Dunn’smuir, California – Less than half a mile from the city boundary of this Northern California railroad town is a natural wonder where locals compare it to the geological features of Yosemite or Yellowstone.
“The most beautiful waterfall I’ve ever seen,” said Stephen Decatur, who works in the city of Dancemuir disaster preparedness. Mayor Dustin Reef agreed, “And I traveled the world.”
Feeded from a glacier on the majestic slopes of Mount Shasta, Mosbre defeats the cascade from a tube of lava, and plunges from a cliff that elops into the Sacramento River with misty etheric curtains, causing rainbows to dance in every direction.
Native tribes have long thought of waterfalls as sacred. A century ago, the South Pacific Railway was a very popular destination as heeled customers disembarked, soaked in beauty, and ran special trains to a place where they could take a sip from the natural spring at the top of the waterfall. And at Dancemere Town Hall, where Mosbre photos adorn the walls, authorities consider it an important tourist attraction for the city’s economic future. Later this spring, the city council is poised to vote for Dancemere to declare California’s “waterfall capital.”
There’s just one problem. Moss Blaze Falls sits less than 2,000 feet from the city of Dancemuir restrictions, but there is no easy or legal way for the public to access watery splendor. And for decades, any attempt to create legal access is based on property rights and rocky shallow waters of lumber bureaucrats.
Mossbrae Falls sits less than 2,000 feet from Dunsmuir City Limits, but there is no easy or legal way for the public to access the splendor of that fog.
(Neil Pritchard/Getty Images)
Anyway, about 30,000 people visit each year, and according to city research, most of them trespass over a mile along the oily train tracks that ring along the Sacramento River. Since 2012, at least two people have been attacked by a train near the waterfall. Others report a horrible near miss.
Social media is full of photos of people slogging along toddlers and dog company trucks carrying picnic gear. And as selfies spread out on Instagram, they are luring more people to trek, officials say it’s scary to have more desperate scrambles to dodge the approaching locomotive that ends with injuries and death.
So, city officials say it’s urgent that they’ve finally found a way to negotiate with private property owners to build short hiking trails from existing city parks to provide a safe and designated route to the waterfalls.
But building trails that are less than a third of their length may seem like a simple task, but those engaged in this effort say what it was.
“We haven’t spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and 30 years on this just because we want a path to this clean place. That’s also a safety issue,” said John Harch, a retired surgeon who is president of the Shasta Trail Mount Trail. And he has made a real fear in trail access for decades.
The problem is, as anyone in Dunsmuir can explain, the land on the east side of the river spilled from the cliff is owned by the Saint Germain Foundation, a religious organization that takes into account waterfalls and does not sacred Mount Shasta, and is not friendly to wandering the public.
The group, also known as the “I Am” movement, was formed in the 1930s. Mining engineer Guy Ballard reported that while hiking on Mount Shasta, he encountered Saint Germain, a spiritual guide who said Ballard had risen to a higher state. Ballard said St. Garmen trained him as a messenger who could lead others to enlightenment.
After Ballard went down Mount Shasta, he and his wife Edna began the foundations of the Chicago area home, dedicated to the principles of cerifenment and self-improvement. After Gai Ballard’s death in 1939, Edna purchased a property near Mount Shasta on the east side of the Sacramento River. Although the number of groups has been declining these days, some followers still live near retreat, and faith supporters and their families come in the summer for spiritual permutations.
Mount Shasta Trail Assn. After years of trying to buy small plots from the foundation, I created a trail from nearby Hedge Creek Falls, which I own from nearby Hedge Creek Falls to Moss Bree. However, the association leader says the foundation never agreed to sell.
Foundation officials did not respond to requests for comment from the Times. In 2022, Sidney Lanier, who then identified the group’s chief financial officer, told SF Gate, “The Foundation believes that pioneers can best protect this site by restricting access, rather than secing natural beauty.”
The land on the other side of the river is owned by the Union Pacific Railway. The trucks adjacent to the river are the main north-south arteries for cargo and Amtrak services twice a day. Long, aged trains meander regularly.
After it became apparent that building a trail through foundation land probably wouldn’t work, supporters explored building a footbridge across the Sacramento River in Hedge Creek Falls and carving the trail along the river below the train.
Railways are not called “no” in concept. But after years of conversation, they also don’t give a clear “yes.”
