the

Umpqua National Forest Umpqua National Forest, in southern Oregon's Cascade Range, covers an area of in Douglas County, Oregon, Douglas, Lane County, Oregon, Lane, and Jackson County, Oregon, Jackson counties, and borders Crater Lake National Park. The four ranger di ...

of the Cascade Range, and it flows generally west-southwest. The named tributaries of South Myrtle Creek from source to mouth are Curtin, Johnson, Lally, Weaver, Letitia, Long Wiley, Short Wiley, and Louis creeks, followed by Ben Branch, School Hollow, and Cedar Hollow.

Neal Lane Bridge Neal Lane Bridge is a covered bridge in Douglas County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Built by Douglas County for $1,000 in 1939, it is the only covered bridge in Oregon that uses a kingpost truss. At , it is also one of the shortest covered bridges ...

, a covered bridge, carries Neal Lane over the creek near the city of Myrtle Creek. The span is the only covered bridge in Oregon with a

kingpost truss A king post (or king-post or kingpost) is a central vertical post used in architectural or bridge designs, working in tension to support a beam below from a truss apex above (whereas a crown post, though visually similar, supports items above fro ...

design.

References

External links

{{authority control Rivers of Oregon Rivers of Douglas County, Oregon

North fork

China Ditch

South fork

See also

References

External links