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      This file contains a random assortment of entries about Klamath County and certain surrounding areas.
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      Last update: May 16, 2011.

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The A Canal is the main conduit of irrigation water for about 180,000 acres of land, including two national wildlife refuges, in the Klamath Reclamation Project.

The canal, constructed in 1906 mostly with horse-drawn scrapers, can carry up to 1,150 cubic feet of water per second. The first delivery of water occurred in 1907. The canal is nine miles long and, in most sections, is 60 feet wide and 8 feet deep.

The head of the canal is located near the Upper Klamath Lake outlet for the Link River. The canal winds its way through the city of the Klamath Falls and the South Suburbs. One of the city's main bike paths follows its course from Esplanade Avenue to Homedale Road.

Numerous drownings have occurred in the canal, particularly before a fence was erected along the south bank of the canal to prevent children from falling into the water.

Klamath Falls' two largest high schools, Klamath Union and Mazama, are built along its banks, hence the origins of the name, the Canal Bowl, for the annual football game played between the two schools.

The canal was shut down for much of the 2001 irrigation season as the government conserved water to protect endangered suckers and threatened coho salmon. The headgates of the canal became the site of a summer-long protest by irrigators and farm supporters, and was guarded by federal agents from July 14 until Sept. 12, the day after the terrorist attacks.

Algae

Three types of algae found in the Upper Klamath Basin have gained notoriety.

Upper Klamath Lake, being shallow and rich in nutrients, produces massive algae blooms annually. At one time, algae growth in the lake included several species in a relative balance. But by the mid-20th Century, Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA), a type of blue-green algae, became the dominant algae species, particularly during summer months. AFA is harvested by a number of companies and processed as a diet supplement or health product.

Another blue-green algae, Microcystis aeruginosa, is also present in Upper Klamath and Agency lakes. Microcystis produces a toxin as it decays, and has been known to kill animals that drank water containing the toxin. Following an unusually large bloom of microcystis in Agency Lake in 1996, the Oregon Health Division issued an advisory for people to avoid contact with water from Agency and Upper Klamath lakes. No harm to humans or animals was noted, and the advisory was eventually lifted. The Oregon Department of Agriculture has adopted a health standard for blue-green algae food products that allows no more than 1 part of microcystins per million parts of AFA.

Mare's eggs is the common name given to another type of blue-green algae, Nostoc pruniforme, found in the Upper Klamath Basin. The very rare algae grow in round or oblong colonies up to 10 inches wide. They can be viewed at Mare's Egg Spring along the Westside Road, north of Rocky Point.

Algoma

The townsite eight miles north of Klamath Falls was originally called Melhase after a pioneer family in the area. In 1912, owners of the Algoma Lumber Co. purchased the old Campbell sawmill at the site and renamed the community Algoma.

In 1940, at the peak of the community's growth, the town had a population of 400 served by a post office, general store and three-room schoolhouse. The mill closed in the early 1940s.

Source: History of Klamath County Oregon, Rachel Applegate Good, p135.

Altamont

The community was founded in 1895 about two and a half miles east of Klamath Falls, and was reportedly named after a famous race horse. Although it was never incorpoated, Altamont had its own post office and was for many years considered a separate city from Klamath Falls, appearing as such on highway maps.

Altamont School

The school located at 2450 Summers Lane in the south suburbs of Klamath Falls opened in 1926, with grades 1 through 7. It bears the name of the community that once had its own post office about two and a half miles southeast of downtown Klamath Falls. The school was closed in June 2009 as the result of a realignment of school district boundaries. The Triad School, a private Christian school, relocated to the building in the fall of 2009.

Amtrak

Amtrak provides daily rail passenger service to Klamath Falls via the Coast Starlight, a train running between Seattle and Los Angeles with a diner, sleeper cars, observation cars and coaches.

The northbound Coast Starlight leaves Klamath Falls at 8:25 a.m., while the southbound trains reach town around 9:30 p.m.

Amtrak began serving Klamath Falls in May 1971, after Southern Pacific discontinued its Cascade passenger line.

Klamath Falls' historic, stone-facade railroad depot, 1600 Oak Ave., dates from the 1900s and continues to serve Amtrak as it did Southern Pacific passenger trains from the time they first arrived in the city in 1909.

The Applegate Trail was a southern cutoff of the Oregon Trail that traversed parts of Modoc, Klamath, Lake and Jackson counties on the route to the Willamette Valley.

The route was blazed from west to east in 1846 by Jesse and Lindsay Applegate, pioneers on the original main trail a few years earlier. The Applegates were motivated to try another route because they had lost several close relatives to drowning as a result of a rafting accident in a rapids on the Columbia River portion of the route in 1843.

Applegate and his brother plotted a route from Fort Hall in present-day Idaho through Nevada’s Black Rock Desert and into Southern Oregon.

Although the Columbia River was avoided, the Applegate Trail held its own hardships and dangers - particularly on the final leg along the Umpqua River and over the surrounding mountains and forests.

The harshness of the trail’s final leg embittered one of its first travelers, Jesse Thornton, a future political leader in Oregon. The experience made Thornton the Applegates’ abiding enemy.

The Applegate Trail route crosses Highway 97 at the Oregon-California border south of Klamath Falls, at the site of the Francis Landrum Wayside.

The Upper Klamath Basin supports the largest wintering concentration of bald eagles in the lower 48 states. Up to 1,000 birds gather in the Basin during winter months, with numbers peaking in February.

A ponderosa pine tree was flown by helicopter from Weyerhaeuser Co. lands near Howard Bay to the west shore of Lake Ewauna on Nov. 30, 1994, to serve as a perch for eagles. The tree replaced a tripod made of wooden poles, which had been erected on Dec. 18, 1971, to replace several poplar (cottonwood) trees that once grew on the lakeshore.

A bald eagle conference was held each February for 25 years at Oregon Institute of Technology. It was succeeded by the WinterWings bird festival.

Bear Valley National Wildlife Refuge, located about 12 miles southwest of Klamath Falls, was etablished in 1978 to preserve a section of forest where bald eagles gather during winter months to roost overnight. Eagles flying out from the roost may be viewed from a county road southwest of Worden.

The Baldwin Hotel, 31 Main St., was completed in 1906 as a hardware store with apartments and offices above it. It was converted to a hotel in 1911.

The building’s foundation is a carved “stairstep” from solid basalt, a feature that served it well and possibly saved it from the 1993 earthquakes that wrecked the nearby courthouse and vintage Stevens Hotel. The Baldwin’s bricks were manufactured locally.

The hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

The Baldwin Hotel was purchased by Klamath County in 1978, and now serves as a museum, open mainly during the summer. Group tours may be scheduled at other times of the year.

The Balsiger Ford Building at the corner of Main Street and Esplanade Avenue was built by Elmer Balsiger in 1929 as an auto dealership. Elmer Balsiger's son, Mike Balsiger, sold the building in 1995.

It was recognized by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art as one of the finest examples of Egyptian Revival architecture in the United States.

The building served for several years during the 1990s as headquarters for Cell Tech, an algae marketing company, until the firm moved its administrative offices.

In later years it was renovated as an event facility and renamed the Egyptian Plaza.

Heavy snow caused the roof over the center section of the Balsiger building to collapse on Feb. 4, 2008.

Established in 1978 to protect a major winter night roost site for bald eagles, the Bear Valley National Wildlife Refuge is one of six such areas that make up the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge complex. In some years, up to 300 eagles have been seen using the refuge's large stands of old-growth timber on winter nights.

The 4,200-acre refuge is located between Keno and Worden. It is the only national wildlife refuge on which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has approved a logging program, the purpose of which is to protect old-growth pine trees.

The town located 40 miles east of Klamath Falls was named after J.L. Beatty, a pastor who served the area and secured a post office for the community in 1914.

The community located 50 miles east of Klamath Falls dates to 1883. Its name is taken from the Klamath Indian world "Blydell," meaning "heaven." Crane Lumber Co. established a sawmill in Bly in 1931, and employed as many as 140 people. Later, Weyerhaeuser Co. operated a stud mill in Bly.

Source: History of Klamath County Oregon, Rachel Applegate Good, p132.

Nicknamed the "Cloverleaf City" because of its location the junction of Langell, Yonna and Poe valleys, the town was founded in 1876 by J.P. Roberts.

Bonanza Consolidated School opened in 1947, replacing the town's original school that opened in 1907 and the previous high school that burned down in 1943.

The school on Homedale Road was dedicated Nov. 27, 1973. It is named for Isabelle (Brixner) Borgman, who worked as an educator in Klamath County from 1924 to 1967. For the last 27 years of her career she was supervisor of elementary schools for the Klamath County School District.

The following buildings and sites in Klamath County are listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

● Fort Klamath site, established 1863, listed in 1971.

● Warren Mills House, 123 High St., built in 1890, listed in 1993.

● Judge Henry L. Benson house, 137 High St., built in 1892, listed in 1981.

● Baldwin Hotel, 31 Main St., built in 1905, listed in 1973.

● Fred Goeller house, 234 Riverside Drive, built in 1905, listed in 1998.

● Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, established 1908, listed in 1966.

● Richardson-Ulrich house, 636 Conger Ave., built in 1909, listed in 1988.

● Point Comfort Lodge, 27505 Rocky Point Road, built in 1911, listed in 1979.

● Blackburn Sanitarium, 1842 Esplanade, built in 1912, listed in 1996.

● Klamath Falls City Hall, 226 S. Fifth St., built in 1914, listed in 1989.

● Valley Hospital, 405 Pine St., built in 1919, listed in 1988.

● Crater Lake Lodge, built in 1924, listed in 1981.

● Klamath Falls City Library (now administration building), 500 Klamath Ave., built in 1926, listed in 1989.

● Comfort station No. 72, located behind cafeteria at Rim Village in Crater Lake National Park, built in 1930, listed in 1988.

● Forest Service work center, Highway 140 at Lake of the Woods, built in 1930, listed in 1986.

● Oregon Bank Building (Medical-Dental Building), built in 1930, listed in 1987.

● Sinnott Memorial Building, Crater Lake National Park, built in 1931, listed in 1988.

● Watchman Lookout Station, Crater Lake National Park, built in 1932, listed in 1988.

● Comfort station No. 68 (also known as Plaza comfort station, still in use at Rim Village), Crater Lake National Park, built 1938, listed in 1988.

● Bly Ranger Station, built in 1942, listed in 1981.

● Munson Valley Historic District, 18 buildings at Crater Lake National Park headquarters, listed in 1988.

The Bureau of Land Management’s Klamath Falls Resource Area includes 212,000 acres of federal land, including 51,000 acres west of Highway 97 and 161,000 acres east of the highway.

The Klamath Falls Resource Area is part of the 3.5-million-acre Lakeview BLM District, with headquarters in Lakeview.

The federal agency manages the 240,000-acre Klamath Reclamation Project, which was established in 1905. The Klamath Project is part of the agency’s Mid-Pacific Region based in Sacramento.

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Well-known cats in Klamath Falls have included Bob Coaltrain, a feline that resided at the Southern Pacific depot in Klamath Falls. He was eventually forced to leave in June 1995 by order of railroad officials.

Boris the cat, born Feb. 22, 1992, was adopted from a pet shelter by the Klamath County Library staff in November 1997. County officials ordered the cat to be removed, however, after some patrons complained of allergies to cats. In March 1999, Boris took up residence at the Herald and News. He retired from the newspaper in December 2005, moving to the home of Don and Helen DerMiner, where he lived until his death in January 2009.

The harvester and distributor of the blue-green algae started in Klamath Falls in 1982. Founders of the company were Daryl and Marta Kollman. It became a publicly traded company in 1999 following a merger with HumaScan, a Pennsylvania-based company that formerly offered breast disease detection services. Cell Tech ceased filing reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2004. The company now operates under the name Simplexity Health.

Named for a Klamath Indian chief who signed the tribe's 1964 treaty, the town of Chemult was established in 1929 by Gideon and Nellie Palmer.

Palmer in 1927 had built a store and post office at the site, next to siding on the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Today the town serves as the primary Amtrak stop for Central Oregon, as the passenger line goes northwest from Chemult into the Wilammette Valley, and south to Klamath Falls.

