Foreword and Acknowledgements

The archaeological and ethnographic studies described in the following pages were sponsored by the Sierra Pacific Power Company (SPPC) as part of the environmental review for the Alturas Intertie, a 164-mile long electric transmission line that extends from Alturas, California to Reno, Nevada. This effort included archaeological excavations at more than 71 prehistoric and historic sites along the project corridor.

South Fork Pit River Valley as seen from atop the
volcanic tablelands near Crooks Canyon.

(Photo courtesy of Summit Envirosolutions)
 Perhaps nowhere along this corridor is there such a dramatic convergence of archaeology and historic events - many of them tragic - than at Crooks Canyon, located in the volcanic tablelands above the South Fork Pit River Valley. This is one small, local story that captures much of the sad history of interaction between Native Americans and the United States Army in the American West during the second half of the 19th Century. But the legacy of Native American use of Crooks Canyon and north-eastern California is neither confined to nor defined by the events that occurred between 1850 and 1900. There is at least a 12,000-year sweep of human occupation in this region.
Although this pamphlet focuses primarily on the events and archaeological sites particular to Crooks Canyon, it also describes the changes in prehistoric technology, settlement patterns, and lifeways over a much longer span of time. In so doing, it incorporates many of the broader results and themes developed from archaeological investigations along the entire project corridor. It is written for a general, non-technical adult and secondary education-level audience.

Technical studies in support of the cultural resources program for the Alturas Intertie Project were under the supervision of Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., assisted by Dames and Moore, and Summit Envirosolutions, Inc. Shelly Tiley, Ph.D., compiled and assessed the Native American accounts and perceptions of the Battle of Infernal Caverns that figure so prominently in this narrative.

Other agencies and organizations were also instrumental in the successful completion of the Project: these include the Bureau of Land Management (Nevada and California State Offices; Susanville and Carson City Districts); Modoc and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forests; the California Public Utilities Commission; the California and Nevada State Offices of Historic Preservation; the Kosaletawi and Hammawi bands of the Pit River Indians; the United Maidu Nation; the Susanville Rancheria; the Yahmonee Maidu; the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California; Resource Concepts, Inc.; KEA Environmental; and the Modoc County Historical Society.


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