Eel River (California)
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The Eel River is a major river of the northern Pacific coast of California in the United States. Approximately 200 mi (322 km) long, it drains a rugged area in the Coast Ranges between the Sacramento Valley and the ocean, flowing northwest parallel to the coast for most of its course.
Description
It rises in northeastern Mendocino County, north of Hull Mountain in the Mendocino National Forest. It flows briefly southeast and west, through the Lake Pillsbury reservoir in Lake County, then re-enters Mendocino County, turning northwest approximately 15 mi (24 km) east of Willits. It flows northwest in a long isolated valley past Dos Rios and forming the western boundary of the Round Valley Indian Reservation. It cuts across the southwestern corner of Trinity County then crosses Humboldt County from the southeast to northwest, flowing in a winding course past a series of small mountain communities. It emerges into a widening valley southeast of Eureka where it is followed by U.S. Highway 101. It flows past Rio Dell and Fortuna and enters the Pacific in central Humboldt County approximately 15 mi (24 km) SSW of Eureka.
In its upper course, it is joined from the southwest by the South Fork approximately 15 mi (24 km) southeast of Dos Rios, and from the east by the Middle Fork at Dos Rios. In its middle reaches it is joined from the east by the North Fork approximately 25 mi northwest of Dos Rios. In its lower reaches it is joined by the Van Duzen River from the east 3 mi (5 km) northwest of Rio Dell.
There are two dams on the Eel, 130-foot Scott Dam that forms Lake Pillsbury, and 50-foot Cape Horn Dam forming Van Arsdale Reservoir just north of Potter Valley. At Cape Horn Dam, a portion of the water is diverted through a tunnel and hydroelectric plant, and then to the headwaters of the Russian River in Potter Valley.
External links
- Friends of the Eel River (http://www.eelriver.org/)