Located within the Clear Creek Gorge Overlook is a pavillion containing a number of informative displays, two of which are signs of history of this area. One reads:
Native American in the Clear Creek Watershed
A rich area for Native Americans...
As far back as 14,000 years ago, the Wintu and other Native American Indians lived in the northern Sacramento Valley and surrounding mountains. The Wintu practiced a lifestyle of hunting, fishing and gathering. An abundance of seasonally available plant and animal resources were used for food, clothing and shelter.
Includes the honorable Wintu...
Trading with neighbors was necessary for some items like obsidian and shell beads, improving inter-village relationships and ties with other tribes. The Wintu are a people deeply connected to nature. Land and water are their places of spiritual connection through cerermonies, prayers, songs and dances.
But not all relationships thrived.
Contact with early settlers and explorers exposed the Wintu to disease, which decimated their population. When gold was discovered on Clear Creek in 1848, the native peoples were soon displaced and fell victim to competition for resources from the miners and settlers. Today the remaining Wintu still honor the land of their ancestors and maintain many of their historic traditions and practices.