FORKS OF SALMON

We used to think Orleans was remote, but once we drove to Forks of Salmon we found out what the word remote really meant.   This place was beyond remote, just a small elementary school, a store, Post Office and Forest Service seasonal guard station.   The Forks of Salmon is located at the confluence of the north and south forks of the Salmon River.    Just to get gas people here had to drive 25 miles to Orleans, by way of a single lane winding paved road along the Salmon River to get to Highway 96, and it took an hour to get to Orleans.    One bad mistake driving the Salmon River road could be fatal if you were not paying attention.   The inhabitants of this community were scattered all up and down the river and up many of the side creeks flowing into the Salmon River.   They were miners, loggers, hippies and outlaws living in cabins, shacks and tents.   Some were squatting on illegal mining claims and others were just living off the land.   Is was within the Klamath National Forest and Siskiyou County, where the county seat of Yreka was a two hour drive with very little or no law enforcement between here and there.   If something bad was to happen you were at the mercy of the locals here.

On one of my weekend trips to Arcata to do my monthly shopping, I picked up a hitchhiker just outside of Orleans.   While driving he told me he had a degree in English, had been a grade school teacher in the Bay Area, left it all behind and moved to a mining claim near Forks of Salmon to get away from the maddening world.   He had no vehicle, no phone, grew some vegetables in a garden by his cabin and made his way around by hitchhiking three or four times a year to restock up on things that were not available in the small store at Forks of Salmon.   I don't remember where I let him off, but he said he would wander around a few days in Arcata and Eureka before hitchhiking back up to Forks of Salmon.   Never saw him again, but did come across more people from the Forks coming and going through Orleans.