The Siskiyou Trail and Yreka

The HMS Beagle continued its voyage north along the central valley of California, which at its northerly end is called the Sacramento Valley, so named for the Sacramento River that drains the area.  The land is, of course, devoted to agriculture, but unlike the arid valley to the south, the Sacramento Valley is more lush, experiencing considerably more rainfall.  Cattle ranches are numerous and the crops that can been seen growing along the route include almond and walnut orchards. The  crew of the Beagle was perhaps most interested in the vast acres devoted to growing rice.  Rice fields are flooded and the rice is then sown by airplanes flying low over the fields, one of which was briefly seen by the crew.  In addition, miles of olive trees are grown and the town of Corning promotes itself as “olive city”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reaching the northerly end of the Sacramento Valley, the Beagle began its climb up through the Siskiyou mountains.  The scenery is of course beautiful as the mountains and valleys appear ever more taller and steeper.  The tallest mountain in the Siskiyou area is Mount Shasta, located at the southern end of the Cascade Range.  It is a recreational area for winter sports as well as summer outdoor activities.  Geologically it is a volcanic mountain, as are many in the Cascades, and last erupted in the  18th century.  It is potentially still active.

 

 

After crossing the mountain pass, the Beagle descended into the hills along the Siskiyou trail past former mining and logging towns of northern California, ending its day of sailing at the town of Yreka, (pronounced “why-reeka”)  Here the crew had to deal with another mechanical problem.  The power tongue jack on the Beagle refused to budge.  The tongue jack is essential to the coupling and uncoupling of the Beagle from the Captain’s yacht.  Effectively the crew were unable to unhitch the Beagle.   After a couple of calls to mobile RV service companies, a representative of one of them arrived.  It soon became apparent the this service representative was not very familiar with travel trailer repair of the kind needed and freely offered that his expertise lay in refrigerator repair.   It fell to Sailing Master Chaffers to begin the repairs, while the service representative gave encouragement and held tools and parts.  After dissembling the tongue jack, it became apparent that the mechanism had not been properly reassembled on the last occasion of repair.  After reassembly, the tongue jack grudgingly began to work again and allowed the crew to unhitch, all the while being  regaled with the story of the service representative’s life, from the Vietnam war to present day.  He kindly refused to charge for his non-services but accepted a gratuity for his trouble.  

 

 

The next day, the crew went in to visit the small town of Yreka.  It was founded as a mining and timber town in 1851 and many of the buildings of that era in the old town centre have been preserved.  Master Chaffers and Mr. Darwin attended upon the local barber where the former had a haircut and the latter made acquaintance with the barber and many other local people.  Unlike other posts, this entry in the ships blog does not contain a video montage, just the images below.