Similar to recent trends, Siskiyou County in Northern California experienced less rain and warmer winters in the 1920's.
Mount Shasta’s snow pack nearly melted away, and its glaciers began to melt, sending water cascading down the sandy, rocky slopes. Historian Gerald Wetzel says that during the hot summer of 1924, a “damaging flow of water and mud from Konwakaton Glacier and Clear Creek” rumbled down Mud Creek canyon.
The debris filled the canyon with sand, rock, and fallen trees, creating small dams in the narrow canyon and the mountain’s craggy slopes. When the glacier broke through the debris, rocks the size of cars bobbed down raging Mud Creek. Officials closed the road to Mud Creek to keep spectators away.
Floodwaters swept over McCloud’s water-supply springs, requiring drinking water to be shipped into the town. Three feet of water and debris roared across the railroad track and the Sacramento River, coming to rest 60 to 70 yards up the opposite bank.
The return of winter’s cooler temperatures finally halted the flow.
Source: Wetzel, Gerald. "Mud Creek in Action..." Siskiyou Pioneer, The 3.7 (1953): 9. Print.
