Castle Crags is a dramatic and well-known

rock formation A rock formation is an isolated, scenic, or spectacular surface rock outcrop. Rock formations are usually the result of weathering and erosion sculpting the existing rock. The term ''rock formation'' can also refer to specific sedime ...

in Northern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. Elevations range from along the

Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) 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–S ...

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 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 through the states of Calif ...

, between the towns of Castella and

Dunsmuir Dunsmuir may refer to: * Dunsmuir, California, a city in the northern part of the state * Dunsmuir station, an Amtrak station in Dunsmuir, California * Dunsmuir station (British Columbia), a Via Rail station * Dola Dunsmuir, Canadian socialite * Jam ...

, 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, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and 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 ...

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 a rupture 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 found where tectonic plates ...

and

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

origin,

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) 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 cools and solidifies und ...

bodies (

plutons In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

) 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 Mya. The J ...

period. Heavy glaciation at this location during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...

eroded much of the softer surrounding rock leaving the towering crags 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 The Siskiyou Trail stretched from California's Central Valley to Oregon's Willamette Valley; modern-day Interstate 5 follows this pioneer path. Originally based on existing Native American foot trails winding their way through river valleys, t ...

, Castle Crags has witnessed dramatic events. Strained relationships between 1850s California Gold Rush 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 is nicknamed the "Poet of the Sierras" after the Sierra Nevada, about which ...

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 extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

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 of the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Nationa ...

. 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). Others are the Nomlaki and the Patwin. The Wi ...

Achumawi Achomawi (also Achumawi, Ajumawi and Ahjumawi), are the northerly nine (out of eleven) bands of the Pit River tribe of Palaihnihan Native Americans who live in what is now northeastern California in the United States. These 5 autonomous bands ...

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 California Gold Rush, 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 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 a major part o ...

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 A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

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, northern California. It is on the upper Sacramento River in the Trinity Mountains. Its population is 1,707 as of the 2020 census, up from 1,650 from the 2010 census. Dunsmuir is currently a hub for tourism ...

, 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 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-intensity s ...

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

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 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 found els ...

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

Geology

History

Castle Rock Water Company

See also

References

External links