Junction City

History

Junction City was established when a few cabins were built in the 1850s at the mouth of Canyon Creek, it was originally called "Milltown" due to the number of mills, but in 1861 it was officially named Junction City since it served as a junction for several transportation routes at Canyon Creek and Trinity River. Junction City had the largest and most famous diversion dam. The Arkansas Dam, was built in 1851, four miles upstream of Junction City. After the dam washed out in the winter of 1851 and again in 1852, it was rebuilt so substantially as to withstand not only the winter storms but also contain an upstream dam break flood that occurred when the 14-foot-high diversion dam at Union bar gave way. The ensuing flood wiped out every water wheel, dam, and other structures along the river in the intervening 20 miles between the dams. In 1857, Arkansas dam was removed by the miners so they could reach the gold deposits beneath the dam. In 1988, a Tibetan Buddhist temple, Rigdzin Ling, part of the Chagdud Gonpa Foundation founded by Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche. [https://chagdudgonpa.org/] In the May 8th, 2005 the hotel burned down under mysterious circumstances. It was one of the last remaining buildings in Junction City from the 1800s. In May 2006, the Junction Fire scorched , then later combined with the Bar Fire, making that . The Junction Fire threatened all of Junction City, and even some parts of the town of Weaverville. On July 20, 2008, fire threatened communities near Junction City; some areas were under mandatory evacuation. Many huge forest fires broke out because of a lightning storm which occurred on June 20, 2008, in Northern California.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP covers an area of 26.6 square miles (68.8 km2) of which 99.87% is land and 0.13% is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,299
• California/Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  1,722
• Acorn Woodpecker

  Melanerpes formicivorus (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  1,711
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  1,137
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  918
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  904
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  895
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  890

Most recent

• M 2.58 — 2026-09-15
  7 km E of Hydesville, CA
• M 3.67 — 2026-09-07
  36 km E of Hydesville, CA
• M 2.55 — 2026-08-18
  28 km NW of Weaverville, CA
• M 2.72 — 2026-08-12
  32 km NNW of Covelo, CA
• M 2.62 — 2026-08-10
  32 km NW of Covelo, CA
• M 3.16 — 2026-08-08
  31 km NNW of Covelo, CA