Fire Crews Make Progress Against Trinity County Blaze

The first major blaze of Northern California's fire season continues to burn slowly through steep terrain in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

U.S. Forest Service officials reported Sunday evening the Saddle Fire, sparked by lightning last week, had consumed 1,490 acres of brush and dead and downed timber and was 40 percent contained -- up from 20 percent Sunday morning. About 1,150 firefighters were on the fire lines.

The blaze has forced evacuation of a handful of ranches and homes in the sparsely settled mountains 60 miles west of Redding. The fire is burning about five miles northwest of the hamlet of Hyampom, population 234, and residents there have been alerted they may need to leave if the fire shifts course.

The Saddle Fire was just one of the dozens of blazes started as thunderstorms moved across the drought-parched mountains of far Northern California. Virtually all of those blazes were immediately contained.

Hyampom lies at the confluence of Hayfork Creek and the South Fork of the Trinity River and is a footnote in the legend of mountain man Jedediah Smith.

In April 1828, Smith and his northbound party trekked through the Hyampom Valley, then said to have been home to a native tribe called the Chimariko.

Here's what Smith recorded of his visit.

... Encamped where there was good grass in a small valley on the------. Passed several indian Lodges the indians themselves were yelling on the hills and some appeared in sight of camp, but when I attempted to go to them they ran off. ...

... Just before sunset one of my horse guard came in and told me that there were some indians on the opposite side of the river close at hand. I went with one man to see what they wanted but before I got down they were throwing their arrows at the guard. They were at a distance of 150 yards but their arrows scarcely reached us. I called for some men and went down to the bank of the river and fired several guns wounding one or two of them but killed none dead on the ground. They then ran off yelling and troubled us nor more that night. Among those troublesome indians I was obliged to put my horses in a pen every night and have them guarded the fore part of the night but as those indians had but little clothing and the weather in those mountains was cold there was no necessity for continuing the guard during the latter part of the night. Several of my horses were verry lame