Monday, November 30, 2009

South Fork of the Eel mussels.

The Top three photo's are what I call the Eel River Papershell Clam. (anodonta californiensis)







I was talking to a young friend of mine today about the terrible load of gravel in the South Fork of the Eel River. I explained to him what the river used to look like before the '55 and the '64 floods. He is a person that is very familiar with the course that the river used to take in the area of Tooby Park. He told me that he has a photograph taken from the air of that area from the 1940's. He said that it showed the huge whirlpool that was just above the bridge that goes to the airport. He was impressed by the size of it. I told him that in the summertime we used to jump off the rock bluff just west of the bridge into the hole, and that nobody could dive to the bottom of it. He said that he had heard many stories about how deep it was. I told him that the flat piece of concrete under the bridge is where they used to bolt the community diving board. He didn't know that. As I went on talking to him I began to realize that, as much as he knew about the river, and where it used to run, he didn't really know much about what the flora and fauna of the river used to be like.

My friends and I used to call the big whirlpool “The Lorelei”, after the legend about the ship eating whirlpool on the Rhine called the Lorelei. ”Lorelei rock, the point where the gorge is at its deepest and the Rhine at its most treacherous - the rock and attendant whirlpools claimed the lives of many a sailor in days gone by” We used to wonder if any boats ever got sucked into it.

In the winter when the water was high and treacherous, we would walk out on the bridge and watch the logs coming down the river get sucked into it. They wouldn't spit back out again until just in front of the rapids that were beside Tooby Park. The logs would swirl around the edge of the whirlpool a few times, then they would up-end with one end straight in the air, and slowly be pulled under. When they popped back up again downstream, they usually came up at an angle like a whale breaching.

The whole summer of 1955, when I was ten years old, I lived in the stretch of river below Garberville. So I was very familiar with the river before the '55 flood. I told my friend about the top ten or twelve feet of water being warm, and in the bottom of the holes the water was icy and still. We would imagine that there were monsters down there. It took a great amount of courage to dive to the bottom of some of the holes. Those of us that swam in the main Eel River by Alderpoint, or Fort Seward, had seen twelve foot “Monster Fish at the bottom of the holes. Fish that we were not sure whether they were fish or alligators. Kids can scare the hell out of themselves with just a small amount of imagination. The “monster fish” were green sturgeon that used to be here in great abundance, in the main Eel river, when the holes were deep and cold.

I told him about the abundance of trout and fish that lived at the bottom of the warm water, right at top edge of the cold water. I told him about the great abundance of fresh water that welled up as a spring that came out from under the Redwood grove just east of Tooby Park. Large schools of fish lived in that spot, the water swirled, and so did the fish, they moved around at all levels like you might see in an aquarium. I would spend hours as a kid watching the fish and trying to imagine what kind of fish that they would grow up to be. The fish were steelhead, silver salmon, king salmon and several kinds of trout that the Old German immigrants had planted. It was hard for me to tell them apart, but there was a great variety of fish.

Along the banks, and under the large car size boulders that were in the river, you could find small catfish that we called “bullheads”. Some of the banks of the river were undercut. The roots of willows and other shrubs held onto the surface soil and the river would undercut small caverns into the banks most of these places would have Sucker Fish in them. We would use homemade broomstick spears to spear them and throw them onto the bank. The game warden would say that it was alright to spear the suckers, but to leave the other fish alone.

When we got tired of “exploring the river” we would go back to the swimming hole and let the girls flirt with us. The area under the bridge was a popular spot in the summertime. Most of the kids from town would be down there, and a lot of families would eat a picnic dinner down there. The Chamber of Commerce would build a barrel and board raft every year, and anchor in in the swimming hole. The girls would usually take over the raft for sunbathing. No boys allowed! It was the legendary “Old Swimming Hole”.

The sandy edge of the swimming hole was teeming with baby Eels. If you took both hands and scooped up the silt, just under the water, it would be filled with baby eels about three inches long. They were great for chasing the girls with. We would look for the tell-tale signs of a crawdad. They burrow in around the edges of rocks near the edge of the river banks. You can tell because the mud looks freshly moved. We used to use raw chicken liver to lure them out. If you were incredibly fast, you could catch then with your hands. They were great for chasing the girls also.

When I got around to telling him about the fresh water clams and mussels, he was surprised. He had never heard of fresh water mussels in the river. Then of course I was shocked that he hadn't heard of them. They were important to the local Indians. They used the shells for spoons, scoops, scrapers and jewelry, and just about anything else that you might imagine. They made great buttons. The mussels are very long lived. Some live to be fifty years old, some as old as one-hundred years. They are filter feeders and live off the crap that settles to the bottom. You can find them along the edge of the river in the muck in between the roots of the willow banks, or in the front edge of a riffle, were the muck of the river bottom starts to turn to the rock and gravel of the riffle. They are usually about two inches long. They are hard to see, they look just like the other muck on the bottom. But if you look carefully you can see their clean lips. Most of then will come loose with just your hands.

How do they move upstream you ask??? Good question, but the answer is even more ingenious. The spawn attaches themselves to the gills of fish. The fish swim around awhile, then the mussels drop off and start a new colony. The mussels can be found far upstream, even in small creeks. They are found in great abundance in the South Fork of the Eel. Laytonville creeks and the headwaters of the South Fork at Branscomb have many Mussels. You can even still find them around here. But you have to know just a little bit about the river.

They are an indicator species. Much can be told about the river from shells, because they live such a long life. I would imagine the the two floods just about wiped them out, so there will not be that many that survived the '64 flood, but some must have survived, because they are still here. I am still surprised what people don't know about the river!




This bottom photo is a Pearl Shell Clam (margaritifera falcata)

lINKS:
Eel River Papershell Clams
Fresh Water Mussles South Fork of the Eel

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ernie, you didn't mention the real monsters of the Eel River. Those dang green pincher bugs!

