Sinkyone Wilderness

https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=429 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinkyone_Wilderness_State_Park Sinkyone Wilderness State Park is a state park in Mendocino County, California. The wilderness area borders the Pacific Ocean to the west and the King Range National Conservation Area to the north. The nearest settlement is the unincorporated town of Leggett. The lack of major road and highway access has led to the Sinkyone Wilderness area being referred to as the Lost Coast.

Sinkyone Wilderness State Park Our Mission The mission of California State Parks is to provide for the health, inspiration and education of the people of California by helping to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological diversity, protecting its most valued natural and cultural resources, and creating opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation. One hundred years ago, Sinkyone Wilderness State Park was an industrial landscape, logged for its natural resources. Today, California State Parks supports equal access. Prior to arrival, visitors with disabilities who need assistance should contact the park at (707) 986-7711. If you need this publication in an alternate format, contact interp@parks.ca.gov. CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS P.O. Box 942896 Sacramento, CA 94296-0001 For information call: (800) 777-0369 (916) 653-6995, outside the U.S. 711, TTY relay service www.parks.ca.gov SaveTheRedwoods.org/csp Sinkyone Wilderness State Park Briceland Thorn Road Whitethorn, CA 95589 (707) 986-7711 © 2011 California State Parks (Rev. 2016) efforts are underway to restore its wild beauty for generations to come. S inkyone Wilderness State Park is part of a wild and beautiful stretch of shoreline known as “The Lost Coast.” This rugged area, about 36 miles southwest of Garberville, is one of the few places on California’s long coastline that cannot be reached by a state highway or paved road. Fortunately for those who seek peace and serenity, the remote location of this rocky place has foiled decades of attempts by developers who had hoped to exploit its stunning scenery. The thick morning fog that develops as the land meets the sea muffles most sounds. As the fog threads its way over high cliffs and settles in among the park’s tall redwoods, only the thunder of the ocean’s rolling surf and the faint barking of sea lions reaches the ear of a silent hiker. Bear Harbor PARK HISTORY Native People The Sinkyone people lived in the area now known as Sinkyone Wilderness State Park for thousands of years before European contact. At the time the Europeans arrived, the Sinkyone population probably numbered as many as 4,000. The boundaries of Sinkyone lands extended east to the main stem of the Eel River and the river’s South Fork, south beyond what is now Leggett, and west to the ocean. The name Sinkyone was assigned by 20th-century ethnographers to classify separate political groups who spoke the same dialect of the Athabascan language family. Each distinct political group maintained its own geographic area and self-identity, but all groups formed a larger economy that delivered goods as far as the Eastern United States. This area was probably more densely populated by Sinkyones before the European incursion than it is now. Today, many people of Sinkyone descent live throughout the north coast. Traditional practices passed down through generations of Sinkyone experience created a highly productive environment. Conservation and restoration projects headed by local Dollar resurrected the lumber company for a while by use of skillful marketing and partnerships. Despite good management, Mr. Dollar shut the mill down in 1901. In November 1908, the Nelson Lumber Company of New York State acquired the mill for $10 in gold. The land continued to change hands frequently, with various attempts to revive logging operations. At the end of World War II, the Georgia-Pacific Plywood and Lumber Co. took over. In 1975, the State of California began acquiring local land to preserve as Sinkyone Wilderness State Park. When concerned environmentalists sued to prevent Georgia-Pacific from clear-cutting the remaining forest in 1986, the lumber company sold the property to the Trust for Public Land. The funds necessary to purchase 3,000 acres of trees came from the Save the Redwoods League, the Trust for Public Land, Photo courtesy of Julie Martin, Save the Redwoods League slide lumber products to waiting schooners — the preferred method to load lumber products onto ships. He called the gulch “Anderson’s Landing,” later renamed “Northport.” Lumberyards shipped wood to markets into the early 1900s. Lumber schooners departed regularly from Usal, Anderson’s Landing, Needle Rock, and other local ports. Eventually, roads and railroad tracks were built. No longer dependent Wharf constructed at Bear Harbor for lumber shipping, 1893 on the sea for transportation, people settled further inland. tribal groups, using time-tested methods, The Bear Harbor Railroad was built in have been instrumental in bringing the early 1890s to haul tanoak from inland restorative healing to the landscape. forests to Bear Harbor. Plans to extend Early Settlers the line from Bear Harbor to a mill near In the 1850s, early European settlers Piercy were cancelled claimed land in the area of today’s Shelter after a fatal accident Cove. Beginning in the 1860s, settlers and the 1906 occupied the land around what is now earthquake. Railroad called Bear Harbor, where they