30. Orleans

Services: Forest Service District office, gas, restaurant, lodging, campgrounds, RV parks, post office, medical clinic, retail stores, guide service, Karuk Tribe.

Karuk Baskets Photo courtesy US Forest Service, Yreka

• In Karuk, Orleans is Panámniik and roughly translates as "the flat place."
• Captain Tompkins and Bob Williams explored the Klamath River in the spring of 1850 and named the place New Orleans Bar. They wrongly assumed the Klamath River would be navigable nearly all the way to its source. The town improved as more miners moved into the area and Orleans prospered, becoming a main supply center. The historic hotel was also a payroll station for the military post and a stopping point for pack trains.
• The place name "Red Cap" is for a Tribal leader who always wore a red woolen headpiece that had been given to him by a miner. He was friendly to the whites, influential, and of high moral character. As an example of his justice, one story from 1851 describes the theft of a white man's gun, presumably by someone from Red Cap's Tribe. To pay back the cost of the $30 gun, Red Cap imposed an excise tax of 50¢ on all salmon that were sold to the packers and miners. After the gun was paid for, the oppressive tax was dropped.
• President Hoover spent much time staying at the local hotel as did many other famous people. It was suggested to Hoover that Orleans become the "Western White House."
• For birdwatchers, several pair of Red Shouldered Hawks have nests in this valley and their song can be easily heard.
  

  Orleans Bridge in 1915 Photo Courtesy Hazel Davis Gendron

  The first Orleans Bridge was constructed in 1912. A discarded cigarette was believed to have caused the wooden bridge to be destroyed by fire in 1921. Twenty brave men fought the fire from the burning bridge by lowering water buckets into the river. Suddenly the wire cables snapped, dumping the men into the river where one was killed. The people of Orleans resorted to crossing the river in canoes again until the bridge was rebuilt. This historic suspension bridge was the last of its type to be built in the nation.

  
  

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