Yreka, the name of the county-seat of Siskiyou County, is an Indian word, of which the spelling has probably been corrupted, perhaps in a spirit of facetiousness, from the original Wai-ri-ka to its present eccentric form. Various theories have been offered in explanation of the word, but the only one apparently based on scientific data seems to be that it means “north place.” One writer advances the whimsical explanation that the word was formed by the transposition of the letters in “bakery,” but fails to explain what becomes of the letter “b.” This is, of course, but an idle invention.
Yreka is said by Powers, in his Tribes of California, to be the Indian word for “mountain,” especially applied to Mt. Shasta. Its former spelling was Wai-ri-ka. Here is a contradiction between scientists.
SUPPLEMENTARY LIST
Agua Caliente (hot water, hot springs), a village in Sonoma County, forty-five miles north of San Francisco.
Altúras (heights), the county-seat of Modoc County, 110 miles north of Reno.
Point Arena (sandy point), is the name of the cape on the Mendocino coast, and of the village in that county, 110 miles northwest of San Francisco.
Bodega (a surname), that of its discoverer, Don Juan de la Bodega y Quadra, Captain of the schooner Sonora, who sailed into Bodega Bay October 3, 1775. This bay, and the town of Bodega Roads are in Sonoma County, about sixty-four miles northwest of San Francisco.
Point Cabrillo (a surname), that of the celebrated Spanish explorer, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo.
Calistoga, one of those hybrid words of which California has too many. This word was the invention of Samuel Brannan, an early settler, and is compounded of the first syllable of California and the last of Saratoga. It is given here lest it be mistaken for Indian or Spanish.