Source: Oregon Geographic Names, Lewis McArthur; Illustrated History of Early Northern Klamath County, Edward Gray.

The town takes its name from a Klamath Indian, Chay-lo-quin, who was chief of an Indian village known as Bosuck Siwas. The Southern Pacific Railroad reached the townsite in 1911, and a post office was established in 1912. The first charter for the city of Chiloquin was adopted on Oct. 12, 1926.

Source: History of Klamath County, by Rachel Applegate Good.

Located on the Sprague River, the dam served the Modoc Point Irrigation District. The dam was constructed from 1914 to 1918.

The dam was considered an object of contention because it blocked fish passage on the Sprague River. Although there was a fish ladder on the dam, endangered suckers could not navigate its swift current.

Removal of the dam was completed on Aug. 20, 2008. A pump station was installed on the Williamson River to supply water to the Modoc Point Irrigation District, which formerly received its water from a diversion at Chiloquin Dam.

A natural lake formerly surrounded by wetlands, the lake now serves as a principal water control facility in the Klamath Reclamation Project.

The lake is the source of Lost River, which flows north from the Lake into Oregon before looping west and south to enter California again. The river's terminus is Tule Lake, which lies only a few miles west of Clear Lake.

An earth-and-rockfill dam 29 feet high and 840 feet long was constructed between 1908 and 1910, and raised by 3 feet in 1938. Construction of a new dam began in 2001, and was completed in 2002.

Some water is released from Clear Lake to provide irrigation of farmland in the Langell Valley and Horsefly irrigation districts near Bonanza.

The Clear Lake National Wildlife Refuge, which takes in all of the lake and shoreline, is one of only two remaining nesting sites for white pelicans in California.

The Klamath Cogeneration Plant began generating power at its full capacity of 500 megawatts on July 21, 2001. The natural gas-fired plant was constructed by Black & Veatch.

Originally owned by the city of Klamath Falls, the plant is now owned by Iberdrola Renewables, an international corporation based in Spain with North American operations based in Portland. The Klamath Cogeneration Plant operates under the name Pacific Klamath Energy Inc.

The term cogeneration signifies that two products - electricity and steam - are produced. Steam from the plant is used at the nearby Collins Products plant. Effluent from the city's wastewater treatment plant is used as coolant for the cogeneration plant.

Collier Memorial State Park and Logging Museum is located about 30 miles north of Klamath Falls on Highway 97 near Chiloquin.

The logging museum, established in 1948, features an extensive collection of early logging and milling equipment and authentic pioneer cabins. It is also the site of the annual Living History Days in June. There is no admission fee.

The state park offers picnicking and camping at the confluence of the Williamson River and Spring Creek. Both streams are popular for trout fishing.

Alfred and Andrew Collier donated 146 acres of land in 1945 for creation of the park in memory of their parents, Charles and Janet Collier. The park has since been expanded to 856 acres.

The subsidiary of Portland-based Collins Pine Co. acquired the former Weyerhaeuser Co. facilities in Klamath Falls on Aug. 31, 1996.

The company closed the plywood plant in October 2000. The plant had opened in 1971. Collins continues to manufacture hardboard siding and particle board at the plant.

Collins Pine Co. has been owned by the same family since 1855.

The company based in Greensboro, N.C., traces its roots to the establishment of Klamath Hardwoods in Klamath Falls in 1957. It now operates several plants, mostly in the eastern United States. The plant in Klamath Falls manufactures plywood with an outside veneer of hardwood. As of 2010, the company stated it had about 2,000 employees.

Source: company statement.

Conger Elementary School in Klamath Falls is named for Joseph Conger (1831-1908). The native of Indiana came to Oregon in 1853, and to Linkville in 1873. He purchased property on what is now called Conger Avenue, where he was engaged in raising fruit and buying furs. He never married.

Money he left to Klamath County School District No. 1 was used to purchase land for an elementary school.

Conger Elementary School was built in 1929, and has been expanded several times. A new gymnasium was opened in 1948.

The school sustained heavy damage in a fire on Jan. 24, 1973. A faulty electrical conduit was determined to be the cause of the blaze. The school remained closed until September of that year.

Source: Evening Herald, Feb. 1-2, 1908; Klamath Falls City Schools district

The company opened in 1919 under the name Klamath Heating Company. It supplied heat to several businesses in downtown Klamath Falls. Sawdust from local sawmills – usually referred to as “hog fuel” -- was burned to generate steam. New and larger boilers were installed in the fall of 1930. It went out of service in July 1970. The facility was purchased by Modoc Lumber Co. for $112,000 and used to produce steam for lumber kilns, allowing the sawmill to shut down its wigwam burner.

Source: Evening Herald, June 9, 1919; Oct. 25, 1930.

Formerly a portion of Tule Lake, Coppock Bay was named after M.L. Coppock, who homesteaded in 1898 on a penisula between the bay and the lake. Water in the bay was said to be from 16 to 20 feet deep, depending on the lake level. The area, generally located south of Newell in Modoc County, is now used for growing hay, potatoes and grain.

The community located 90 miles north of Klamath Falls was established in 1901, and was originally named Odell after the nearby lake. The lake, in turn, was named in 1865 after William H. Odell, who explored the area for a military route.

Since another community in Oregon had already claimed the name Odell, the Klamath County town was renamed Crescent, after another nearby lake.

Source: Oregon Geographic Names, by Lewis McArthur.

Noble Faulder, a native of New Zealand, was hanged at the state penitentiary in Salem on Dec. 13, 1912, for a murder committed at a logging camp near Chiloquin in August 1911. Faulder had been found guilty in the murder of the camp cook over a dispute about a dog.

Two General Motors executives -- Charles Patrick Culhane and Albert Marston Jones -- were found murdered at Crater Lake National Park on July 21, 1952. The FBI investigated, but was never able to solve the crime.

Welfare Commissioner Fred Peterson was shot and killed by a disgruntled county welfare client on Jan. 7, 1957, at the Klamath County Courthouse. Peterson, 76 at the time of the shooting, was superintendent of schools in Klamath County from 1925 to 1949. Peterson Elementary School is named for him. Injured in the shooting was Altha Urquhart, director of the county's welfare program, and County Commissioner Jerry Rajnus. Charged in the shooting was Guy E. Cramer. He was committed to a mental institution.

Escaped convict Larry "Brownie" Atkinson died in the Klamath County Jail while awaiting trial for murder. Atkinson had been serving a two-year prison for assault and battery when he escaped from prison in October 1966. He was named a suspect in the death of his mother-in-law, who was found murdered in her cabin near Rocky Point in November 1966. Atkinson was captured after being wounded during a shootout with authorities near Kiger Stadium on Nov. 11, 1966. He was found dead in his cell at the county jail on Jan 3, 1968. An autopsy showed he died of heart failure.

The biggest mass murder ever to take place in Oregon occurred in Klamath Falls on July 23, 1977, when Dewitt Henry shot and killed six people outside the Uncle Albert restaurant on South Sixth Street near Madison Street. Killed were Robert David Seater, 26; Carol Ann Seater, 23; Andrew Walker, 22; Gary Lee Anderson, 27; James L. Trueman, 25; and Michael G. Mortenson. Henry, 26 at the time of the killings, was convicted in the murders on Nov. 9 1979, and sentenced to life in prison. As of 2011, Henry is being held at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario.

Four senior-citizen residents of Dorris were found dead in their homes on March 4, 1982. Daniel Otto Thamisch of Dorris, after being shot during a traffic stop in Klamath Falls later that year, admitted to the killings. As of 2011, Thamisch is being held at the Kern Valley State Prison in Delano, Calif.

Oregon State Police Senior Trooper Bret Clodfelter was shot and killed Sept. 30, 1992, while on duty in Klamath Falls. Francisco Manzo-Hernandez, 28 at the time, was convicted in the murder and sentenced to life in prison in February 1995. As of 2011, he is being held at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario.

The Portland-based company founded in 1988 acquired Gilchrist Timber Co., including the sawmill, timberlands and company-owned town, in September 1991. The company sold off properties connected with the town.

Crown Pacific went bankrupt in 2003.

The unincorporated community located about 20 miles east of Klamath Falls was named by William Roberts, who inhabited the area as early as 1865.

Source: Oregon Geographic Names, by Lewis McArthur.

A series of earthquakes struck the Klamath Basin in September and December 1993, causing moderate to severe damage to a number of downtown buildings in Klamath Falls, including the Klamath County Courthouse.

The first main shock occurred at 8:28 p.m. Sept. 20, 1993, and registered 5.9. A second quake that evening occurred at 10:45 p.m., and registered 6.0. A significant aftershock registering 5.1 occurred Dec. 4, 1993. The temblors' originated from a medium-depth fault along the west side of Upper Klamath Lake, about 15 miles west-northwest of Klamath Falls.

Although the geological record and early settlers' accounts indicate stronger tremors have occurred in the state’s past, the 1993 event was the strongest earthquake observed in Oregon since the advent of scientific seismic equipment.

Two deaths were attributed to the first shocks on the evening of Sept. 20, 1993. Overall property damages were estimated in the millions of dollars.

Earlier reports of earthquakes in Southern Oregon include an account by Lt. Col. Frank Wheaton, commander at Fort Klamath, of a temblor that rattled dishes and disjointed stovepipes on Nov. 22, 1873.

A series of earthquakes occurred near Adel from May 24 to June 24, 1968. The strongest quake registered 5.1, while 13 shocks registered higher than 4.2. One quake, centered about 5 miles north of Adel with a magnitude of 4.7, resulted in minor damage to nearly every home in the town.

An earthquake registering 4.6 occurred about nine miles south of Tennant, Calif., on Aug. 1, 1978.

A magnitude 3.8 earthquake on April 28, 1999, was centered about 15.5 miles east-southeast of Christmas Valley. No damage was reported.

Sources: Earthquakes and Volcanoes, Vol. 24, No. 3, 1993, U.S. Geological Survey; Olaf Hagen, Modoc War Correspondence and Documents 1865-1878, p. 1,375.

Klamath Falls Elks Lodge No. 1247 built its first lodge at 305 Main Street around 1910. That building is now part of the Klamath County Government Center.

The Elks opened a new lodge off West Oregon Avenue in September 1967. That building was destroyed by a fire on Nov. 5, 1996.

The Elks Lodge is now quartered at 601 Main St. in a building that formerly served as a bank. The lodge purchased the building in June 1999, and after extensive renovation it opened in June 2000.

Engine No. 2579, a Southern Pacific oil-burning steam locomotive, has been displayed at Veterans Park in Klamath Falls since 1957. A dedication ceremony at the park was held Sept. 28, 1957.

A plan to remove the engine from the park was abandoned in March 1970.

Fairhaven Elementary School

The school located at 5400 Highway 66 opened in January 1929, and consolidated smaller elementary schools located southwest of Klamath Falls, including the Plevna School. The school closed in June 2009.

Fairview Elementary School

Fairview Elementary School, 1017 Donald St., was Klamath Falls' third elementary school. It was constructed on the former site of Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

Built in 1920, the original structure had six classrooms and served students in grades 1 through 8. Alice Blackford was the first principal, and J.P. Wells was the first superintendent.

An auditorium was added to the school in 1928, and a gymnasium in 1931.

Source: Klamath Falls City Schools district.

Falcon Heights

The housing development along Old Midland Road was developed in 1958 to serve military families connected to Kingsley Field. A contest to name the development was held in 1959; Don Stastny of Malin submitted the winning entry of “Falcon Heights.”

Falcon Heights elementary school was dedicated Feb. 3, 1961. The school now serves as the administrative headquarters for the Klamath County School District.

The development with 290 housing units was idled when the Air Force closed Kingsley Field in 1979. SoCO Development obtained the 118-acre property in 1997 and began renovating the homes for sale to private owners.

The city of Klamath Falls takes the latter part of its name from a series of small waterfalls on the Link River. The falls were more pronounced before a series of diversions and stream channel alterations took place between 1877 and 1924.

