Drinking Scotched : Park Service Bans Alcohol at 3 Whiskeytown Beaches

WHISKEYTOWN NATIONAL RECREATION AREA, Calif. —  Too many visitors to this National Park Service unit were trying to live up to its name--Whiskeytown.

So, the National Park Service banned drinking at Whiskeytown’s three most popular beaches--Whiskey Creek, Brandy Creek and Oak Bottom.

“Alcoholic Beverages Prohibited” signs were posted at the beaches earlier this year, making this spot the first National Park Service unit in the West where alcohol has been banned, noted Whiskeytown’s chief ranger, Dwayne Collier.

“A bunch of drunks cavorting on beaches using foul language and fighting and causing a high number of traffic accidents while driving under the influence isn’t what people expect in a National Park Service area,” the 38-year-old ranger said.

Posting the no-alcohol signs and strict law enforcement action by rangers have drastically cut down on drinking at Whiskeytown.

Last year at this time there were 72 arrests for drunk driving in the recreation area. This year so far there have been 22 arrests for driving while under the influence.

There were a dozen traffic accidents with serious injuries and one fatality involving intoxicated drivers at Whiskeytown in 1987. This year there was only one traffic accident with a minor injury involving a drunk driver. Drunk and disorderly arrests dropped from 47 to 18.

Banned at Beaches

“Drinking got out of hand,” Collier said. “Whiskeytown was no longer a safe and enjoyable place for visitors. We had to take drastic measures. A small percentage of people were creating the biggest problems. We have returned the recreation area to the vast majority of visitors who come here.”

He noted that although drinking is banned at the three beaches, it is permitted in the rest of the recreation area.

Whiskeytown National Recreation Area is a large park around the shores of 6-mile-long, 2-mile-wide Whiskeytown Lake, a reservoir embraced by mountains and constructed in 1963 to hold the diverted waters of the Trinity River.

It is a popular area for sailing, canoeing, power boating, jet skiing and other water sports, for hiking and horseback riding, with campgrounds able to accommodate several hundred tenters and visitors in recreation vehicles.

The National Recreation Area got its name from Whiskeytown, an 1849 Gold Rush camp now 150 feet under Whiskeytown Lake.

All that is left of Whiskeytown is the Whiskeytown cemetery and the Whiskeytown general store and post office, moved to higher ground above Whiskeytown Lake.

When a gold prospector’s mule slipped and a keg of whiskey fell off the animal and burst open into a creek in 1849, the stream was given the name Whiskey Creek.

The community that grew up along Whiskey Creek became Whiskeytown. Another stream in the area was given the name Brandy Creek.