COTTONWOOD ALONG THE FEATHER RIVER

Rex Burress

One by one I watched the last ten leaves disappear from the branches of a small cottonwood down by the riverside. It was rather poetic to see them twisting in the breeze until they all joined together on the ground, “to make one texture of faded brown,” as Robert Frost said.

Cotton? Although cotton of industrial use is mostly grown in cotton fields of southern states, California does have some plants producing cotton-like, wind-dispersed seed carriers, most evident in the cottonwood trees all the way from the Feather River Canyon to the end of the river. Cottonwoods love water, as do the other major groups of the Salicaceae, or willow, family. That includes the widespread quaking aspen that will tolerate higher elevations, and the riparian zone's willows.

Oroville loves her cottonwood trees that grow along the 'river that runs through it.' The deciduous leaves become tinged with yellow in the autumn before they descend to the soil to “fit the earth like a leather glove.” The silhouetted old monarchs stand like sentinels in the winter, savoring a time of rest “before the leaves mount again to fill the trees with another shade,” and the deep-furrowed bark is quite protective of the inner heart.

Beaver cherish the cottonwood, perhaps not so much for the beauty of a tree, but rather for the wood that is soft with sweet inner fibers. You find gnaw marks on many of the old giants along the river, and some are chewed down by the rodent's efficient teeth.

Our cottonwood species was discovered by John C. Fremont and was named Populus fremontii in honor of America's “Pathfinder.” Fremont made 5 exploratory expeditions of the west from 1842 to 1854, and discovered over 30 new plants that bear his name, including the Flannelbush, Goldfields, Barberry, and Silk Tassel.

Fremont first found P. fremontii cottonwoods along the Rio Grande, as they grow along most streams west of the Rockies, and he was impressed to also find them in California. The wind borne cottony seeds really get around.

Many of his 1,400 collected plants of the 1844 expedition were lost when the mule carrying pressed specimens fell from a precipice into a river.

Although the cottonwood was undoubtedly seen by the 1820 Spanish Expedition along the Feather River when they camped there and saw what they thought to be feathers floating on the water, from where the name of the river came, but Fremont was the first to describe the tree scientifically. The 'feathers' might have been cottonwood fluff floating on the surface! Of the two species of cottonwood that grow in California, the Black Cottonwood grows in higher elevations, and I saw it near Oakland Camp up Toll Gate Creek. Eastern America has several species including abundant Populus deltoides.

The popular “Poplar” hardwood actually comes from the tulip tree, native to eastern U.S. and in the Magnolia Family, but you can see them planted around Oroville as a decorative tree.

Although Amerindians made canoes out of large cottonwoods and pioneers cut them on the plains for livestock food and fuel, the Populus are more poetic than commercial. The Hopi Indians, who carve Kachina dolls out of cottonwood, believe the rustle of the wind through the quaking leaves to be the gods speaking to people. Who can deny the comfort and joy of sitting in the summer shade under a cottonwood or aspen tree, watching the rhythm of nature at its fullest? Visually fulfilling and mentally refreshing, give homage to the life-giving leaves of all the trees in your life!

“...Listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees...” 'Don't Fence Me In,' sung by Gene Autry.

“In the cottonwood by the river,/A mourning dove calls his mate,/He has true love to give her,/But love for me must wait...” 'Bend in the River,' sung by Marty Robbins