Modoc National Forest

About Modoc National Forest

The Modoc Naitonal Forest is located in northeastern California and is bordered by the Warner Mountain Range. The Modoc National Forest borders the rolling hills of the San Joaquin Valley with a height difference of 9,934 feet to 4,300 feet and the foothills and streams are called Warner Mountains.

The Modoc National Forest in northeastern California has been the scene of a series of fires that Indian residents call the "Modoc Naitonal Forest" or "Indian Forest." A variety of people and cultures have moved into the area, from Native Americans to Californians, Indians and other ethnic groups.

People have adapted to their environment and have lived in the area for almost 10,000 years, and the administrators of cultural heritage resources have studied to understand the living patterns of these people. By carefully studying the materials that people have left behind in their homes, archaeologists can begin to assemble and interpret the great unwritten history that lies beneath the earth.

Within the boundaries of the Modoc National Forest lie the remains of more than 2,000 people, most of them Native Americans. This group is the largest group of indigenous peoples in the United States and one of only a handful of tribes in North America.

All three groups and their predecessors depended on and utilized a variety of forest resources: rivers, streams, and lakes provided abundant suckers, water lilies, and woks; abundant obsidian sources provided an abundance of glassy stones for tool trading; the mountains and plateaus offered other plant nutrition, wicker weaving, and medicine; and the Devil's Garden highland garden offered an abundance of wildflowers such as wild hickory, clover, saw leaf, and wild thyme. The members of this group continue to practice their traditional way of life, including hunting, fishing, gathering, hunting and trading, as well as the use of medicinal plants and medicines.

The first emigrant party to venture into the area was in 1843, consisting of 13 men on horseback led by Joseph Chiles. In 1846, brothers Jesse and Lindsey Applegate laid the first track of Ft. The trail he laid it on was laid by his brothers Jesse, Lindsey and Applegate. By 1848 he had followed the route to Lake Ganse and had cut his way to the Oregon-California border. On the final stretch, he was joined by a group of axe-wielding Oregon Americans who had just driven down a road from southern Oregon to the Delegate Trail.

In 1846, the US government sent explorer John C. Fremont and an engineer to the area to conduct a survey for a possible railway line. The first Euro-American settlers arrived in the Surprise Valley in 1846 and by 1871 most of the valleys in Modoc County were settled. The defense of their land and land rights by the Indians came to a head during the "Modoc War" of 1872-1873. A group of Modocs, led by Captain Jack, consisting of only 57 warriors, lasted for over a year before finally being captured.

Cattle ranchers grazed in the summer and raised hay in the fertile valleys, and the owners used wooden tractors cut into wood by numerous small, family-run sawmills. Forest farmers and Basque shepherds changed the landscape of Modoc, favouring the use of wood for their cattle and sheep, as well as for agricultural purposes.

Overgrazing later prompted settlers to petition the US government to create the Warner Mountain Modoc Forest Reserves in 1904, which became the Modoc National Forest in 1908. The tree trunks grew, and at that time young men were trained in road construction and other forest improvements. In the mid-19th century, the forest reached its peak with a population of about 2,000 people.