Oregon

Dave Kirby said...

E...I have seen mussels in a hole upstream of of Pville. There are still catfish/bullheads in the river. Before the regs changed some of the old timers used to catch cats on crawlers in the Green Monster at Myers during muddy high water. An interesting thing about bullheads. During low water they can bury themselves in the mud and hibernate til the water comes back.

Ernie Branscomb said...

Oregon
I don't want to talk about pincher bugs! "I hate pincher bugs!"

Dave
we used to have tons of catfish in the big mucky bottom holes in the river. You are right, they live in the mud. We used to have tons of Eels in the river, they live in the silt at the edge of the river. usually not more that six inches under water.

It really breaks my heart to see all of the gravel in the old deep water river holes.

Ernie Branscomb said...

It's funny, usually when I tell people the we have mussels in the Eel River, they look at me like they are waiting for the punchline.

Anonymous said...

In the summer I show off my mussels in the river, but not so much in the winter.
Butt seriously, upstream I know a place where there are catfish and some kind of panfish in the Eel. The lagoon like conditions above a certain rapids have created an area where they can live. Lotsa mussel shells as well.
Great post Ernie, when I travel through Oregon I use the Umpqua River as an example of an alive river system. The contrast with ours is horrific.

Anonymous said...

In the summer I show off my mussels in the river, but not so much in the winter.
Butt seriously, upstream I know a place where there are catfish and some kind of panfish in the Eel. The lagoon like conditions above a certain rapids have created an area where they can live. Lotsa mussel shells as well.
Great post Ernie, when I travel through Oregon I use the Umpqua River as an example of an alive river system. The contrast with ours is horrific.

Anonymous said...

I am too young to be repeating myself--sorry.

Ben said...

In the early '70s when I arrived at Phillipsville we caught sunfish of some kind in the deep spots. In the fall when the river was a bit muddy, I would catch a sucker on worms and cut strips of sucker to catch big "trout", half pounders. I think it was illegal but I'm past he statute of limitations. I have a text from Indian Charlie who tells of catching sturgeon in the hole below the mouth of Salmon Creek. The hole we called the Piling Hole. Gone now, silted in. Iwas surprised when I first saw clams in the river and thought they might make good bait but I don't recall they did. The fish preferred a nice worm or grasshopper. The great bullhead holes were always sprinkled with empty beer cans. I can name names but I won't.

Anonymous said...

Just downstream from the previously mentioned low water lagoon(upstream from G'ville), are a boulder rapids full of oxygenated water. Haven't been there in two years but two kinds of trout could be seen swimming in the current. The largest might have been 8". I loved that that stretch of the Eel was a preserve of so many once common fish.

Used to have the lamprey, ok, eel nests, in that stretch too.

Speaking of which, Ernie, how about a slimy segue from mussels to stories of what you did with eels as a boy growing up on the river?

Ekovox said...

Hey, did you Eel Riverians ever have to deal with the invasive Furry Santa Monica wanderluster ? We had 'em all over the Trinity River starting in the late 60's and early '70's. They don't seem to be as nearly as prominent as the Rainbow Waternymphs you experienced being planted in your watersheds around the same time. You know, the Fish Cops tried to eradicated them, but like the squawfish, they populated and have stayed in the local envirnonment for quite some time. Just a natural course of nature, I guess.

Anonymous said...

Eko- Yes, we had invasive species take over the deeper pools and swimming holes down here too round that time. Knowing that they were in our swimming holes at the same time as those clad made for some awkward moments, not to mention health worries. Their manes would shed into the water and create hair dams in the riffles that wouldn't wash out til winter rains started.
Just like you stated... the invasives stayed around, and some of those Rainbow Waternymphs bred with the more established local species and have given us much of the local fauna we see today. Of course, these invasive species have had to deal with prejudice, mostly from the Fifth (or Fourth)Generational Natives (FGNs). Generations hence, perhaps there will less stigma upon being a FGN Newcomer. (wink!)

There is a delightfully diverse and curious mix here on the Northcoast and it is part of its beauty, methinks.

Ekovox said...

...Generations hence, perhaps there will less stigma upon being a FGN Newcomer. (wink!)

That is, until the FGN Newcomer is supplanted by an even newer species. Visible signs are the presence of Toyotatruckafarians. A blend of the FGN's and the Rainbow waternymphs. Yes, a colorful and diverse mix, albeit, possible inbreeding. The greater fear may be the spread of Santarosafication with the retiring Escaladites from Orange County as is being discovered in the northern regions of the county. In the Trinity Valley of Eastern Humboldt, the Vino-Intelligensia is co-existing with the gun-toting Hipnecks. It's doubtful crossbreeding will occur.

River mussels are not consumed by any of the aforementioned species.

Anonymous said...

You are observant Ekovox! We went through the Toyotafarians phase here more in the nineties. They have been supplanted by the Ram-aheads, and the MegaFords...now I think there is where the inbreeding shows... baseball caps,big trucks and sunglasses...like who is that gonna fool?!
For awhile the realtors were trying to turn Shelter Cove into a sanctuary for southern californicaters , you know, plot the lots and the city hordes will come... but I think we have that one turned back, for now.

Good luck with that mix in Trinity county...keep us posted.
For now, the mussels are safe.

Anonymous said...

EKOVOX, Dec. 3, 9:52PM
I was in Hayfork 4 times last summer and those dreaded Furry Santa Monica Wonderluster's you speak of are not only on the Trinity River, they are all around Hayfork Crick. I used to work in Hayfork, lived there and in Peanut and us FGN just called em' miners.
By the way, they are still there. Where's the dynamite when ya need it or Joe Horn?

Oregon