Battle Rock

The bronze names the cause itself: miners had silted up the fishing waters around Lower Soda Springs. What it calls a fight between settlers and Modoc was fought with Native men on the settlers' side too, led by Weilputus, whom later accounts call a Shasta leader and the father of Reuben Gibson's wife. Gibson's party caught the Modoc in the crags below Battle Rock in June 1855 and killed their leader, Dorcas Dalla. Joaquin Miller took an arrow in the face and later wrote an essay about the fight.

What the plaque says

Battle Rock Battle of the Crags was fought below Battle Rock in June 1855. This conflict between the Modoc Indians and the settlers resulted from miners destroying the native fishing waters in the Lower Soda Springs area. Settlers led by Squire Reuben Gibson and Mountain Joe Doblondy, with local Indians led by their chief Weilputus, engaged Modocs, killed their chief Dorcas Dalla, and dispersed them. Poet Joaquin Miller and other settlers were wounded. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 116 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus, Trinitarianus Chapter #62, July 26, 1984.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Southern's Stage Station — 6.0 mi
• Strawberry Valley Stage Station — 11 mi