The Confluence Winter 2000

River Restoration Plan Moves Forward

By Tim Woodall

Outstanding progress continues to be made in the effort to close the Auburn dam diversion tunnel and restore the North Fork American River to its natural streambed. In September Congress authorized an additional 5.3 million dollars for Placer County Water Agency's pump station project. At the same time Congress rejected Representative John Doolittle's attempt to add language to the funding bill that would have effectively prohibited closing the tunnel and restoring the river as part of the project. With this new federal appropriation, along with 4 million dollars in state funds authorized by the State of California in June of this year, the Bureau of Reclamation and PCWA have moved forward with design and environmental review of an integrated pump station/tunnel closure/river restoration project. The proposed project will not only restore a three quarter mile stretch of river that has been dry for over twenty years, but will finally bring to an end the long-running ban on public boating downstream of the Confluence. The draft environmental impact statement/environmental impact report on the project is scheduled for release in February 2001. A public comment period will follow, and at least one public meeting or hearing will be scheduled to explain details of the proposed project and to seek public input on the plan's environmental impacts. PARC encourages all supporters of a free-flowing American River to attend this hearing. Look for meeting date announcements in the Auburn Journal and Auburn Sentinel, as well as on PARC's website, www.jps.net/parc.

Historic Trail Found

By Eric Peach

With John Krogsrud as our guide, Paula and myself walked the trail in late afternoon watching the sunset from the trail. It was like being in a fairytale. Lush ferns and mosses evoked J.R.R. Tolkein's mythical forests where "shadows lay by night and day, and dark things crept beneath." We did see evidence of bear all along the trail! Former Auburn State Recreation Area Trails Advisory Group member John Krogsrud rediscovered the remnant of a Gold Rush era trail that runs through the heart of the proposed American River Confluence Parkway (ARC Park). Using an older version of the USGS Auburn quadrangle map John spotted the trail as a single dashed black line crossing the river on the map. Using the map and a lot of intuition, honed by years of searching for obscure American River trails, John was able to piece the trail together. Historic research in the Placer Herald links the trail to Tamaroo Bar, named for the "Ship Tahamaroo" which brought the first miners around Cape Horn to San Francisco in 1849. Some of the men on the ship began their mining endeavors at this location on the American River. A ferry crossing was established at Tamaroo Bar in 1852 by Thomas Williams linking the Auburn to Coloma trails during the Gold Rush years. Tamaroo Bar was one of the favorite haunts of the late Frank Olrich. He was able to identify "Tamaroo" as an Australian word meaning rowdy. What an appropriate name for one of the first named mining bars on the American near Auburn! The Placer County remnant of the trail now begins at the Mountain Quarry Railroad grade near Robie Point - switching along a good well built path to the river above Tamaroo Bar. Swimming or wading is the only river crossing option now. The trail then meanders rather steeply through canyon ravines and live oak forest. Occasionally rock has been stacked to make the footing better, but often the path is just a deep impression in the forest floor. Eventually the trail emerges into a rolling blue oak woodland between pointed rocks and Knickerbocker. At this point the trail connects with the Olmstead Loop Trail about a mile from Cool. Every paradise has its price and Tamaroo Trail's is poison oak. While John and friends have been clearing the path on and off for several years potent poison oak extracts a scratchy tribute.