The Link River's rapids and falls remain impressive during the spring runoff, particularly when water is being released from Upper Klamath Lake.

A remnant of the falls can be viewed from the Link River Trail that runs along the west side of the river.

The Favell Museum of Western Art and Indian Artifacts in downtown Klamath Falls features Indian artifacts, including pottery and baskets, and the largest collection of miniature firearms in the world, plus more than 800 works of art by 300 contemporary Western and wildlife artists.

The museum, founded by Gene Favell, opened April 16, 1972.

Mr Favell died July 13, 2001.

The museum also houses a gift shop. Regular hours: 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Admission fee to museum, no fee to gift shop and gallery. 125 West Main St., at Riverside Drive. Information: 882-9996.

Notable fires include the following:

Linkville's "big fire" destroyed nearly the entire business district on both sides of Main Street on Sept. 6, 1889. Damage was estimated at $50,000.

The Grand Central block of Linkville was destroyed by fire on April 8, 1892. Leveled were a general store, hotel, barber shop and saloon, with total damage estimated at $30,000 to $50,000.

The deadliest fire in Oregon history occurred on Christmas Eve 1894 in Silver Lake, when 43 people were killed in a fire at J.H. Clayton Hall above the Chrisman Store. Forty people died at the scene of the fire. Three more died later from burn injuries.

A fire destroyed 27 buildings in downtown Alturas in October 1905.

The Long Lake Lumber Co. mill at Keno was destroyed by fire in March 1908.

The mill town of Pokegama, an important stage stop located about 25 miles southwest of Klamath Falls, was destroyed by fire in September 1908.

The Hotel Picard in Dorris was destroyed by fire on Sept. 7, 1909.

Several homes and businesses in New Pine Creek were destroyed by fire Oct. 22, 1911. Thirty-four animals tied up in stalls died in the blaze.

The deadliest fire in Klamath County history occurred on Labor Day, Sept. 6, 1920, when at least nine people die in the Houston Hotel fire. The Houston Opera House, the city's first theater, is also destroyed in the blaze. The buildings were located on opposite sides of Main Street, near its intersection with Second Street.

   The Long Pine Lumber Co. sawmill in Bonanza was destroyed by fire July 8,
1926. The mill had been in operation for five weeks when the fire occurred.

The White Pelican Hotel, built in 1911 at the intersection of Main and Esplanade in Klamath Falls, burned down on Oct. 16, 1926.

The business district of Bonanza was destroyed by fire on May 20, 1930. Lost were the blacksmith shop, bank, post office, a restaurant and a general merchandise store.

Fire destroyed the wooden grandstands at the Klamath County Fairgrounds on Nov. 6, 1933.

A fire on July 28, 1934, destroyed the Associated Lumber and Box Co. in Dorris, and spread through two-thirds of the town's business district. The total loss was estimated at $350,000. Forty families had their homes destroyed or damaged. About 150 mill workers were idled.

Fire destroyed the Crater Lake Box and Lumber factory in Sprague River on Sept. 26, 1937.

More than $5 million worth of damage resulted from a fire at the Weyerhaeuser plywood plant in Klamath Falls on Nov. 3, 1970. The plant was under construction at the time. The cause was not determined.

The 70-year-old First Baptist Church at Eighth and Washington streets in Klamath Falls was destroyed by a fire on Sunday afternoon, Sept. 26, 1971.

Conger Elementary School sustained heavy damage in a fire on Jan. 24, 1973. A faulty electrical conduit was determined to be the cause of the blaze.

The "Orindale" fire burned one home, several outbuildings and about 160 acres of timber along Lakeshore Drive, Aug. 19, 1973.

Sturdi-Craft Inc., 2742 Homedale Road, was destroyed by fire Aug. 31, 1973.

Albers Feed Supply Co. was destroyed by a fire on Dec. 6, 1974. The grain milling facility was located at 1537 South Sixth St.

Two lumber yards in Klamath Falls burned in arson-caused fires on Aug. 15, 1975. Destroyed were Home Lumber & Supply Co. at 2384 S. Sixth St., and J.W. Copeland Lumber Yards at 1940 S. Sixth St. Charged with arson in both cases was Michael Debruler of Klamath Falls.

Several buildings in Paisley were destroyed by fire on Oct. 20, 1977. Among structures lost were the fire hall, Masonic Lodge and Veterans of Foreign Wars hall. The fire started in the abandoned Chewaucan Hotel.

Several buildings on Klamath Avenue were destroyed by a fire on Sept. 28, 1988. The fire began in the alley behind Fashion Cleaners at 623 Klamath Ave., and destroyed that business along with the Seventh Street Landing, George McMahan's Pioneer Restaurant and Gallery, and Scott Loan Co.

The Lone Pine fire burned about 30,000 acres 15 miles east of Chiloquin in August 1992. About 100 million board feet of timber was salvaged from the fire area.

A late-night fire destroyed the Klamath Falls Elks Lodge on Nov. 5, 1996.

First Baptist Church in Klamath Falls traces its roots to a congregation that first met in Poe Valley in 1884.  The group moved to Klamath Falls in 1900.

The church building at the corner of 10th and High streets was dedicated Dec. 22, 1929. It replaced an earlier wooden structure.

The First National Bank building, 601 Main St., was built in 1930. It is an excellent example of art deco, eclectic architecture in unglazed terra cotta. Wells Fargo Bank, which acquired First Interstate Bank, operated in the building until July 24, 1998. The Klamath Falls Elks Lodge acquired the building in June 1999, and opened the structure in June 2000.

The first church organized in Linkville was First Presbyterian Church, organized in February 1880. The congregation dedicated its first building at 219 Pine St. on Nov. 15, 1885.

The congregation in 1919 acquired property at the corner of Sixth and Pine streets for a new building. The sanctuary currently in use as of this writing (May 2007) was built in 1955-56.

The federal agency manages nine national wildlife refuges in the Klamath Region:

● Bear Valley, 3,424 acres, established 1978.

● Clear Lake, 33,440 acres, est. 1911.

● Upper Klamath, 14,947 acres, est. 1928.

The 200-foot-tall flagpole in Dorris, erected in 1996, was believed to be the tallest in America at the time. The pole has a diameter of 36 inches at the base and has eight graduated sections, with top section being 12.75 inches in diameter. Funding for the project was raised by the Dorris Lions Club.

A 308-foot-tall flagpole erected in 2002 in Laredo, Texas, holds the distinction of being the tallest flagpole in America.

The 136-foot-tall flagpole on Front Street in Merrill was dedicated on March 16, 1984. It memorializes American prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action, and their families. The flagpole project was conceived by the Merrill Lions Club. Ed O'Neill served as the project chairman. Project sponsors included the Legion Post No. 84, and the Tulelake American Legion Auxiliary.

Klamath County's first military outpost was established in 1860 in the Spencer Creek area west of Keno. It was formed by a detachment sent from Fort Umpqua and led by Lt. Lorenzo Lorain. The fort operated for only a few months, and was named for Lt. Edward H. Day, who died at Fort Umpqua on Jan. 2, 1860.

 Source: Herald and News, April 9, 1949.

Established in 1863 during the Civil War for Oregon volunteer infantry and cavalry units, the fort later became home to the regular U.S. 1st Cavalry companies that were the first troops to fight in the 1872-73 Modoc War.

Four Modoc Indians – Captain Jack, Schonchin John, Black Jim and Boston Charley – were hanged at the fort on Oct. 3, 1873, for their part in the war and the killing of the lead government peace commissioner, Gen. Edward Canby.

The fort was closed in 1889 and the Army abandoned the property in 1890. The land entered into private ownership.

In 1966 Klamath County purchased six acres from the Zumbrum family, which donated another two acres to make up a museum park that included much of the parade grounds and several building sites.

A log cabin constructed on the museum grounds in 1969 was destroyed by fire in 2001. A new building, fashioned after and built on the site of the original fort guardhouse, now serves as the principal museum facility.

The fort site was added to the National Register of Historic Places on Oct. 7, 1971.

Settlement in the town of Fort Klamath, sometimes referred to as the "new fort," began it 1885. The townsite was formally platted in 1902.

John C. Fremont, American explorer, soldier, secret agent and political activist, first explored Lake and Klamath counties in 1843.

He visited Klamath County again in May 1846. Coming north from California, he circled Upper Klamath Lake. In was on this journey that his party was attacked by Indians on the southwest shore of Upper Klamath Lake. Three members of his party were killed, including a man by the name of Denny, for whom a nearby creek was named.

The school, located at 715 High Street, was constructed in 1925-26, and closed in June 1970, when Ponderosa Junior High School opened. The building was sold in February 1972 to First Baptist Church, which continues to use the structure as its educational wing.

 Source: Klamath Falls City Schools district; Herald and News, Feb. 1, 1972.

The abundance of snakes in Linkville's early days is well-known. But few people realize the town's residents also endured plagues of frogs.

"I have seen these tiny fellows so thick on the sidewalk it was impossible to walk without crunching some," Ida Odell wrote in the 1964 edition of Klamath Echoes. "The late Marie McMillan, whose mother was the owner of the Lakeside Inn, tells of carrying a broom with her to sweep a path through them."

"The paving of Main Street in 1910 and later paving of Pine Street, closing the Ankeny Canal, ended the era of watersnakes and frogs."

A Klamath Falls city ordinance effective Nov. 14, 1973, prohibits having more than two garage sales per year at any residence. Also, sales must be limited to three consecutive days. Only one sign may be posted to advertise the sale, and it must be on the premises of the sale.

Geothermal energy sources are found and used in several places in Klamath Country.

Although the geothermal steam found in Klamath Falls isn't hot enough to turn an electrical generator, it does help warm a number of important buildings and facilities in the city, including Oregon Institute of Technology, the Ross Ragland Theater, Sky Lakes Medical Center, Klamath Union High School, the YMCA, First Baptist Church, several downtown government buildings, and A Canal bridges on Esplanade and Wall Street.

The city uses geothermal steam to heat sidewalks in several downtown blocks, keeping them snow-free during winter months. Klamath Falls' swimming pool on Main Street operates year-round with geothermal heat.

IFA Nurseries uses geothermal energy to produce tree seedlings.

Dozens of homes likewise have their own geothermal wells.

One of the nation's least-used wilderness areas, the Gearhart is relatively small at 18,000-plus acres. Located on the Bly Ranger District of the Fremont-Winema National Forests, it straddles the Klamath-Lake county line. It can be reached by roads from Bly or Lakeview. Prominent features include the 8,354-foot elevation Gearhart Mountain, U-shaped valleys of Gearhart and Dairy creeks, "The Dome" and Blue Lake, a popular destination for day hikers and fishermen.

According to McArthur’s Oregon Geographic Names, the mountain and the school in Bly take their name from two brothers – James P. and William H. Gearhart – who ran a livestock operation in the area in the 1870s.

Located on Miller Creek about 35 miles east of Klamath Falls, Gerber Reservoir is named after pioneer rancher Louis Gerber, whose ranch covered part of the reservoir site.

The reservoir's concrete arch dam was built by the U.S. Reclamation Service in 1925. At full pool, the reservoir covers 3,830 acres, and holds 94,300 acre-feet of water.

Gerber Reservoir is one of three water storage facilities in the Klamath Reclamation Project. The reservoir provides irrigation water for about 9,550 acres of farmland in the Langell Valley Irrigation District.

Camping facilities at the reservoir are maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The town of Gilchrist was founded and owned by Gilchrist Timber Co., which began operations in northern Klamath County in 1939.

The company formed by Frank W. Gilchrist (1903-1956) owned about 103,000 acres of timber in Central Oregon, mostly in Klamath County. The company operated a sawmill in Gilchrist until selling all its interests in September 1991 to Crown Pacific Ltd. of Portland. Crown Pacific went bankrupt in 2003.

The former Gilchrist sawmill is now owned by Interfor, based in Vancouver, B.C.

The Klamath Falls Gospel Mission was founded in 1958 by a group of businessmen and clergymen. It has operated since then at 823 Walnut St., in what was formerly the First Covenant Church.

The mission's first administrator was John Pederson. Its current manager is Kent Berry.

