8 Unbelievable Facts About The Fall River

When was the last time you paid a little attention to your rivers around here? Did you know that the Fall River is the largest cold water spring fed river in the western United States? Its water source was only discovered a few years ago.

Every single second it produces 1,200 to 2,000 cubic feet of cold, clean water. For those of you not up on your water conversion tables, 1500 cubic feet per second converts to about one million acre-feet per year — enough to keep over a million families of four supplied with water for close to one year.

All of California needs a little over 40 million acre-feet of water to quench its annual thirst. Not to brag about Northern California, but we will: California’s largest reservoir — Shasta Lake — holds about 4.5 million acre feet. Here’s a little more you might not know about Fall River.

Shasta Lake in the morning. She’s a pretty sight. Did you know the Fall River provides over 22% of our favorite lake here?

flickr/ron kroetz

Crawfish are just one of many creatures who feed on this amazing river.

flickr/california dept of forestry

The drought has brought heartache to LOTS of other places around the state like this one–NOT in Shasta County. Sadly, she doesn’t live near the Fall River.

flickr/public herald

Rainbow Trout dominate this area, with an average 3253 trout per mile. Another reason so many fishing events are out here.

flickr/erik meldrum

A tributary of Fall River is the Pit River. People have LOTS of white water rafting adventures here.

flickr/beej jorgensen

Guess who was behind the fundraising and building of Fall River Mills’ only hospital?

flickr/kate gabrielle

In 2014, researchers finally discovered Fall River’s main water source: Medicine Lake Volcano’s aquifer. It is 30 miles east of Mt. Shasta.

wikipedia/captain jacks stronghold

The Fall River is the largest cold water spring fed river in the western United States. It runs for 16 miles and feeds many other tributaries.

flickr/adam roberts

When was the last time you paid attention to a river in Northern California? Which one is your favorite?