The South Umpqua River is a tributary of the Umpqua River, approximately 95 mi (153 km) long, in southwestern Oregon in the United States. It drains part of the Cascade Range east of Roseburg. The river passes through a remote canyon in its upper reaches then emerges in the populated South Umpqua Valley near Roseburg.

Description

It rises in the high Cascades north of Fish Mountain , formed by the confluence of two short forks in eastern Douglas County approximately 20 mi (32 km) northwest of Crater Lake. It flows generally southwest through a remote canyon in the Umpqua National Forest to Tiller , then west past Milo . It emerges into the South Umpqua Valley at Canyonville, passing under Interstate 5 and flowing north along highway past Tri-City, Myrtle Creek, and Roseburg. It joins the North Umpqua from the south to form the Umpqua approximately 6 mi (10 km) northwest of Roseburg.

It receives Cow Creek from the south approximately 5 mi (8 km) southwest of Tri-City.

In the early 19th century, the lower river through the South Umpqua Valley was inhabited by several bands of the Coquille, including the Upper Umpqua and the Cow Creek bands, which ceded their lands to the U.S. government in the 1854 Kalapuya Treaty. In 1846, spurred by the desire to reach the California gold fields, Jesse and Lindsay Applegate , Levi Scott , and 13 other companions explored a new route through the valley that connected the southern Willamette Valley with northern California. The route, which came to be called the Applegate Trail , is closely followed through the valley today by Interstate 5.

The valley became an important timber-producing region in the 20th century.

External links

• South Umpqua Valley Community
• Kalapuya Treaty