PLUMAS
Plumas (feathers), is the name of a county in the northeastern part of the state. It is drained by the Feather River, which flows through one of the deepest and most picturesque canyons in California. The county is characterized by its wild and rugged scenery, its deep canyons and extensive forests of evergreen trees. In the northwest corner Lassen Peak, now an active volcano, rises to a height of 10437 feet.
The county derives its name from its principal stream, which now appears under its English form of The Feather, but which was originally named El Río de las Plumas (the river of the feathers), by Captain Luís A. Argüello, who led an exploring party up the valley in 1820, and whose attention was attracted by the great number of feathers of wild fowl floating on the surface of the river. Even to this day the valley of the Feather has remained a favorite haunt of the wild ducks and geese, as will be attested by the many hunters who seek sport there during the season. By an inconsistency, the county has retained the original Spanish name, Plumas, while that of the river has been Americanized. An erroneous and extremely far-fetched explanation of the name has often appeared in print to the effect that it was derived from a fancied resemblance between the spray of the river and a feather.