There are more than dozens of notable waterfalls within an hour’s drive from Dancemuir, including the sparkling veils of Bernie Falls in Shasta County.
(Paul Cloda / Due to the era)
Harch said Mount Shasta Trail has been bequeathed hundreds of thousands of dollars from an anonymous donor who wanted to see access to the waterfall, and has been trying to negotiate with the railway for years. However, he said the railway authorities would seek proposals and spend months reviewing them and asking for more research. “Or they say, ‘Oh, there’s a new guy [responsible for that]and you have to try again,” Harch said.
At one point, Union Pacific employees revealed that the vast land ownership of the nation has owned property in hundreds of areas that the public wants to access and are wary of setting precedents, he said.
In an emailed statement, the railway said: “Union Pacific has been working closely with key stakeholders over the years, exploring ways to resolve trespassing and safety issues related to Moss Bray Falls, and working with the City of Dancemuir and the Mount Shasta Trail Association to find solutions that address everyone’s concerns.”
Recently, Dunsmuir city officials have taken the lead in trail efforts.
City Councilman Matthew Bryan, who accessed the fall, said he believes that while it has become an important part of his agenda, the city and the Union Pacific will ultimately be able to do so. As a government agency, the city can negotiate with the railroads more than nonprofits, he said.
“I have high hopes,” he said.
For now, the authorities have received “conceptual approval” from the railways. In a statement, Union Pacific officials said they “will stand to consider the city’s design plans to ensure that they meet our safety and engineering standards.”
Still, even small trails like this cost more money than the small city where Dancemuir sits. Mayor Rief said the engineering alone could cost $2 million, even before construction begins. The proposed trail must be designed to cross the Sacramento River, under train tracks, and north at grades, allowing access to people of various fitness levels. And there is still a discussion on how to safely separate trails from tracks.
To raise funds for the effort, the city posted a sign last summer to Hedge Creek Falls asking for a public donation. The sign features appetizing photos of Moss Waterfalls, which are not officially accessible, and a QR code that allows people to use their mobile phones. So far, $4,700 has come in, but most are a small increase, Rief said.
If the railway ultimately allows the city to build a trail and that trail actually brings more tourist dollars, many locals say it is poetic justice. After all, this city is completely hidden among the rugged mountains and towering trees. It is also because of the railways that the city almost died decades after its founding in the 1880s.
Long a railroad town, Dancemuir was devastated by the derailment of the train in 1991, with toxic herbicides spilling over the Sacramento River, killing everything underwater for miles.
(George Rose/Getty Images)
“The South Pacific built the town of Dancemuir,” Brian said.
For years, many of the people who lived there were employed by the railway, Brian said, and much of the town’s history was harmonious.
It began to change in the 1960s, Brian said when automation and other changes in the railroad industry meant that there was less work for Dancemere. Then, in the summer of 1991, a catastrophic train derailment just north of town spilled nearly 20,000 gallons of highly toxic herbicide on the Sacramento River. The runoff poisoned the river ecosystem with 40 miles of stretches, killing tens of thousands of fish and all the bugs and vegetation. The contaminated water temporarily involved Dancemuir, releasing toxic gases that have made hundreds of people sick.
For years, the toxins have wiped out the area’s precious trout fisheries. And it exacerbated the economic pain of a region already upset by the cuts in the timber industry.
The South Pacific and three other companies ultimately paid $40 million in compensation for the outflow. Most of them went to the state to cover the costs of cleaning and recovery. The South Pacific separately agreed to pay $14 million to settle claims from residents and businesses that suffered the loss.
The river has been mostly recovering lately, officials said. And while the railways still employ people in the area, the town is leaning more towards tourism and diversifying its economy.
“Dunsmuir is a great base camp to explore the natural beauty of Northern California,” says the city’s visitors’ website. We are proud of the town’s “promising cooking scene” and the good hotel.
Over the past few months, city councils have pointed out that Dancemuir officials are the only city council made up entirely of millennials across California, but are looking to add waterfalls to their marketing packages.
Mayor Michael Clano has more than dozens of notable waterfalls within an hour’s drive from town, including three sets of waterfalls: Hedge Creek Falls, Bernie Falls, Ferry Falls and the MacLeod River.
But the crown jewel that locals say to you is moss.
“This path to Mosbray is part of us who reconnect our community and our economy with the best waters on the planet,” Brian said.
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