Река Юба: История, природа и последствия золотодобычи.

Waterway in Northern California
The river's name comes from the local tribe, the Nisenan, word for "waterway," 'uba seo.' It is spelled in early records as "Yubu" and applied to the river by 1844. Some claim the name is a variant of Spanish uba or uva, referring to grapes found growing along the banks of the river.

The North Yuba River, 61.1 mile (98 km) long, rises at Yuba Pass along California State Route 49, near the eastern boundary of the Tahoe National Forest. It flows southwest then west through a 3000 feet (914 m) canyon past the communities of Downieville (where it receives the Downie River from the north) and Goodyears Bar. Its main tributaries, Canyon Creek and Slate Creek, join from the north shortly downstream of there. The river turns south near Clipper Mills and flows into the New Bullards Bar Reservoir, impounded by 645 feet (197 m) high New Bullards Bar Dam. About 5 mile (8 km) below New Bullards Bar Dam, it joins with the Middle Yuba River to form the Yuba River.

Originating in a bowl shaped valley in Moscove Meadow, the 55.4 mile (89 km) Middle Yuba River These groups did not function as large tribes; rather, they were divided into hundreds of small villages, with distinct governments but similar customs. Like other indigenous people of the Sierra Nevada foothill region, their staple food was acorns, but they also hunted and gathered for other foods including abundant salmon runs in the Yuba River. In the 1850s, the California Gold Rush brought large numbers of European American settlers into the area, followed by many Mexican, African and Chinese immigrants. These settlers brought diseases with them, to which the Native Americans had no immunity. Within a few years, these diseases wiped out most of the native population. The Yuba River and its forks were one of the richest parts of the Mother Lode, and miners poured to the region in great numbers. Although gold was first extracted by simple methods such as panning and sluicing, large scale industrial hydraulic mining left a much greater impact. About 25 million cubic yards (19,400,000 m3) of hydraulic mining debris was carried down the Yuba River. This raised stream beds up to 50 feet (15 m) in places, buried riverside land under sediment, and increased the risk of flooding. The practice was banned in 1884 following lawsuits from farmers who had been affected by the debris flows. Much of the debris left by the destruction of hydraulic mining remains today as the Yuba Goldfields. In addition, the extensive use of mercury in processing gold led to contamination of a relatively large area. The contamination was still detectable in 2013 and will be so for an estimated time of more than 10,000 years. In 1877, the world's first long distance telephone line was strung along the South Yuba River from French Corral to French Lake (now called Bowman Lake), a distance of 58 mile (93 km).

Like the majority of California rivers, the Yuba was dammed at many points during the 20th century, and large amounts of water are withdrawn for irrigation and municipal water supply. Daguerre Point Dam was built in 1906 by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers in order to trap hydraulic mining debris. After concerns about its impact on fish populations, the dam was fitted with fish ladders in 1937. In 1922 24 PG&E built the original Bullards Bar Dam to produce hydroelectricity and trap debris. The concrete arch Englebright Dam was built in 1941 to trap mining debris following the re legalization of hydraulic mining during the 1930s. However, mining never resumed on a Gold Rush scale in the Yuba River watershed. Today, Englebright serves mainly to produce hydroelectricity. New Bullards Bar Dam was built on the North Yuba River in response to the huge flood of December 1955, which destroyed much of Yuba City. Completed in 1969, the 645 feet (197 m) high concrete arch dam is one of the tallest dams in the United States, replacing and submerging the old Bullards Bar Dam. It stores almost 1 million acre feet (1.2 km3) to provide flood control, irrigation and hydroelectricity. The Yuba River Development Project includes New Bullards Bar Dam and a number of supporting facilities, including a diversion dam (Our House Dam) and tunnel which divert the Middle Yuba River into New Bullards Bar Reservoir, to increase hydropower generation. The 340 megawatt New Colgate Powerhouse is located about 4 mile (6 km) below New Bullards Bar Dam, and it generates over 1.3 billion kilowatt hours of energy per year. These diversions have resulted in the seasonal dewatering of the lower North Yuba River and Middle Yuba River and about four miles of the main Yuba River. The Middle Yuba River and South Yuba River are linked by the Yuba Bear and Drum Spaulding hydroelectric projects, which are owned by the Nevada Irrigation District and PG&E, respectively. These two interconnected projects generate a combined 1.2 billion kilowatt hours per year and with over 40 dams and reservoirs and 16 powerhouses, are considered the most complex hydroelectric scheme in the United States. Major dams include Jackson Meadows Dam and Bowman Dam (part of Yuba Bear) and Lake Spaulding Dam and Fordyce Lake Dam (part of Drum Spaulding). These projects divert a portion of the Yuba River's flow to the Bear River, a tributary of the Feather River further south. Other dams include Scotts Flat and Wildwood on Deer Creek; and Mildred and Virginia Ranch on Dry Creek, a lower tributary of the Yuba.

The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has issued a safe eating advisory for any fish caught in Yuba River, North Yuba River, and Middle Yuba River due to elevated levels of mercury. The Spring and Shady tributaries of the South Yuba contain dozens of historic mine locations, the largest of which is the San Juan Ridge Mine. Mining operations in the area began in 1850 and have been more or less driven by the price of gold since that time. In 1995, the San Juan Ridge Mine Corporation stopped gold mining operations following the breach of an underground aquifer that caused flooding and the overflow of containment ponds. This breach released millions of gallons of mine waste into Spring and Shady creeks, drained and contaminated 12 local wells through the oxidation of naturally occurring heavy metals including a well that supplied drinking water to a local K 8 school. The mining company proposed to re open their mine for gold extraction in 2012, which would require pumping up to 3.5 million gallons of groundwater to operate each day. Pumping groundwater at this scale would likely deplete the underground aquifer that provides water to hundreds of community members. This could potentially cause serious impacts to surface water quality in Spring and Shady creeks due to increased surface flows from mining practices.