The Yuba River
The Yuba flowed unfettered from the headwaters in the Sierra to the lowlands of the Central Valley, singing a senuous song as it fell through the riffles of boulders and rocks into its tranquil emerald pools. With the discovery of gold and the coming of the engine and the hammer, the sound of the song changed, the regional people of this river were silenced, and flows was dammed to serve industrial interests, overwhelming the river with slash and mining debris. With the Sawyer decision of 1884, however, the mining slowed and the river began to recover its melody. There were still dams, of course, but somehow a magical stretch of the South Yuba was spared, running 39 miles from the dam at Spaulding Reservoir to the slackwater at Englebrigth Reservoir.
