For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Big Bend as a census-designated place (CDP).

[3] The Madesi people enjoyed great abundance of food sources, which mainly consisted of acorns, deer, salmon, and other fish from the river.

The Big Bend area is so remote and isolated that the Madesi was one of the last indigenous peoples of California to be invaded and pushed out of their ancestral homeland.

By the 1890s, Big Bend was becoming a small quiet town of white settlers, centered around the hot springs.

Early white settlers built a log hotel with a post office and a saloon just above the main hot springs.

This included engineers, builders, tunnel diggers (around 2000 hard-rock miners), and service workers to the area.

Big Bend saw a "boom and bust" cycle, and the population was declining by the late 1940s, after the dam work was completed.

Although the maintenance of the hydroelectric facilities and a large commercial logging industry still require numerous employees, almost all of the people working in such jobs live outside of Big Bend, contributing further to the population decline.

Before the dams were built, the Pit River hosted the third largest Salmon run on the west coast of the US.

From Big Bend is a striking view of Chalk Mountain (called Too-le-pah-ah-te Ah-ko by the Madesi tribe) which has a natural exposed slide feature of diatomaceous earth.

Another prominent mountain hovering over the town of Big Bend is called Bald Peak (called Ma-how-mah-day Ah-ko by the Madesi tribe), which has dozens of cold water springs, creating numerous creeks that feed into the Pit River, a spring-fed, or a "free stone" river.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 5.8 square miles (15 km2), 98.47% of it land and 1.53% of it water.

[26] Federally, Big Bend is in California's 1st congressional district, represented by Republican Doug LaMalfa.

A highly scenic gravel road follows the Pit River upstream from Big Bend to Highway 89 near McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park.