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〕 | mouth_elevation_imperial = 0 | length_imperial = 196 | length_round = 0 | length_note = 〔 | watershed_imperial = 3684 | watershed_note = 〔(About the Eel River ), Friends of the Eel River〕 | discharge_location = mouth, near Fortuna | discharge_imperial = 9510 | discharge_round = -2 | discharge_max_imperial = 935800 | discharge_min_imperial = 10 | discharge_min_round = 1 | discharge_note = | map = Eelrivermap.png | map_size = | map_caption = Map of the Eel River drainage basin | website = | footnotes = }} The Eel River (Cahto: ''Taanchow'') is a major river, about long, of northwestern California in the United States. The river and its tributaries form the third largest watershed entirely in California, draining a rugged area of in five counties. The river flows generally northward through the Coast Ranges west of the Sacramento Valley, emptying into the Pacific Ocean about downstream from Fortuna and just south of Humboldt Bay. The river provides groundwater recharge, recreation, and industrial, agricultural and municipal water supply.〔William M. Brown and John R. Ritter, (Sediment transport and Turbidity in the Eel River Basin ), 1971, prepared in cooperation with the California Department of Water Resources, 67 pages〕 The Eel River system is among the most dynamic in California because of the region's unstable geology and the influence of major Pacific storms. The discharge is highly variable; average flows in January and February are over 100 times greater than in August and September.〔 The river also carries the highest suspended sediment load of any river of its size in the United States, in part due to the frequent landslides in the region.〔 However, the river basin also supports abundant forests – including some of the world's largest trees in ''Sequoia sempervirens'' (Coastal redwood) groves – and historically, one of California's major salmon and steelhead trout runs. The river basin was lightly populated by Native Americans before, and for decades after the European settlement of California. The region remained little traveled until 1850, when Josiah Gregg and his exploring party arrived in search of land for settlement. The river was named after they traded a frying pan to a group of Wiyot fishermen in exchange for a large number of Pacific lampreys, which the explorers thought were eels. Explorers' reports of the fertile and heavily timbered region attracted settlers to Humboldt Bay and the Eel River Valley. Starting in the late 19th century the Eel River supported a large salmon canning industry which began to decline by the 1920s due to overfishing. The Eel River basin has also been a significant source of timber since the days of early settlement and continues to support a major logging sector. The river valley was a major rail transport corridor throughout the 20th century and also forms part of the route of Pacific Coast Highway (California Highway 1). Since the early 20th century, the Eel River has been dammed in its headwaters to provide water, via interbasin transfer, to parts of Mendocino and Sonoma Counties. During the 1950s and 1960s, there was great interest in building much larger dams in the Eel River system, in order to provide water for the State Water Project. Although the damming would have relieved pressure on California's overburdened water systems, it stirred up decades of controversy, as some of the proposals made little economic sense and would have been detrimental to an ailing salmon run. The Eel was granted federal Wild and Scenic River status in 1981, formally making it off limits to new dams.〔"National Wild and Scenic Eel River", ''The Eel River Reporter'', Friends of the Eel River publication Vol.VIII, Summer 2005 p.14〕 Nevertheless, logging, grazing, road-building and other human activities continue to significantly affect the watershed's ecology. ==Course== The Eel River originates on the southern flank of Bald Mountain, in the Upper Lake Ranger District of the Mendocino National Forest in Mendocino County.〔 The river flows south through a narrow canyon in Lake County before entering Lake Pillsbury, the reservoir created by Scott Dam. Below the dam the river flows west, re-entering Mendocino County. At the small Cape Horn Dam about east of Willits, water is diverted from the Eel River basin through a tunnel to the Russian River, in a scheme known as the Potter Valley Project. Below the dam the river turns north, flowing through a long isolated valley, receiving Outlet Creek from the west and then the Middle Fork Eel River from the east at Dos Rios. About downstream, the North Fork Eel River – draining one of the most rugged and remote portions of the watershed – joins from the east. Between the North and Middle Forks the Round Valley Indian Reservation lies east of the Eel River. After this confluence the Eel flows briefly through southwestern Trinity County, past Island Mountain, before entering Humboldt County near Alderpoint. The river cuts from southeast to northwest across Humboldt County, past a number of small mountain communities including Fort Seward. The South Fork Eel River joins from the west, near Humboldt Redwoods State Park and the town of Weott. Below the South Fork the Eel flows through a wider agricultural valley, past Scotia and Rio Dell, before receiving the Van Duzen River from the east. At Fortuna, the river turns west across the coastal plain and enters the Pacific via a large estuary in central Humboldt County, about south of Eureka. The Northwestern Pacific Railroad tracks follow the Eel River from Outlet Creek, about above Dos Rios, to Fortuna. The railroad has been out of service since 1998 due to concerns of flooding damage. U.S. Route 101 runs along the South Fork Eel River and then the lower Eel River below the South Fork. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eel River (California)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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