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Willow Lake, in the Big Butte Creek watershed, and Mount McLoughlin

Big Butte Creek is a 12-mile-long (19 km) tributary of the Rogue River located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It drains approximately 245 square miles (630 km²) of Jackson County. The north fork of the creek begins on Rustler Peak and the south fork's headwaters are near Mount McLoughlin (pictured). They meet near Butte Falls, and Big Butte Creek flows generally northwest until it empties into the Rogue River about 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of Lost Creek Dam (William L. Jess Dam). Big Butte Creek's watershed was originally settled more than 8,000 years ago by the Klamath, Upper Umpqua, and Takelma tribes of Native Americans. In the Rogue River Wars of the 1850s, most of the Native Americans were either killed or forced into Indian reservations. The first non-indigenous settlers arrived in the 1860s, and the area was quickly developed. The creek was named after Snowy Butte, an early name for Mount McLoughlin. The small city of Butte Falls was incorporated in 1911. (Full article...)