The park located about nine miles north of Klamath Falls is named for William G. Hagelstein, a California banker who owned a ranch in the area. He donated four acres of land that included Barclay Springs to create the park.

The park was dedicated as Klamath County's first county-operated park on Sept. 5, 1961.

The Winema National Forest donated 40 acres of land to the county to enlarge the park. The Oregon Highway Commission donated several acres of land for right of way.

The 6,596-foot mountain located 15 miles southwest of Klamath Falls was named for John Wesley Hamaker, a land law specialist and surveyor in Klamath County in the 1880s. John Hamaker and his brother, Joseph, were involved in land fraud schemes around 1900.

An aviation radar facility is located at the mountain's summit.

Source: Oregon Geographic Names.

The railroad tycoon who presided over the Southern Pacific Railroad purchased the Rocky Point Resort in 1907, and vacationed there in August of that year. He died two years later.

The post office at Rocky Point was named in Harriman's honor in 1947. The post office closed in 1954. The volunteer fire protection district at Rocky Point continues to bear his name, as does the nearby 7,979-foot Mount Harriman on the Winema National Forest.

The Point Comfort Resort currently owns the site where Harriman Lodge once stood.

Henley School, named for local resident Sophia Henley, was established in 1909. The first Henley School building was dismantled in 1951, with one part being moved to Midland to serve as a community hall.

The Henley Elementary School building was closed in 2006 after asbestos was discovered in the building during roof repairs. The building was demolished in 2010. Classes have been held in modular units since the building was closed.

An athletic trail at the Henley complex was named in memory of Joe Arant, a longtime custodian and sports booster at Henley High School who died Nov. 10, 2005, in a traffic accident near Halfway, Ore. The trail was dedicated in memory of Arant in October 2006.

Highway 97 is Klamath County’s main north-south highway, running 119 miles from the California border to the Deschutes County line 15 miles north of Gilchrist.

Orignally called The Dalles-California Highway, the route was designated a state highway in 1917, and a federal highway in 1925. It replaced an old wagon trail known as Huntington's Road.

The Dalles-California Highway originally went south through Henley, Merrill and Malin. From there the main highway went through Lookout in  Modoc County.

A bridge across the Klamath River south of Klamath Falls was built in 1935-36, and the Weed-Klamath highway was dedicated in October 1936.

North of Klamath Falls, the highway's original route went over Old Fort Road to Algoma, then north along the shore of Upper Klamath Lake to Modoc Point. From there it veered northwest past Klamath Agency to Fort Klamath, then up Sand Creek Pass overlooking the Wood River Valley. A new route near Chiloquin and over Spring Creek Hill opened in July 1948.

The highway's original route through Klamath Falls entered the city's north end on Biehn Street, turned east on Oregon Avenue, followed North Ninth Street to Main, turned east again on South Fifth and Sixth streets, and south on Washburn Way.

Kit Carson Way, the highway's new north entrance to Klamath Falls, opened in 1949. That stretch of road, along with other sections known as the Alameda Bypass and the Eastside Bypass, were later renamed Crater Lake Parkway.

The Westside Bypass, stretching from the north end of town to Main Street, opened in 1959. Completion of a bridge over Link River in 1963 marked completion of the bypass on the west side of town.

The farming district at the north end of Yonna Valley is named after Newton F. Hildebrand, who served as the first postmaster when the post office opened in August 1890.

Ralph Hill, who grew up in the Henley community, was credited with being the first Oregonian to garner widespread attention as a distance runner – and the first Klamath resident to gain worldwide name recognition. As a runner at the University of Oregon in 1930, he set a national record in the mile with a time of 4:12.2.

Hill went on to compete in the 5,000-meter run in the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. Hill placed second in a race that ended with one of the most controversial finishes in Olympic history. Near the end of the race Hill was running closely behind Finland’s Lauri Leheinen. As Hill attempted to pass, Leheinen crossed into his path at least three times, according to newspaper reports.

Judges deliberated for more than an hour before announcing that the gold medal would go to Leheinen, and the silver to Hill. Both runners were clocked with the same time of 14:30, but Leheinen’s chest broke the tape with Hill behind by only a few inches.

Hill declined to register a protest, saying he did not think Leheinen’s actions were intentional. American team officials also declined to protest, though they made their displeasure clear. “Although the (Amateur Athletic Union) considers the race was not fairly run, neither Mr. Hill nor the United States will protest,” said AAU President Avery Brundage.

About 1,000 people greeted Hill when he arrived at the Klamath Falls train station on Aug. 15, 1932. Even more gathered at the Pelican Theater for a formal welcoming ceremony.

Hill met Leheinen for a rematch soon afterward at a post-Olympic meet in Chicago. Leheinen dropped out early, while Hill placed a close second behind Jan Kusocinski of Poland in that race on Aug. 18, 1932.

The 6,370-foot mountain located just west of Crater Lake National Park was an important food-gathering site for Klamath Indians. An estimated 40,000 gallons of huckleberries were harvested from the mountain in 1908.

The church was established Feb. 4, 1915, as the result of a division from First Baptist Church.

An epidemic of Spanish influenza claimed the lives of 69 Klamath County residents in 1918, as well as 12 Lake County residents. More than 20 million people died around the world.

Klamath County Public Health Officer Dr. Warren Hunt on Oct. 12, 1918, ordered a quarantine on all public gathering places such as theaters and dance halls to prevent the spread of the Spanish influenza.

The quarantine lasted for about two months.

The door and window manufacturer based in Klamath Falls was founded Nov. 1, 1960, by five partners: Richard L. "Dick" Wendt, Bill Taylor, Larry Wetter, Garry Wickersham and John Biehn. The partners purchased the Caradco plant in the Shippington neighborhood of Klamath Falls. The main building had at one time been the home of Pelican Bay Lumber Co.

After starting with just 15 employees, Jeld-Wen saw phenomenal growth under the leadership of Dick Wendt. As of 2010 the company had more than 20,000 employees in 150 divisions across the United States and more than 20 foreign countries, with annual revenues of more than $3 billion.

The first four letters in Jeld-Wen stand for members of the Wendt family: Dick's sister Jewel, Dick's mother Evelyn, Dick's father Lester, and Dick himself. "Wen" is a shortened form of the family name Wendt. The origin of the Jeld-Wen name was kept secret from the public until after Dick Wendt's death in August 2010. By that time, Dick Wendt's son, Rod, had become president and CEO of the company.

In May 2011, it was announced that Onex Corp. of Toronto, Canada, was acquiring a 39 percent stake in Jeld-Wen. A subsequent announcement on Aug. 1, 2011, indicated Onex would eventually acquire about a 58 percent ownership in the company. Onex announced completion of the takeover on Oct. 3, 2011. Philip Orsino became president of Jeld-Wen, while Rod Wendt remained as CEO.

The Jeld-Wen Foundation, established in 1969, has helped fund several major Klamath Falls projects, such as the Ross Ragland Theater and Cultural Center, renovation of the Ella Redkey Municipal Pool, development of the Steen Youth Sports Complex, and expansion of the Sky Lakes Medical Center.

Settlement at the place now known as Keno dates to 1876, when a post office was established at Whittle's Ferry. The community was later known as Plevna, although that name later became associated with an area located between Keno and Klamath Falls. A new post office was established in 1887, and named "Keno" after Capt. D.J. Ferree's dog, which in turn had been named after a popular card game of the 1800s.

Sources: History of Klamath County Oregon, Rachel Applegate Good; Oregon Place Names, by Lewis McArthur.

The baseball stadium on Crest Street served as home of the Klamath Gems class C professional baseball team from 1948 through 1951.

The stadium was renamed in 1964 in honor of Estin Kiger, a local youth sports promoter.

The playing field was named Clem Bradbury Field in November 2002 in honor of a retired city maintenance worker who donated many hours maintaining the field.

Kingsley Field is home to the Oregon Air National Guard's the 173rd Fighter Wing, which is tasked with training Air Force and Air Guard pilots from across the country who fly F-15C fighter jets.

The 10,500-foot main runway is the second-longest in Oregon after Portland International’s, and was improved in 1996 to handle every aircraft in the U.S. military’s inventory.

Kingsley Field is a joint-use airfield that serves a U.S. Forest Service air tanker base as well as general aviation, commuter and commercial aircraft that operate out of the Klamath Falls International Airport.

Kingsley Field was originally built as a naval air station during World War II. It was converted into an Air Force interceptor base in 1954, flying F-86 Sabre jets. The unit switched to F-101Bs Voodoos in May 1959. An alert fighter operation established was in December 1959. The Air Force closed the base in 1979. The Oregon Air National Guard took over the facilities in October 1981.

On July 3, 1957, the Klamath Falls Municipal Airport was renamed Kingsley Field in honor of Lt. David Kingsley, a World War II bombardier on a B-17 who posthumously received a Medal of Honor for giving his life to save a fellow crewman during a mission over Nazi-occupied Romania.  Kingsley, a native of Portland, gave his parachute to another man, and died when the plane crashed near the village of Suhozem, Bulgaria.

The road constructed in 1948-49 became the new north highway entrance to Klamath Falls. It was named for the explorer who accompanied John C. Fremont during his expeditions through the area in 1843 and 1846.

Kit Carson Park, built by the Kiwanis Club, was dedicated on Sept. 20, 1962.

The J. Verne Owens bike path on state right of way beside Kit Carson Way, between Portland Street and Campus Way, opened May 30, 1973. It was repaved in June 2011.

Klamath

The origin of the name Klamath is uncertain. The word was first used in reference to Indians who inhabited the Upper Klamath Basin.  Its first known appearance was in a letter written by explorer Peter Skene Ogden in 1826. However, the name was not used by the Indians themselves. Rather, they referred to themselves as “maklaks,” a generic term simply meaning “people.”

Klamath County voters on May 21, 1996, approved establishment of a community college district, with 90 percent of electors supporting the new school. Voters also approved a $3.5 million tax base for the college.

The school was formally established July 1, 1996, with Rod Wright as interim president. Wes Channell served as the college's first regular president, beginning in August 1997.

The college began offering classes Sept. 25, 1996, mostly in public school classrooms. An office was established in space rented from the Assembly of God Church, 241 S. Williams St.

In July 1999 the college purchased 57 acres of land at 7390 S. Sixth St., and undertook renovation of two existing buildings at the site. The college began holding classes at its interim campus on March 27, 2000. A formal dedication was held April 25, 2000.

KCC dedicated two major buildings - the Career Technical Center and Health Science Building - on Oct. 9, 2011.

The history of European exploration in what is now Klamath County dates to August 1825, when Finan McDonald and Tom McKay left Fort Vancouver on a trading and trapping expedition to an unknown land beyond the Umpqua Valley. The trappers were instructed to cross the mountains of the Willamette Valley and head east to a legendary lake.

In 1827, Peter Skene Ogden lead the Hudson Bay Fur Brigade into the Klamath Falls area and camped beside the Link River. Ogden was in the Klamath Basin for the purpose of trapping furs and finding the Indian's "Great River." Ogden and his group of 36 men stayed in the Klamath Basin exploring and trapping for almost six months.

John C. Fremont led five western expeditions, two of which traversed country that would become Klamath and Lake counties. Fremont used the Klamath Trail, a slave-trading path that connected the area around The Dalles with the Klamath, Modoc and Pit River cultures. The Fremont Bridge, which now spans the Link River, was named after him.

In May 1846, Levi Scott and his son, John, joined a group of men who were trying to locate an emigrant road across the Cascades from the Willamette Valley. Scott co-founded the Scott-Applegate Trail, which opened the Klamath Basin to hundreds of immigrants in 1846. One of the first families to use the trail and settle in the Klamath Basin were the Stearns.

Klamath County was created Oct. 17, 1882, by the state Legislature, and was partitioned from the existing Lake County, which in turn had been created Oct. 24, 1874 from a portion of Jackson County. Klamath County was named for the Klamath Indians.

The Klamath County Government Center on Main Street between North Third and North Fourth streets in Klamath Falls was opened Sept. 28, 1998, five years and eight days after severe earthquakes caused the permanent closure of the Klamath County Courthouse.

