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 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 ...

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 definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

north of Port Orford. It rises in the mountains of northern Curry County, south of

Sugarloaf Mountain Sugarloaf Mountain ( pt, Pão de Açúcar, ) is a peak situated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the mouth of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rising above the harbor, the peak is named for its resemblance to ...

in the

Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest A rogue is a person or entity that flouts accepted norms of behavior. Rogue or rogues may also refer to: Companies * Rogue Ales, a microbrewery in Newport, Oregon * Rogue Arts, a film production company * Rogue Entertainment, a software com ...

. 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 Cape Blanco is a prominent headland on the Pacific Ocean coast of southwestern Oregon in the United States, forming the westernmost point in the state. Cape Blanco extends further west than any point of land in the contiguous United States (lowe ...

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 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, New Z ...

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 Copper Salmon Wilderness is a protected wilderness area in the Southern Oregon Coast Range and is part of the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest. The wilderness area was created by the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which was ...

. The area contains one of the nation's largest stands of low-elevation

old-growth forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

. Wildlife species include

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

steelhead Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and N ...

coastal cutthroat trout The coastal cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii''), also known as the sea-run cutthroat trout, blue-back trout or harvest trout, is one of the several subspecies of cutthroat trout found in Western North America. The coastal cutthroa ...

, 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 No ...

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 (although by antle ...

, 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.

References

{{authority control Oregon Coast Rivers of Oregon Klamath Mountains Rivers of Curry County, Oregon Oregon placenames of Native American origin

Name

Copper Salmon Wilderness

Tributaries

See also

References