Big Bend

History

For several thousand years prior to the 19th century, Big Bend was the heart of the territory of the Madesi tribe (pronounced Mah-day-see) tribe (or "band") of Pit River Native Americans. The Madesi is one of nine bands (also called "tribelets") that spoke the Achomawi language. (Early anthropologists mistakenly called all nine bands in the language group "Achomawi," although only one of the bands was actually called Achomawi.) The Madesi band's territorial region included Big Bend and the surrounding area of the Lower Pit River (Ah-choo'-mah in the Madesi dialect, which has few or no speakers still living), and several of its tributaries, such as Kosk Creek (An-noo-che'che) and Nelson Creek (Ah-lis'choo'-chah). The main village of the Madesi was on the north bank of the Pit River, east of Kosk Creek, and was called Mah-dess', or Mah-dess' Atjwam (Madesi Valley), and was directly across the river from the smaller villages that surrounded the hot springs on the river's south bank, which were called Oo-le'-moo-me, Lah'-lah-pis'-mah, and Al-loo-satch-ha. The Madesi people enjoyed great abundance of food sources, which mainly consisted of acorns, deer, salmon, and other fish from the river. The Big Bend area is so remote and isolated that the Madesi was one of the last indigenous peoples of California to be invaded and pushed out of their ancestral homeland. As white settlers began to come to Big Bend in the 1860s, few Madesi were left in the area, and the newcomers began to claim the conquered land as their own. By the 1890s, Big Bend was becoming a small quiet town of white settlers, centered around the hot springs. It was originally called Elena (1890) by the Euro-Americans settlers, and then changed to Henderson, (1906) before they began calling it "Big Bend"…

Geography

Big Bend is located at (41.019803, -121.907881). The community is situated on a long bend in the Pit River which is the longest tributary to the Sacramento River. The Pit River (traditionally called Achoma) is one of only three rivers that crosses the Cascades mountain range and drains into the Pacific Ocean. Before the dams were built, the Pit River hosted the third largest Salmon run on the west coast of the US. From Big Bend is a striking view of Chalk Mountain (called Too-le-pah-ah-te Ah-ko by the Madesi tribe) which has a natural exposed slide feature of diatomaceous earth. The slide is locally called the "White Buffalo," since it resembles a white bison. Another prominent mountain hovering over the town of Big Bend is called Bald Peak (called Ma-how-mah-day Ah-ko by the Madesi tribe), which has dozens of cold water springs, creating numerous creeks that feed into the Pit River, a spring-fed, or a "free stone" river. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which 98.47% is land and 1.53% is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Steller's Jay

  Cyanocitta stelleri (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  54
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  35
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  33
• Indian Rhubarb

  Darmera peltata (Torr. ex Benth.) Voss · Magnoliopsida
  27
• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  26
• Hartweg's wildginger

  Asarum hartwegii S.Watson · Magnoliopsida
  26
• American Dipper

  Cinclus mexicanus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  26
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  25

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2026-08-06
  4 km SSE of Anderson, CA
• M 2.57 — 2026-07-17
  11 km ESE of Burney, CA
• M 2.58 — 2026-07-06
  16 km NNE of Red Bluff, CA
• M 2.67 — 2026-06-24
  10 km SW of Manton, CA
• M 2.73 — 2026-06-13
  17 km NE of Red Bluff, CA
• M 2.95 — 2026-06-06
  27 km NE of Viola, CA