The new structure is one of two buildings authorized by a voter-approved $17 million bond measure to replace the old courthouse. A new courthouse, housing offices of the 13th Judicial District of Oregon and the district attorney's office, opened in October 1999.

The Klamath County Government Center accommodates most county government offices. Total construction costs were $4.5 million with an additional $556,000 spent on land acquisition. Its design incorporated the historic Elks Lodge, which previously was used as the courthouse annex. It was built in the early 1900s.

The general contractor on both new buildings was Mark Wendt Construction, Klamath Falls.
 

Housed in the former armory at 1451 Main St. in Klamath Falls, the museum features exhibits devoted to area wildlife, Native American heritage, early exploration and pioneer settlement. It is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, year-round.

The museum, which formerly shared a building with the Klamath County Library at 126 S. Third St., opened in the old armory in February 1970.

The Klamath Falls City Hall at 226 S. Fifth St., was built in 1914, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. It now houses the city's public works and planning departments.

The city's administrative offices are located in the former Klamath Falls City Library, at 500 Klamath Ave. The library building was constructed in 1926, and was also added to the national register in 1989. The city and county libraries were merged in July 1969, and located in a new facility at 126 S. Third St.

Klamath First Bancorp, established in 1934, was the holding company of Klamath First Federal Savings and Loan, and was at one time the largest Oregon-based savings and loan and the second-largest financial institution based in the state. Its assets reached the $1 billion milestone in 1998.

The company purchased 25 Oregon branches of Wells Fargo Bank in 1997. At its peak the company operated 57 branches in Oregon and two in Washington.

Shareholders of the company in July 2003 approved a merger of Klamath First with Spokane-based Sterling Financial Corp., which operates banks under the name Sterling Savings Bank. The merger was completed in January 2004.

Source: Herald and News, Aug. 16, 1998; Klamath First news release, Dec. 11, 2003.

Klamath Falls' first association organized for the purpose of selling subscriptions to a series of concerts was formed in 1911. Concerts were held in the Houston Opera House.

The lyceum bureau was succeeded in 1912 by the Chautauqua Association for Klamath County, and in 1931 by the Community Concert Association.

Due to declining attendance, the Community Concert Association suspended its programs in 2006, with the final concert being performed at the Ross Ragland Theater on May 10 of that year

Classical music continues to be presented under the Ross Ragland Theater’s Classical Series.

Source: R.E. Teater, Klamath Echoes, No. 5, p. 5; Herald and News, April 2, 2006.

The project was stablished May 15, 1905, by Interior Secretary Ethan Hitchcock. Major construction began in 1906, and the first delivery of water occurred in 1907.

The project encompasses about 210,000 acres of farmland and 30,000 acres in the Tule Lake and Lower Klamath national wildlife refuges.

Three reservoirs store water for irrigation within the project. The largest is Upper Klamath Lake, a natural water body whose outlet is regulated by the Link River Dam. Water from the lake is the primary irrigation source for about 180,000 acres in the Klamath Project.

Clear Lake in Modoc County, Calif., is also a natural lake regulated by a dam. Clear Lake is used primarily as an evaporation basin to hold water that otherwise would flow through Lost River and fill Tule Lake. Some water is released from the lake, however, to irrigate lands near Bonanza in southeastern Klamath County.

Gerber Reservoir, constructed in 1925, stores water for about 9,550 acres in Langell Valley.

Leading crops grown by farmers within the Klamath Project include potatoes, barley, alfalfa, onions and strawberry plants.

A principal feature of the project is the Lost River Diversion Channel, which runs eight miles from near Henley to a point on the Klamath River south of Klamath Falls. The channel carries water from Lost River to the Klamath River, allowing managers to control water levels in Tule Lake.

The diversion channel, built on a level grade, can also be used to send water in the opposite direction, from the Klamath River to the Lost River, to supplement irrigation supplies when needed.

Most of the Klamath Project was shut down for most of the season in 2001 as the result of severe drought and requirements for protection of endangered suckers in Upper Klamath Lake and threatened coho salmon in the lower Klamath River.

The 2001 shutdown sparked a series of large protests and rallies by farmers and their supporters, including a tractor rally in April 20001 and a bucket brigade on Main Street on May 7, 2001.

Protesters gained access to the A Canal headgates on July 4, 2001, and used hand tools to open one of the gates, allowing a small volume of water to enter the canal. U.S. Rangers occupied the site the following day, and federal officers protected the headgates around the clock through the summer while protesters maintained a camp outside the fence at the headgates.

The protest ended immediately after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The agreement between Oregon, California and the federal government took effect Sept. 11, 1957, and established priorities for use of water in the Klamath River Basin.

The priorities listed were, in order, domestic uses, irrigation, recreation including fish and wildlife, industrial uses and hydroelectricity.

A three-member commission meets at least once a year to oversee implementation of the compact. Oregon and California each have one representative on the commission. The third is appointed by the federal government.

Provisions of the compact have been largely superseded by management guidelines required under a biological opinion for protection of endangered fish.

The Klamath Tribes, based in Chiloquin, comprise three Native American groups, including the Klamaths, Modocs and Yahooskin band of Snake River Indians.

Key dates in the history of the tribes include the Oct. 14, 1864, signing of a treaty with the federal government; the Aug. 13, 1954, termination of the tribe by the government; and the August 27, 1986, restoration of federal recognition.

Tribal affairs are managed by an elected 10-member executive council. Major decisions are made at general council meetings, which are open to all tribal members.

The Kla-Mo-Ya Casino, operated by the tribes, opened on Highway 97 in July 1996. The casino's name is taken from a portion of the names for the tribes' three ethnic groups.

The original part of the school was built at 1300 MonClaire St. in 1928. Before then, high school students attended classes at Klamath County High School on High Street.

The state-owned area headquartered five miles south of Klamath Falls, on Miller Island Road, is managed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The area includes 3,400 acres in four areas, including Miller Island, Gorr Island, Shoalwater Bay and Squaw Point – later renamed Sesti Tgawaals. The first state acquisition was in 1951.

Capt. O.C. Applegate, a prominent figure in Klamath Basin history, claimed to have given the lake its name in 1870 when he was overseeing contruction of a road by the lake.

Covering 1,220 acres on the Klamath Ranger District of the Fremont-Winema National Forests, the lake is one of the region's most popular recreation sites. Two Forest Service campgrounds, a Cub Scout camp and a Girl Scout camp are located at the lake, as well as 217 recreational cabin sites and a full-service resort.

Named for pioneer settler and Modoc War veteran Arthur Langell, the valley lies about 25 miles east of Klamath Falls. About 16,300 acres of pasture and hayfields are served by the Langell Valley Irrigation District, which diverts water from Lost River and Miller Creek.

Sometimes called "The Land of Burnt Out Fires," the Lava Beds National Monument just south of the Oregon-California state line is a park known for its extensive system of lava tube caves, fascinating geology and human history. There are 436 known caves within the monument. Some of the more popular caves include Mushpot, Golden Dome, Sentinel and the Catacombs.

Several areas in the park were important sites during the Modoc Indian War of 1872-73. The monument, established in 1925 and covering 106,000 acres, has a public campground.

Three people are known to have died in the Klamath Falls area from lightning strikes. The include the following:

Arthur D. Carrick on July 6, 1904.

Elwood Bice on July 29, 1939.

Mrs. Steve Graham on Sept. 29, 1957.

The 1.5-mile-long river runs from Upper Klamath Lake to Lake Ewauna. It got its name because it connects the two bodies of water.

Link River is contained entirely in the city limits of Klamath Falls. The Klamath Indian name for the river was "Yulalona," which meant to move back and forth, referring to the fact that during strong south winds the water was blown back toward Upper Klamath Lake, leaving the bed of stream partly dry.

The headwater originally flowed over a natural reef into slack water extending about 3,000 feet downstream to a second reef. The California-Oregon Power Company constructed a dam near the lower reef in 1921.

The first bridge across Link River was constructed of timber and was erected by Linkville founder George Nurse. It opened at the river's lower end on or about July 1, 1869. A steel bridge commissioned by Klamath County replaced the original bridge in 1885.

Later bridges, built in the same spot, were built in 1915 and 1931.

A nature trail along the west side of the river was opened in 1971. Bird viewing blinds along the river were constructed in 1972, and wheelchair-accessible fishing points were added in 1981.

The town of Linkville was founded along the lower end of the Link River on March 12, 1867, by pioneer settler George Nurse. The town's name was officially changed to Klamath Falls on Feb. 6, 1893.

Klamath Falls’ local community theater offers a five-play season each year. Located in the old Willard Hotel at 201 Main Street, the intimate theater provides an opportunity for local thespians to perform in first-rate productions.

The Linkville Players, formerly known as Klamath Civic Theater, performed in various venues before the Linkville Playhouse opened in 1987, including primarily the basement of the former city library at 500 Klamath Avenue. Plays were occasionally performed in the Pine Grove Room of the Willard Hotel, which would later be renovated as a theater.

Seats in the theater were salvaged from the old Tower Theater, demolished in 1988, and the Pelican Theater, razed in 1958. Those seats were replaced with new seats.

Located in Langell Valley in southeastern Klamath County, the community of Lorella was first named Haynesville after its founder, L.K. Haynes, who operated a post office there in 1887. The name was changed to Lorella in 1894, reportedly after a woman who lived in the area.

Source: Oregon Geographic Names, by Lewis McArthur.

Before being cut off from the Klamath River, Lower Klamath Lake was at times larger than Upper Klamath Lake. The Lower Klamath Lake National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1908, and included 80,000 acres. The refuge was reduced in 1915 to 53,600 acres.

A railroad embankment constructed across the west side of Lower Klamath Lake isolated the lake from the Klamath River. Gates controlling the flow of water between the lake and river were closed in 1917.

In the ensuing years, the lake's area decreased, and the peat soil on the lake bottom caught fire and burned.

Established August 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt as the nation's first waterfowl refuge. It covers 53,598 acres.

Subdivision occurred and construction began in 1973 by developers Donald and Lynne Kelley. The project became mired in controversy over construction of streets, sewer lines and other improvements. As a result, city manager John Halvorsen was fired by the city council in May 1975, while Kelley and former Mayor Robert Veatch were indicted on criminal charges in 1976.

The city, meanwhile, became liable for $897,000 in debt for the improvements. After foreclosing on the 161-acre subdivision, the city began selling lots in February 1976. As of 2010, the city still owns a few lots within the subdivision.

The town established by A. Kalina was founded in 1909 in an area settled by a group of Czechoslovakian families that had emigrated from the Midwest.

Accounts differ as to how the town was named. Mr. Kalina was credited with selecting the name, which in the Czech language means "everything growing green."

Another story holds that the town was named for a horseradish variety grown in Czechoslovakia, or for a town in that country where horseradish is grown.

Source: Herald and News, Jan. 7, 1949, p. 1; Journal of the Shaw Historical Library, 1986, p. 49.

The U.S. Marine Corps' recuperative barracks in Klamath Falls operated from 1944 to 1946 to treat World War II veterans of the Pacific Theater who were recovering from filariasis.

Located about a mile north of Klamath Falls on Old Fort Road, the 800-acre site and its buildings became the first site of Oregon Vocational School (later Oregon Institute of Technology) after the Marines abandoned it.

OIT, too, ultimately left the site and all the buildings were demolished. A monument and small park now commemorate the barracks location.

The site was developed as the Northridge Estates subdivision, although sales of lots was ceased after authorities confirmed reports that the soil in the area was heavily contaminated by asbestos from the demolition of barracks buildings.

Maywood Industries opened its Klamath Falls wood products plant in May 1976. The plant in 1993 became the home of REACH Inc.

Source: Herald and News, May 6, 1976.

Named for Mount Mazama, the school on Summers Lane opened in 1966 as an experimental one-year school for freshman. The new facility, named Mazama Secondary School, relieved overcrowding at Klamath Union High School.

Sophomores joined the freshmen in 1973, and the school was renamed Mazama Mid High.

Voters on Sept. 19, 1978, approved a bond to change the school to a four-year facility. Mazama High School opened September 1979 with 1,086 students.

