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The Klamath River (Karuk: ''Ishkêesh'', Klamath: ''Koke'',〔McArthur, p. 542〕 Yurok: ''Hehlkeek 'We-Roy'' is an American river that flows southwest through Oregon and northern California, cutting through the Cascade Range to empty into the Pacific Ocean. By average discharge, the Klamath is the second largest river in California after the Sacramento River. It drains an extensive watershed of almost that stretches from the high desert country of the Great Basin to the temperate rainforest of the Pacific coast. The upper basin once contained vast freshwater marshes that provided habitat for abundant wildlife, including millions of migratory birds; now it is largely agricultural, while the mountainous lower basin remains wild. The watershed is known for this peculiar geography, and the Klamath has been called "a river upside down" by the National Geographic Society. The Klamath is the most important coastal river south of the Columbia River for anadromous fish migration. Its salmon, steelhead and rainbow trout have adapted to unusually high water temperatures and acidity levels relative to other rivers in the Pacific Northwest. The numerous fish were a major source of food for Native Americans, who have inhabited the basin for at least 7,000 years. The first Europeans to enter the Klamath River basin were fur trappers for the Hudson's Bay Company in the 1820s; they established the Siskiyou Trail along the Klamath and Trinity rivers into the Sacramento Valley. Within several decades of white settlement, native peoples were forced into reservations. During the latter days of the California Gold Rush, increasing numbers of miners began working the Klamath River and its tributaries. Steamboats operated briefly on the large lakes in the upper basin before they were replaced by railroads in the late 19th century. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the upper basin became a rich agricultural region, and many dams were built to provide irrigation water and hydroelectric power. In the 1960s, the Klamath was targeted as part of a much larger scheme to augment water supplies in central and southern California; however, these works never materialized. Because the Klamath includes many of the longest free-flowing stretches of river in California, along with excellent whitewater runs, it has become a popular recreational river. However, dams and diversions in the upper basin have caused water quality issues on the lower half of the Klamath. Environmental groups and native tribes have proposed broad changes to water use in the Klamath Basin, principally the removal of some dams on the river to expand fish habitat. They put forth their concerns in what is now the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, a water management plan signed by local communities, governments, tribal groups, environmentalists, and fishermen. The proposal has been endorsed by the U.S. Department of the Interior but has not been authorized by the United States Congress. ==Course== (詳細はUpper Klamath Lake, filling a broad valley at the foot of the eastern slope of the southern High Cascades, is the source of the Klamath River. Its headstreams, however, begin over away—as far as Crater Lake and the Oregon–Nevada border. The first stretch of the Klamath River is known as the Link River. Not long after, however, the river is impounded in an long reservoir near Klamath Falls, Lake Ewauna, where it is connected by the B canal—which is capable of diverting water between the rivers in either direction as needed, to the Lost River and passes the nearly dry bed of Lower Klamath Lake.〔〔''Hydrology, Ecology and Fishes of the Klamath River Basin'', p. 27〕 After it flows out of this reservoir, it passes through four more hydroelectric dams〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Klamath River, OR and CA )〕 before it crosses the Oregon–California state border and turns south near the town of Hornbrook towards Mount Shasta. However, the river soon swings west to receive the Shasta River and the Scott River, cutting deep into the head of its canyon through the Klamath Mountains. The route through the High and Western Cascades and the Klamath Mountains constitutes the majority of the river's course and takes it from the arid high desert climate of its upper watershed into a temperate rainforest nourished by Pacific rains. From the Scott River confluence, the river generally runs west along the south side of the Siskiyou Mountains until it takes a sharp southward turn near the town of Happy Camp. From there, it flows southwest over whitewater rapids into the Klamath National Forest, receiving the Salmon River, and passes the unincorporated community of Orleans. At Weitchpec, the river reaches the southernmost point in its entire course and veers sharply northwards as it receives the Trinity River. The Trinity River confluence also marks the point where the Klamath's current dramatically slows. For the remainder of its course, the Klamath flows generally northwest through the Hoopa Valley and Yurok Indian Reservations, passing the town of Klamath and flowing out to sea south of Crescent City.〔〔''Hydrology, Ecology and Fishes of the Klamath River Basin'', p. 37〕 The mouth of the Klamath River is at Requa, in an area shared by the Yurok Reservation and Redwood National Park. The Klamath River estuary is recognized for protection by the California Bays and Estuaries Policy. 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「Klamath River」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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