Big Bend, California

History

Native Americans

For several thousand years prior to the 19th century, Big Bend was the heart of the territory of the Madesi tribe (pronounced Mah-day-see) tribe (or "band") of Pit River Native Americans. The Madesi is one of nine bands (also called "tribelets") that spoke the Achomawi language. (Early anthropologists mistakenly called all nine bands in the language group "Achomawi," although only one of the bands was actually called Achomawi.)

The Madesi band's territorial region included Big Bend and the surrounding area of the Lower Pit River (Ah-choo'-mah in the Madesi dialect, which has few or no speakers still living), and several of its tributaries, such as Kosk Creek (An-noo-che'che) and Nelson Creek (Ah-lis'choo'-chah). The main village of the Madesi was on the north bank of the Pit River, east of Kosk Creek, and was called Mah-dess', or Mah-dess' Atjwam (Madesi Valley), and was directly across the river from the smaller villages that surrounded the hot springs on the river's south bank, which were called Oo-le'-moo-me, Lah'-lah-pis'-mah, and Al-loo-satch-ha.

The Madesi people enjoyed great abundance of food sources, which mainly consisted of acorns, deer, salmon, and other fish from the river.

Euro-American settlers

The Big Bend area is so remote and isolated that the Madesi was one of the last indigenous peoples of California to be invaded and pushed out of their ancestral homeland.

As white settlers began to come to Big Bend in the 1860s, few Madesi were left in the area, and the newcomers began to claim the conquered land as their own. By the 1890s, Big Bend was becoming a small quiet town of white settlers, centered around the hot springs. It was originally called Elena (1890) by the Euro-Americans settlers, and then changed to Henderson, (1906) before they began calling it "Big Bend" (1922).

Early white settlers built a log hotel with a post office and a saloon just above the main hot springs. Many visitors around the turn of the 20th-century came to Big Bend to soak in the hot springs, seeking the reputed healing qualities of the hot mineral water baths.

Big Bend grew slowly until the late 1930s, when Pacific Gas and Electric Company began construction on the and Pit Five Power House. The dam construction brought thousands of jobs and people to Big Bend. This included engineers, builders, tunnel diggers (around 2000 hard-rock miners), and service workers to the area. Big Bend saw a "boom and bust" cycle, and the population was declining by the late 1940s, after the dam work was completed. Although the maintenance of the hydroelectric facilities and a large commercial logging industry still require numerous employees, almost all of the people working in such jobs live outside of Big Bend, contributing further to the population decline.

The population of Big Bend was only 102 people in the 2010 census, apparently the lowest number of residents since the 1860s.

Geography

Big Bend is located at (41.019803, -121.907881).

The community is situated on a long bend in the Pit River which is the longest tributary to the Sacramento River. The Pit River (traditionally called Achoma) is one of only three rivers that crosses the Cascades mountain range and drains into the Pacific Ocean. Before the dams were built, the Pit River hosted the third largest Salmon run on the west coast of the US. From Big Bend is a striking view of Chalk Mountain (called Too-le-pah-ah-te Ah-ko by the Madesi tribe) which has a natural exposed slide feature of diatomaceous earth. The slide is locally called the "White Buffalo," since it resembles a white bison. Another prominent mountain hovering over the town of Big Bend is called Bald Peak (called Ma-how-mah-day Ah-ko by the Madesi tribe), which has dozens of cold water springs, creating numerous creeks that feed into the Pit River, a spring-fed, or a "free stone" river.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 5.8 sqmi, 98.47% of it land and 1.53% of it water.

Demographics

|align-fn=center 1850–1870 1880-1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

The 2020 United States census reported that Big Bend had a population of 79. The population density was 13.8 PD/sqmi. The racial makeup of Big Bend was 56 (70.9%) White, 0 (0.0%) African American, 10 (12.7%) Native American, 0 (0.0%) Asian, 0 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 2 (2.5%) from other races, and 11 (13.9%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5 persons (6.3%).

The whole population lived in households. There were 43 households, out of which 8 (18.6%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 17 (39.5%) were married-couple households, 6 (14.0%) were cohabiting couple households, 10 (23.3%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 10 (23.3%) had a male householder with no partner present. 6 households (14.0%) were one person, and 3 (7.0%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 1.84.

The age distribution was 11 people (13.9%) under the age of 18, 5 people (6.3%) aged 18 to 24, 14 people (17.7%) aged 25 to 44, 29 people (36.7%) aged 45 to 64, and 20 people (25.3%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 52.8years. There were 40 males and 39 females.

There were 67 housing units at an average density of 11.7 /mi2, of which 43 (64.2%) were occupied. Of these, 39 (90.7%) were owner-occupied, and 4 (9.3%) were occupied by renters.

Politics

In the state legislature Big Bend is located in , and .

Federally, Big Bend is in .

Natural attractions

Hot springs

Big Bend is known in the Northern California region for its geothermal hot springs. There are several hot spring sources on the Big Bend Hot Springs property along the Pit River. Privately owned land containing hot springs is expected to open for public tourism.

Pit River

The Pit River is a "free stone river" and provides excellent fishing for McCloud River redband trout.

The Pit River has had occasional white water level releases from the dams to provide white water rafting with Class 4 and Class 5 rapids.

A highly scenic gravel road follows the Pit River upstream from Big Bend to Highway 89 near McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park.

Iron Canyon Reservoir

Iron Canyon Reservoir, located near Big Bend, impounds water diverted from the McCloud River and contains Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout. This reservoir provides an opportunity for canoeing and float tubing. The reservoir is in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest and has two campgrounds, one administered by the US Forest Service and one by Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

References

References

1. "2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau.
2. Achomawi Geography, (University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology), Volume 23, Number 5, 1928 By Fred Bowerman Kniffen
3. THE CLASSIFICATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE PIT RIVER INDIAN TRIBES OF CALIFORNIA. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Volume 78, Number 3. E. H. Harriman Fund. Publication 2874. By G. Hart. Merriam
4. 120 FERC ¶ 62,001 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION Pacific Gas and Electric Company Project No. 233-081 Shasta County, California ORDER ISSUING NEW LICENSE (July 2, 2007) Issued by FERC OSEC 07/02/2007 in Docket#: P-233-081
5. Big Bend, California
6. (2011-02-12). "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". [[United States Census Bureau]].
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25. "Senators". State of California.
26. "Members Assembly". State of California.
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28. "Ironcanyon.org website".