The roofs of the school's main gymnasium and east gym collapsed under a heavy snow load on Jan. 28, 1996. A replacement facility opened in May 1997.

Source: Klamath Falls City Schools district.

A log unearthed during excavation of a landfill near Chemult on May 30, 1991, was dubbed the "Mazama tree" after scientists determined the tree had grown before the explosion of Mount Mazama around 5,600 B.C.

The log is now on exhibit in the Klamath County Museum.

Merle West Medical Center is the former name of Sky Lakes Medical Center. Originally known as Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital, the hospital was completed in 1965.

Merle West, a longtime businessman in the area and benefactor of the hospital, died Dec. 20, 1983.

The hospital formerly owned Plum Ridge Care Center, a nursing home, and contracts its operation to Pinnacle Healthcare. In January 2001 Merle West Medical Center sold Crystal Terrace, a continuing care retirement community, to Pinnacle.

The town situated 15 miles southeast of Klamath Falls was named for Nathan Merrill, a pioneer farmer in the area who filed an 80-acre plat for the townsite on May 22, 1894.

Sources: Klamath County History, by Rachel Applegate Good; Klamath County Comprehensive Plan Atlas.

A plat for the townsite of Midland was filed Jan. 5, 1907, and a post office opened in the town on March 17, 1909. Although the town was never incorporated, it once boasted a hotel and, for a few years after the railroad arrived in 1908, was the main point for shipping livestock from the Klamath Basin. Business declined sharply during the 1920s as railroads spread to other points in the Basin.

Land for the Midland Community Park was donated by local residents in the early 1950s. The Midland Community Park District was established Jan. 6, 1999.

The company first offered 24-hour telephone service in Klamath Falls beginning in 1905. "Two rings for Central, and you can talk with the world any time day or night," manager O.B. Gates was quoted as saying.

The neighborhood owes its name to William H. Mills, who on Nov. 1, 1905, acquired an historic ranch east of Klamath Falls that at one time belonged to George Nurse. Mills and his wife, Maria, formed the Enterprise Land and Investment Co., which divided the ranch into tracts for homes, streets and a school. An orchard on the ranch had been the chief source of fresh fruit for the city.

The subdivision was platted in 1906.

Source: Klamath Echoes, v. 13, p79-82; Abstract of Title to Darrow Addition and Parts of Mills and Mills Second Addition.

The original Mills School building, consisting of four rooms, was built in 1919, facing Orchard Avenue. Its first principal was Agnes Lageson.

Various additions were made over the years, including an 801-seat auditorium in 1949. Two geothermal wells were drilled in 1957, and one more in 1961. These three wells provide heating for the entire complex.

A series of earthquakes in 1993 damaged the school's gymnasium beyond repair. It was replaced with a new gym that was completed in May 1995.

Mills Elementary is the largest elementary school in the Klamath Falls City Schools district.

The Mitchell Monument, located about 15 miles east of Bly on Forest Service Road 34, is the site of the only combat-related deaths in the continental United States during World War II.

Elsie Mitchell, the pregnant wife of a Bly pastor, Rev. Archie Mitchell, and five children in a Sunday school class were killed May 5, 1945, when a Japanese balloon bomb exploded while they were on a picnic outing near the Gearhart Wilderness Area. Three of the children – Joan Patzke, Dick Patzke and Edward Engen – were buried in Linkville Cemetery. Sherman Shoemaker was buried in California. Jay Gifford was buried in Medford. Elsie Mitchell was buried in her hometown of Port Angeles, Wash.

The monument was dedicated in July 1950.

Captain Jack was a leader of the Modoc Indians during the 1872-73 Modoc War with the Army and Klamath area settlers.

The war started when Jack’s band of Modoc Indians, who never numbered more than 180 (including about 50 warriors), refused to live on the same reservation lands with the Klamath Indians, and returned to their homes around the Lost River. Jack was a key military leader in a campaign that lasted several months around the Lost River and the Modocs’ stronghold in the Lava Beds to the south.

Jack and his fellow warriors outfought and frustrated about 1,000 regular Army and volunteer troops as they tried to force the Indians to surrender in the Lava Beds’ rugged terrain. Jack and several other Modoc leaders, attacked a government peace commission while under a flag of truce, killing two commissioners -- including commission leader Gen. Edward Canby and Rev. Thomas – and Alfred Meacham.

Eventually the Modocs were forced to abandon the stronghold and scatter, though they achieved one more victory over the Army in an ambush that became known as the Thomas-Wright Massacre.

The killing of the peace commissioners is believed to have pushed the government away from its “peace policy” towards Indians and led to more aggressive moves by the Army throughout the West.

War deaths on the government side included about 70 soldiers, guides and civilians, while Modoc deaths were estimated at six.

Six Modocs were convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Canby and Thomas. The death sentences of Slolux and Barncho were commuted. Captain Jack, Schonchin John, Boston Charley and Black Jim were hanged at Fort Klamath on Oct. 3, 1873. Their graves remain marked at the Fort Klamath Museum.

The company owned by the Shaw Family of Klamath Falls operated a sawmill from 1946 until May 1, 1995, in downtown Klamath Falls. The company continues to own acreage on both sides of Lake Ewauna. The site of the lumber mill was developed as Timbermill Shores. A sister company, the J-Spear Ranch, owns timber and ranch land in Klamath and Lake counties.

Modoc Lumber Co. was founded by Laurence L. Shaw and J. Royal Shaw. As of this writing in January 2000, Laurence Shaw's son, Thomas J. Shaw, is president of the company. Thomas J. Shaw's son, Tom J. Shaw, is vice president.

Some of the prettiest, and loftiest, views of the Klamath Basin are offered from atop the summit of 9,495-foot high Mount McLoughlin.

The highest point in Southern Oregon, the summit can be reached by a five-mile-long trail on the mountain's east slope on the Fremont-Winema National Forests. Although the trailhead is in Klamath County, the summit is just west of the Jackson-Klamath county line.

Early Native Americans knew it as "Alwilamchaldist" and believed it the home of the Acorn Woman while Klamaths called in "Kesh yainatat," the abode of "dwarf old woman."

Although sometimes still referred to by its original name of Mount Pitt, the mountain was renamed for Dr. John McLoughlin, the head of the Hudson's Bay Co. in Oregon who is sometimes called the "Father of Oregon."

The camp, located within Klamath Ranger District about 30 miles west of Klamath Falls, is operated under a Forest Service permit by Bible Baptist Church in Klamath Falls. The first buildings on the site, including the dining hall and administration building, were constructed in 1961.

The Mountain Lakes region in 1930 was one of three places to receive the Forest Service's new classification of "primitive area." It was also among the nation's first official wilderness areas when the Wilderness Act was passed in 1964.

Geologists believe a giant volcano, perhaps as large as Mount Shasta, collapsed to create the rugged basin that now contains more than 100 small lakes. The largest lake, Harriette, covers about 70 acres.

Besides its striking scenery, the 23,071-acre Mountain Lakes Wilderness Area is also unique for its boundary configuration, which is not only perfectly square but happens to fall precisely on a 36-square-mile township border.

Several large murals have been painted on sides of downtown Klamath Falls buildings. They include:

The Applegate Trail, between Fourth and Fifth streets on Klamath Avenue, depicts the Applegate Trail cutoff of the Oregon Trail. It was painted by Royce Vann.

Kingsley Field, South Fifth Street side of the VFW building, 515 Klamath Ave.; the mural depicts the story of Medal of Honor recipient Lt. David Kingsley as well as the history of Kingsley Field, a fighter base since 1954 for the Air Force and the Oregon Air National Guard. The mural by artist Chris Young was done in 1995-96.

The lake steamer Winema, on the northwest corner of Main Street and Fifth Street, a pioneer turn-of-the-century steamer that ran on Lake Ewauna and Upper Klamath Lake. It was moved from Lake Ewauna to Upper Klamath Lake in 1909 when the first Southern Pacific train arrived in Klamath Falls. The mural was painted by Pam Stoehsler.

Arrival of the first Southern Pacific train in Klamath Falls in 1909, painted in 1999 by Chris Young at the corner of Main and 11th streets.

The Pelican Theater, which stood at the corner of Eighth Street and Klamath Avenue from 1929 to 1961. The mural is located in the 600 block of Klamath Avenue, a half-block south of the theater's location. It was painted in June 2000 by Chris Young.

A mountain scene painted in 2010 by Chris Young on the Elk Apartment building at 1111 Main Street. The scene, based on a painting by George McMahan, took the place of an earlier mural depicting Winema, a Modoc Indian woman who played prominently in local history. The Winema mural was painted in 2001 by Michael Jennings, a Paiute Indian from Burns.

A scene featuring a group of loggers for the Pelican Bay Lumber Co. was painted in 2010 by Christ Young.

Other murals in the Klamath Falls area include the following:

A mural depicting Czechoslovakian folk dancers on the side of the Malin Post Office was completed in September 1996 by Jack and Shelly Carman.

A Viking mural in the gymnasium at Mazama High School was completed by Royce Vann in April 1997.

The agency, a branch of the U.S. Department of Interior, manages two parks in the Klamath Basin:

Crater Lake National Park, 183,224 acres, est. May 22, 1902.

Lava Beds National Monument, 106,000 acres, est. 1925.

Two major natural gas pipelines run the length of Klamath County on their route from British Columbia to Central California. Both were constructed by Pacific Gas Transmission Co.

A 36-inch-diameter pipeline entered service on Dec. 2, 1961.

A 42-inch-diameter "expansion" line began carrying gas on Nov. 1, 1993.

A gas compression station is located about two miles southwest of Bonanza.

The Ruby pipeline, running 680 miles from Malin east to Opal, Wyo., entered service on July 28, 2011.

The computer call center operated by NEW Corp. is located in a building originally opened by Sykes Enterprises on Nov. 21, 1995.

George Nurse built in 1866 the first buildings on the townsite of Linkville, the settlement on the Link River that eventually became Klamath Falls.

A series of financial reverses caused Nurse to leave Linkville in the 1870s, ultimately resettling on a ranch near Yreka. It was there he suffered fatal injuries when he was thrown from a horse.

A monument in Linkville Cemetery commemorates Nurse’s role in establishing the town of Linkville, although Nurse was buried in Siskiyou County, Calif.

Dan O'Brien, a 1984 graduate of Henley High School, won the gold medal in the decathlon at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Ga. O’Brien grew up in a home located on Reeder Road, just north of Lost River.

A street running from Highway 97 to the OIT campus was named Dan O'Brien Way. The street is approximately 1500 meters long, the distance of the 10th, and final, event of the decathlon.

O’Brien is a three-time world champion, two-time Goodwill Games champion, and former world record holder for the decathlon with 8,891 points. He set his world record in Talence, France, about a month after the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

The 8,825 points he scored to win his gold medal is an Olympic Games record and the fifth highest in decathlon history. His 8,755 points in 1998 is a Goodwill Games record.

O'Brien's world record was broken July 4, 1999, by Tomas Dvorak of the Czech Republic, who scored 8,994 points.

O’Brien was a member of a state championship football team at Henley and was the first person to win four events in one Oregon state high school track and field championship meet.

The road leading to the original site of Oregon Vocational School, now Oregon Institute of Technology, was the main northbound route leading out of Klamath Falls in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Cutting between Plum Hills and Hogback Mountain, the road was used to access Fort Klamath, Klamath Agency and Crater Lake.

A one-way traffic grid was put into place in downtown Klamath Falls on Jan. 11, 1970. The first accident resulting from the new grid occurred at 1:20 p.m. that day.

The Oregon Bank Building, 905 Main St., stands as one of Klamath Falls’ two tallest buildings at six stories tall, and contains the last elevator in Oregon that requires an operator. It was built in 1930 on the site of the old Central School.

It is also known as the Medical-Dental building. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Construction of the OC&E Railroad was launched in 1915 by entrepreneur Robert Strahorn. Work began in Klamath Falls, and stopped in 1929 at Bly, 64 miles east of Klamath Falls. It was acquired in 1975 by Weyerhaeuser Co. from Southern Pacific and Burlington Northern.

