Salt River (California)
| Salt River | |
| River | |
 The Salt River restoration reopened the lower portion of the river to flow on October 9, 2013.
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | California |
| County | Humboldt |
| Part of | Eel River (California) |
| City | Ferndale |
| Source | Wildcat Mountains |
| - elevation | 3 ft (1 m) |
| - coordinates | 40°32′32.08″N 124°16′58.21″W / 40.5422444°N 124.2828361°W |
| Mouth | Pacific Ocean |
| - location | Humboldt County, California |
| - elevation | 0 ft (0 m) |
| - coordinates | 40°38′16.46″N 124°18′47.21″W / 40.6379056°N 124.3131139°WCoordinates: 40°38′16.46″N 124°18′47.21″W / 40.6379056°N 124.3131139°W |
| Length | 7 mi (11 km) |
| Basin | 17.03 sq mi (44 km2) |
 Map of the Salt River
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The Salt River is a formerly navigable hanging channel of the Eel River which flowed about 9 miles (14 km) from near Fortuna and Waddington, California, to the estuary at the Pacific Ocean, until siltation from logging and agricultural practices essentially closed the channel. It was historically an important navigation route until the early 20th century. It presently intercepts and drains tributaries from the Wildcat Hills along the south side of the Eel River floodplain. Efforts to restore the river began in 1987, permits and construction began in 2012, and water first flowed in the restored channel in October 2013.
The California Coast Ranges are relatively young mountain ranges being tectonically uplifted faster than the pace of erosion by several millimeters a year. These rapidly uplifted, unstable slopes produce natural landslides which have filled the channel for tens of thousands of years. Tree stump evidence from the banks near the estuary shows that the area around the mouth of the Eel dropped 11 feet (3.4 m) in the January 26, 1700, Cascadia earthquake. The basin which holds both the Eel and the Salt is underlain by the Eel river syncline, crossed by the Russ and Ferndale faults and affected by the Little Salmon Fault to the north. Both the San Andreas Fault system and the Cascadia Megathrust impact the geomorphology of the basin.
There are five named tributaries which fall from the Wildcat hills and contribute water and sediment to the Salt River.
Source: United States Department of Agriculture.
Four species of anadromous salmonids, the coho salmon, chinook salmon, rainbow trout and coastal cutthroat trout are known from the estuary of the Salt River as are about two dozen estuarine fish including herring, sardine, smelt, stickleback, perch, sculpin, sole and flounder, and the freshwater invasive Sacramento pikeminnow.
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Wikipedia