As author Stephen Most wrote of the Lower Klamath Basin, “Geography is Destiny” (p.68). Isolation and difficult terrain allowed the communities in the lower basin to stave off colonial presence longer than those in the Upper Klamath Basin. Eventually the California gold rush brought settlement, both temporary and permanent to the LKB. Placer mining was often practiced along the Lower Klamath Basin(LKB). Mining was also developed in the black sands along the mouth of the Klamath River, and the region was named Gold Bluff, a name that tempted many prospectors from San Francisco(Van Dyke 1891). The Trinidad trail along the Klamath River led colonists through slow and difficult terrain to the Trinity River, where many hoped to make their fortune in the mines (Van Dyke 1891). …show more content…
Currently, the region is home to three federally recognized Tribes who have lived in the LKB since time immemorial. The Yurok Tribe is dispersed along the Klamath River and has government offices in Yreka and Klamath California, though their formal reservation lands extend for one mile on either side of the Klamath River for a distance of 40 miles starting at the river’s mouth in Del Norte County, California. The Yurok were among the first peoples encountered in this region and experienced genocide at the hands of colonial occupiers. Walter Van Dyke(1891), an early prospector from San Francisco documented the violence experienced by the Yurok people in the context of colonial expansion and retaliation against indigenous