The OC&E line was used primarily to haul logs from Weyerhaeuser lands. The last load of logs traveled over the railroad in April 1990. The last of the rolling stock was removed from the line in September 1991.

Weyerhaeuser Co. donated the OC&E right of way in July 1992 to the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation, which converted it to a recreation trail under a "railbanking" program.

Demolition of the railroad began in September 1992. A four-mile section of the trail was paved in the suburbs of Klamath Falls in October 1996. Paving was later extended to Olene, and packed gravel covers the trail to Sprague River.

Oregon Institute of Technology, situated on the north end of Klamath Falls, provides high-tech education in fields ranging from engineering and laser optics to nursing and vascular imaging.

The institute opened in July 1947 as Oregon Vocational School and the first classes were held in a deactivated World War II Marine Corps hospital on Old Fort Road, three miles northeast of Klamath Falls. In 1948, the name was changed to Oregon Technical Institute.

Dedicated Oct. 28, 1957 in Gilchrist. Land and lumber for the church was donated by Gilchrist Timber Co.

Many white pelicans migrate to the Klamath Basin in summer months. The pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) has been adopted an official Klamath Falls city symbol as well as the mascot for Klamath Union High School. The pelican symbol serves as a logo for many local events and organizations, including the annual Snowflake Festival.

Pelican School was built in 1921. The original structure included four classrooms, a small office and a library. Major additions were made in 1931-32 and 1953-54.

A fire heavily damaged the school's gymnasium on May 1, 1965.

Pelican Butte, an 8,036-foot mountain 25 miles northwest of Klamath Falls, has at various times been proposed as a site for a downhill ski resort. The concept was most recently pursued by Pelican Butte Corp., a subsidiary of Jeld-Wen, Inc. The company's plans were abandoned after a policy setting aside most roadless areas on Forest Service land was enacted by the Clinton administration in 2000.

Pelican Butte is located on the Klamath Ranger District of the Fremont-Winema National Forests.

Peterson Elementary School in the south suburbs of Klamath Falls was named in honor of Fred Peterson, superintendent of Klamath County Schools from 1925 to 1949.

The school opened in 1949. Additions to the facility were made in 1953 and 1972.

The valley located about 10 miles east of Klamath Falls was named for James M. Poe, who lived in the area during the Modoc War. Poe later moved to Chehalis, Wash.

The name has been used in the past for a sawmill town, a logging camp and a lumber company, all of which were located in the southwestern corner of Klamath County. The sawmill town was destroyed in September 1908.

The name of the post office in the sawmill town, located on the Klamath River in Siskiyou County, was changed from Pokegama to Klamathon on June 4, 1897.

The origin of the name has never been determined with certainty. The name is now used to refer to the general area south of Highway 66 and north of the Klamath River in southwestern Klamath County.

The junior high school located at 2554 Main St. opened in 1970. Jerry Killingsworth was the first principal. The school replaced Fremont as the city’s junior high achool.

An elementary school, built in 1957, was located at the site before the junior high opened. That school housed grades 1-4.

Ponderosa Junior High School is heated by geothermal energy.

About 10 years after the school opened, it was discovered that a seismic fault ran beneath the school's athletic field and the rear of the school building. In the fall of 1990 it was determined that music rooms, industrial arts rooms and the cafeteria at the rear of the school needed to be replaced.

A replacement wing on the southeast side of the building was completed in September 1991.

Potatoes have been grown in the Klamath Basin since settlement by white people.

Joe Obed Short was credited with being first person to grow potatoes commercially in Klamath County, in the 1890s. Known as "Potato Short," he marketed his crop locally since there was no way to export crops from the Basin at that time.

C.A. Henderson, agricultural agent in Klamath County, helped organize an association of growers in 1923, and the first crop of potatoes to be shipped from by rail from the Klamath Basin was in 1924.

By 1944, potatoes were being grown on 27,000 acres in the Basin. The crop remains a leading farm commodity in the area. Most of the crop is sold as fresh produce to grocery chains and institutions along the West Coast, though some potatoes are grown under contract for Frito-Lay.

The first railroad to enter Klamath County was the Klamath Lake Railroad, which came up the Klamath River Canyon to Fall Creek in Siskiyou County, then climbed up the side of the canyon to reach Pokegama in 1903. Though plans called for extending the line to Klamath Falls, the railroad never made it. The railroad was shut down in 1913.

The Southern Pacific was the first railroad to reach Klamath Falls, with the first passenger train arriving May 20, 1909. The SP completed its Cascade line over the so-called Natron Cutoff between Klamath Falls and Eugene in 1926, with the first passenger train traveling that route on Aug. 19, 1926. Once the Natron Cutoff entered service it immediately became the Southern Pacific’s main line up the West Coast, replacing the Siskiyou line that had been built in the 1880s.

The Southern Pacific completed the Modoc Line on July 13, 1929, establishing a more direct line between Klamath Falls and the interior of the country by way of Alturas, Calif.

The Southern Pacific merged with the Union Pacific Railroad on Sept. 11, 1996.

The Great Northern Railroad entered Klamath County from the north, reaching Klamath Falls on May 11, 1928. The Great Northern obtained trackage rights to use the Southern Pacific line from Chemult to Klamath Falls. The Great Northern completed a line south from Klamath Falls into northern California, by way of Bieber, on Sept. 10, 1931.

The Great Northern Railroad was one of four railroads that merged on March 2, 1970, to form the Burlington Northern Railroad. The Burlington Northern merged with the Santa Fe Railroad on Sept. 22, 1995.

Several lumber companies operated their own local railroads in the Klamath Basin. They included Kesterson, Pelican Bay, Ewauna Box, Algoma, Lamm, Chiloquin, Modoc, Forest, Shaw Bertram, Crater Lake, Gilchrist and Weyerhaeuser companies.

Klamath Falls, with two major railroad lines and numerous company-owned logging railroads in the area, became one of the biggest rail hubs in the state of Oregon prior to World War II. Both the SP and GN maintained large and active switch yards in Klamath for many years. However, as equipment became increasingly automated and rail operations more centralized, both railroads have scaled back their workforces in Klamath Falls.

See separate entry on the Oregon, California and Eastern Railroad.

Rehabilitation, Employment and Community Housing (REACH) Inc. was established in 1987 to provide job opportunities for developmentally disabled citizens in Klamath County.

Klamath County Commissioners Ragnar "Swede" Carlson and Don Kenyon, both Republicans, were recalled in election held May 26, 1970. Commissioner Scott Warren was not subject to the recall election. Then-Gov. Tom McCall appointed George Flitcraft to replace Kenyon. Ellen Clark was appointed to replace Carlson, and became the first woman to serve as a commissioner in Klamath County.

Klamath County School Board members Dave Jensen, Don Renie and Mark Slezak were recalled Nov. 29, 1993.

Klamath County Commissioners Dave Henzel and Clif McMillan were recalled July 16, 1996.

Riverside School opened on Thanksgiving of 1910, with Edna Adams as its first principal. Known originally as West Side School, it was built on land donated by the Moore brothers.

The school closed at the end of the 2002-03 school year. The school building housed Link River High School from 2008 to 2011, until that program was relocated to the Lucille O'Neill center.

Roosevelt School was built in 1929, and originally housed grades 1 through 7.

The school is heated by geothermal energy.

Roosevelt has maintained a tradition of taking a photo of the finishing class each year and posting it in the school's main hall.

The Ross Ragland Theater, named for a local civic leader and supporter of performing arts, opened March 30, 1989, in the former Esquire movie theater. "The Music Man," featuring all local talent, was the first production in the renovated theater.

The 1,000-seat Esquire Theater was built in 1940. It was purchased in the 1980s by the Ladies Community Lounge League, which turned ownership over to the city of Klamath Falls. Renovation of the theater into a performing arts center began in December 1987.

The $2.5 million renovation was funded primarily by grants from the Jeld-Wen Foundation, the Fred Meyer Charitable Trust, the Weyerhaeuser Co. Foundation, Columbia Plywood Corp., Modoc Lumber Co., and the Oregon Arts Commission.

The fully-rigged theater seats 790, and has a stage measuring 40 feet by 60 feet.

The $2-million, 10,000-square-foot Cultural Center was constructed in 1998.

Ross Ragland was active in many community organizations in Klamath Falls. He died Nov. 6, 1986, at the age of 70.

The Running Y Ranch Resort comprises two large ranches – the Running Y Ranch formerly known as the Geary Ranch, and the Skillet Handle Ranch formerly known as the Hunt Ranch.

Four Geary brothers began acquiring lands around 1918. The Geary Ranch included about 7,000 acres when it was sold in July 1966 to Ruth Teasdel.

In December 1974 the Geary Ranch, having been renamed the Running Y Ranch, was purchased by Double D Land Company. Roy Disney, nephew of Walt Disney, was the managing partner of the family-owned company.

Double D Land Co. also acquired the adjacent 2,700-acre Skillet Handle Ranch at the same time.

Jeld-Wen Inc. acquired the combined properties on April 8, 1994, and began development of the Running Y Ranch Resort. The resort opened in 1997 and includes a golf course designed by Arnold Palmer.

The first priest to serve Catholic parishoners in Klamath County was Father Heinrich. He arrived in September 1904. The church was named Sacred Heart Catholic Church when the church's second priest, Father S.J. Feusi, arrived on June 30, 1905, which was the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Sacred Heart’s first building was blessed on Nov. 1, 1905, at the site where Fairview Elementary School now stands. The current church building was completed in October 1929.

Sacred Heart Academy was established in 1917. Its high school closed in 1988, and the elementary grade school closed in 1993.

Other parishes were established in Klamath County as follows: Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Chiloquin, 1928; Holy Cross in Merrill, 1938, renamed St. Augustine in 1940; Holy Cross in Tulelake, 1948; St. Pius X in 1957.

The school at 1951 Madison St. was built in 1968, replacing another building that burned in 1967. The gymnasium from the earlier building remains at the site, and is used for storage. The first school was built in 1935.

The library on the second floor of the Oregon Institute of Technology Library was established in 1983 when Laurence L. and Dorothy Shaw donated their private collection of materials.

The library's reading rooms are open to the public. Its collection includes many rare books, manuscripts, maps, photos and diaries that are useful for research on the "Land of Lakes," referring generally to Southern Oregon, Northern California and Northern Nevada.

Laurence L. Shaw died Feb. 26, 1998, at the age of 89. Dorothy (Jensen) Shaw died Dec. 27, 1996, at the age of 90.

Designated in the Oregon Wilderness Act of 1984, the Sky Lakes Wilderness Area comprises 116,300 acres. The area's landscape is marked by two extinct volcanoes, Mount McLoughlin and Devil's Peak.

More than 200 lakes are found within the wilderness, which also includes a 35-mile segment of the Pacific Crest Trail.

The agency was established in 1992 to serve residents in need of housing assistance. SOCO stands for South-Central Oregon.

When a new road was surveyed in 1906 to connect the small town of Klamath Falls with Altamont and other points east, it was designed as an extension of Sixth Street. Although none of the other numbered streets extends beyond the railroad yard, the designation of South Sixth was retained for the road all the way to the Lakeview-Merrill Junction.

It was widened to four lanes between the Southern Pacific Railroad Yard and Altamont Drive in 1946. The widened road, with a center turn lane, was officially opened on Dec. 14, 1946. The event was marked with a daylong celebration and speeches by local and state officials.

Source: Herald and News, Dec. 13, 1946.

The Bill Scholtes Klamath Sportsmans Park is located off Highway 66 about 14 miles west of Klamath Falls and features facilities for a wide variety of outdoor activities, including: shooting ranges for rifle, pistol and shotgun; an archery range; a 4X4 obstacle and drag course; motorcycle/ATV courses; a radio-controlled aircraft field; a picnic area and campground; and a boat launch and fishing area.

Established around 1985 on land owned by Pacific Power, the park is now owned by Klamath County and managed by the Klamath Sportsmans Park Association.

The river that originates in the Gearthart Mountain area and flows into the Williamson River near Chiloquin was named for Capt. F.B. Sprague, commander at Fort Klamath in 1866.

The town of the same name was platted in 1923, and grew up around a sawmill, planing mill and box factory.

Source: Klamath Country History, 1984, Klamath County Historical Society; Klamath County History, 1941, Rachel Applegate Good, editor.

The school at 3641 Crest St. in the south suburbs of Klamath Falls was built in 1959, and named in honor of Orson A. Stearns (1843-1926), an early settler and prominent citizen in the area.

A native of Illinois, Stearns emigrated to Oregon on the Applegate trail, and became Klamath County's first homesteader in 1867.

The community on the southwest side of Klamath Falls takes its name from two men who played a role in its development.

Fred G. Stewart owned 637 acres in the area from 1910 until he died in 1925. His widow married D.H. Lenox, and the couple subdivided the land in 1930-31.

Lots were sold during the Depression era for about $125 each. The area north of the Klamath Falls-Ashland Highway was called Stewart, while across the highway was Lenox.

The community was annexed into the city of Klamath Falls, by order of the state, on July 1, 1981, in order to provide sewer service in the area.

   Source: Klamath Country History, 1984, Klamath County Historical Society.

Following is a list of some streets in Klamath Falls, and how they were named:

Applegate Avenue – Named for Klamath pioneer Capt. Oliver Cromwell Applegate.

Conger Avenue – Both the street and the school are named after Linkville resident Joseph Conger (1831-1908), who lived in the area and left money to the Klamath County School District.

Darrow Avenue – Named for Sacramento resident and banker A.L. Darrow, organizer and president of Klamath Corp., which acquired the Mills Addition from Enterprise Land and Investment Co.

Division Street – So named because it formed the dividing line between the Mills Addition and the Darrow Addition.

East Main – Formerly called Stukel Street, after Stephen Stukel, a prominent rancher who acquired several ranch properties in the area that would become the Mills Addition. Merchants in the developing Mills Addition asked for the name of the street to be changed in anticipation of business development along the traffic artery leading to downtown Klamath Falls.

Eberlein Avenue – Named after pioneer Klamath resident Charles Wood Eberlein.

Joe Wright Road – Named for Josiah C. Wright, who settled on the road just west of Washburn Way in 1910.

Martin Street – Named after Alex "Uncle Jerry" Martin, pioneer freighter, merchant and banker.

Montelius Street – Named for Walter M. Montelius, a prominent businessman in Klamath Falls who died in 1952.

Owens Street – Named for Ben S. Owens, a city councilor who represented the Mill District at one time.

Reclamation Avenue – The U.S. Reclamation Service (later renamed the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation) at one time planned to build its Klamath Basin headquarters office on the street, although the plans were not carried out.

Union Street – As opposed to Division Street, Union Street was so named because it connected the Mills and Darrow additions.

Wantland Avenue – Named for C.E. Wantland, a Denver-based general sales agent for the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific land departments. He visited Klamath Falls several times, and predicted the town would become one of the largest inland cities of the Pacific Coast states.

Washburn Way – Named for George E. Washburn, a civil engineer from San Francisco who assisted in the platting of subdivisions in the Mills Addition.

White Avenue – Frank Ira White owned land in the Mills Addition and directed the platting of properties in the Mills, Mills Second and Darrow additions.

Source: Evening Herald, April 22, 1939; Joe H. Wright; Herald and News, Oct. 3, 1967.

The 6,525-foot mountain located 10 miles southeast of Klamath Falls was named for Stephen Stukel, a pioneer settler in the area. Bureau of Land Management lands on the mountain, including the summit, can be accessed from a primitive road that begins at a gravel pit off Hill Road on the west side of the mountain.

The company that manufactures ready-to-assemble furniture made of particle board was established May 1970.

Specimens of Oregon’s official state gem can found on Bureau of Land Management land about 20 miles north of Plush in the Warner Valley.

Sunstones can be found on the surface or by digging. Their color varies from the most common clear variety, to less common apricot and red, with green sunstones the most rare at this site.

Experiments with sugarbeets in the Klamath Basin began as early as 1905. Construction of a sugarbeet factory in Klamath Falls was proposed in 1907, but it never materialized.

Limited commercial production occurred in the 1930s, and was resumed for about 12 years in 1988, with acreage reaching 9,000 in the late 1990s.

The following cases affecting the Klamath Basin have been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court:

U.S. Supreme Court rules in May 1913 that homesteaders in reclamation projects must pay development costs.

U.S. Supreme Court in April 1938 upholds ruling awarding Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin tribe $7.3 million in land dispute dating to 1906.

U.S. v. Adair, 1984 -- Lower courts ruled the Klamath Tribes are entitled to water rights that protect treaty resources of hunting, fishing and gathering. Supreme Court declines to consider an appeal.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife v. Klamath Tribe, 1985 -- Supreme Court ruled tribal members do not have hunting and gathering rights on a parcel of private timberland known as the Long Bell tract northeast of Chiloquin.

U.S. v. Oregon Department of Water Resources, 1995 -- Court declined to hear petition from federal government and Klamath Tribes, which claimed not to be subject to the state's water adjudication process.

Bennett v. Spear, March 19, 1997 -- Court rules unanimously in favor of Lost River irrigators who sought to sue U.S. government under Endangered Species Act in case stemming from Bureau of Reclamation implementing of drought management plan in 1994.

Klamath Basin Water Users Association v. Bureau of Indian Affairs, March 5, 2001 -- Court rules unanimously that irrigators are entitled to review correspondence between the federal government and irrigation tribes related to water issues.
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Topsy Grade

The historic Topsy Grade was a road that ran southwest from Keno on the southern side of the Klamath River. The first road was built by H.C. Tichnor in 1875. It gained brief status as a state highway in the 1920s, before the Greensprings Highway was completed in 1924. Remnants of the road that passed by the Frain Ranch may be still be traveled by high-clearance vehicles.

Notable trees in Klamath Falls include the following:

A elm tree that grew at Klamath Union High School was a third-generation descendant of another tree under which Gen. George Washington stood as he took command of the Continental Army on July 2, 1775. A marker at the tree was placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The tree died in 2001, and was cut down in 2002.

Ponderosa pine trees along the Kit Carson Way section of the Alameda Bypass were planted in the 1950s by Stella Myers (1876-1968), who operated a nursery and greenhouse on Lakeshore Drive.

Trees of various other species along Kit Carson Way, including pin oak and maple, were planted in 1995 with funds from a $20,000 grant obtained by the Klamath 2002 Image Committee. Bob Laver and John Hicks coordinated the project, which included in-kind matching contribution of labor and equipment from the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Dozens of ponderosa pine trees at the YMCA were donated by Weyerhaeuser Co. Allen Garrett, an employee of Weyerhaeuser, arranged the donation. Volunteeers planted the seedlings along the Alameda Bypass in the mid-1970s.

A large pin oak standing beside the Boy Scout office at 1819 Manzanita St. was transplanted from the Klamath Falls post office on April 1, 1963. Nearly 50 people were involved in transplanting the tree that had been growing at the post office for about 30 years.

The internment camp for Japanese Americans at the community of Newell operated from May 27, 1942 to March 20, 1946. At its peak, the camp housed 18,789 people. A riot on Nov. 1, 1943, was sparked by accusations made against Caucasians for allegedly stealing food from the camp's warehouse.

A small portion of the internment center that remains in public ownership was designated as part of the WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument in December 2008. The designation also included Camp Tulelake, a compound on Hill Road west of Tulelake established by the Civilian Conservation Corps that was used as a German prisoner of war camp.

As its name implies, the trail is located on Upper Klamath Lake. Most people leave from the Rocky Point boat launch or resort, but access is also available from Malone Springs the boat launch. The canoe trail has four segments that offer views of marshes, mountains, forests and, seasonally, a variety of waterfowl and birds. The trail covers 9.5 miles.

The veterans memorial monument at the Klamath County Courthouse was built in 1954 at a cost of $5,352. It replaced an earlier monument built of plywood in 1943.

The stone monument measures 4 feet wide by 8 feet long and 24 feet high.  The shaft is built of rock quarried near Montague, Calif.

A bronze plaque on the shaft bears the names of Klamath County men who died in wars, including 17 in World War I, 185 in World War II and 20 in the Korean War.

The new memorial was dedicated on Memorial Day, May 31, 1954.

Source: Herald and News, May 27, 1954; May 26, 1963.

The timber company began buying timberland in Klamath County in September 1905. Eventually its Southern Oregon tree farm grew to 600,000 acres in Klamath, Lake, Jackson and Siskiyou counties.

The Weyerhaeuser sawmill in Klamath Falls, built in 1928-29, was billed as the largest pine mill in the world at the time. About 320 workers were laid off when the mill closed May 29, 1992.

Weyerhaeuser sold its timberlands in August 1996 to U.S. Timberlands.

A plywood mill built in 1971, a hardboard siding factory built in 1954, and particle board plant built in 1971 were sold in 1996 to Collins Products.

The park on Hope Street was dedicated in August 1948. Park and adjoining street were named after Harry L. Wiard, 1881-1970.

Williamson River Delta

In July 1996 the 4,800-acre property on Williamson River, then owned by Len Garrison, was sold to The Nature Conservancy. Wetland restoration, carried out in phases, began in 1997. Among the most notable restoration projects was the use of explosives in October 2007 to breach dikes that had been built by Tulana Farms some 60 years earlier. Goals of the restoration project include improvement of rearing habitat for endangered suckers.

Winema, better known as Toby Riddle in her day, was the Modoc Indian wife of a settler named Frank Riddle. She and her husband served as interpreters for the government's peace commission during the Modoc War of 1872-73. Her warnings that the Modocs might try to kill the commission members went unheeded, resulting in the deaths of Gen. Edward Canby and the Rev. Eleazar Thomas.

Toby Riddle was born sometime around 1842, and was the niece of Captain Jack, the best known of the Modoc leaders. Frank Riddle was a miner in Yreka when he purchased Toby from her father at age 12. The two later married and settled along the Lost River.

Years after the war, she and Frank were part of a speaking tour led by former Oregon Indian Superintendent Alfred B. Meacham, a peace commissioner who was wounded, but survived the attack. On the tour, Meacham gave Toby the name Winema, which means “Little Woman Chief.” She died in 1932.

Many local features and institutions were named for Winema, including the Winema National Forest, the Winema Hotel, and the steamboat Winema, launched in February 1905.

It hauled both passengers and freight between landings at Agency, Eagle Ridge, Klamath Falls, Odessa, Rocky Point and others. Commodities often hauled by the Winema and other steamships included hay, livestock and logs.

The steamship entered drydock in 1919, and was destroyed by fire in 1927.

Source: Klamath Echoes, No. 2, p. 38-44.

A transportation corridor dubbed the Winnemucca to the Sea Highway was promoted for many years in the 1950s by communities along the route that terminated in Crescent City, Calif. The route, which includes Highway 140 through Klamath County, was dedicated in ceremonies at Doherty Slide in Lake County on Sept. 22, 1962.

The 3,200-acre property, formerly known as the Wood River Ranch, was acquired by the Bureau of Land Management in 1993-94 at a cost of $2.7 million.

The wayside community along Highway 97 located 13 miles south of Klamath Falls is named for William S. Worden, who purchased property in the area and laid out a townsite. Worden was later elected county judge of Klamath County, serving from 1910 to 1913.

A post office at Worden opened Oct. 31, 1910, and the Hudson Lumber Co. operated at the town. The Tulana Farms elevator complex on the west side of the highway were built in 1946, and the million-bushel granary on the east side of the highway was added in 1954.

Source: Oregon Geographic Names; Klamath Country History, 1984, Klamath County Historical Society.

YMCA

The Klamath County Family YMCA was organized in 1947. Its headquarters for the first year were in the Balsiger used car lot. The organization then moved to the National Guard Armory for three years, and then to the former Fluhrer's Bakery building at 722 Pine St.

The YMCA broke ground in 1969 on a new $545,000 facility at 1221 S. Alameda Ave. It formally opened in January 1971. The old bakery building was demolished later that year.

Source: Herald and News, Jan. 15, 1971, p. 12.

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