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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1963)
mlmeih Mm s Hi Morse-dram frothy By FLOYD L. WYNNE The population explosion hil Klamath Kalis in 1906-1907. As the 20th Century pulled over the horizon it found a sleepy lit- tlo town along the shores of Link River somewhat isolated from the rest of the world and apparently content to stay that way. After the excitement engendered by the Modoc Indian War of 1872, . the town had lapsed back into its! commonplace existence as a town1 of hardy pioneers dependent upon the stock raisers of the area mainly lor its commerce. The effects of irrigation had al ready been explored, but not to any great extent. However, after 1900 arrived, the Klamath Canal Company made an enlarged effort at irrigation and prospects for farming in the area began to blossom. ; Simultaneously, there was talk iii: timber development with big companies moving into the area lo secure timber stands for future "ikvelopment. '.Then developments, in turn, brought talk of a railroad that -would end the isolation of the Klamath Basin. Each month "brought new rumors, new reports of rail lines headed for the Klam- :ath country. : In the meantime, the two main routes in or out of the area were -torturous ones indeed. One could go by stage or boat to Keno, by stage from there to Pokegama where they could meet tho rail line. Or, one could go by steam er to Laird's landing on the south end of Lower Klamath Lake and make railroad connections near there. Into this setting came the pro moters, the developers. The Klamath Canal Company purchased and began to promote the Buena Vista Addition, lying north in the California Avenue area now, and up along the lake on Front Street. Another company, known as the Klamath Development Company (or KD Company) purchased what is now the Hot Springs area and began to promote this area. In 1906, with the railroad coming nearer and nearer. Irrigation ex panding and timber coming to the liont, competition between the I'ao companies became keen and intense. Late in 1905, the KD Company1 applied to the council for aulhor-j ity to operate a trolley car which would travel from downtown to the Hot Springs area. The Klam- alh Canal Company countered in January, 1906, by also asking fori u franchise to operate a trolleyi car, this one to go down Conger, .Avenue, the California Avenue area and up to Front Street, then, hack to the Main Street area ter minus. C. N. Hawkins was pros! dent of the Klamath Canal Com p.iny and the organization owned -loo acres In the Buena Vista Addi tion tl;ey were promoting. Actual route of the Klamatli ( anal Company's trolley was out lined in the franchise as: begin-! innfi at northerly end of rrospect Avenue in Nichols Addition. thence south along Prospect to loth Street, then southeasterly along 10th to Washington, then southwesterly along Washington Id Ninth, then along 9th to Pine .street, then along Pine to 7th M reel, then on Seventh to Walnut, iilong Walnut to Third, along Third to Main, along Main to Conger, then along Conger to its northern terminus. Also, beginning at In tersection of Sixth and Walnut. don southeasterly along Sixth to E!m, then southwesterly along Lim to the terminus. Only area of conflict with n similar franchise granted earlier to A. II. Naftzger of the KD Com Kiny, was on Main Street from Third lo Conger Avenue. . The Hawkins franchise provided that work would commence by July 1, 1906 and be completed vithin 18 months. In mid March of 1906 work com menced on the M.500.000 govern ment canal by the Mason Davis t ompany, including the digging o( tho 3100 foot long tunnel. Mean- I. me, tlie Klamath Canal Com iiiiny announced grandiose plans lor right miles of boulevards, n huge tourist hotel and boat limine on the lake. Meantime, the council had stipu lated that the first company to l.iy its rails on Main Street would be able to collect usage money (rom the other company for the Main Street rails since they would permit only the one set of rails on Mam Stteet. Newspaper files (or the period from March of 1908 to November o r.i are not available so it Is not possible to document all l.ic!s nl early line construction l iir that reason, we must refen to a newspaper article by Doris I'almer Tayn which was written prior to 1940 in the Evening Her a'd. In her article, she notes that Major Charles Worden and D. B ( amphell were the principal local tiijurrs o( the KD Company and W illiam K. Brown of the Klamath Canal Company. She reports that each faction then vowed to have the first rails down, and that Major Worden bet RiOB with Brown that they would r. their rails in first. The ;et for a thrilling turn of events. The Kirkpatrick brothers were trading streets in the Hot Springs rrea for KD, and Campbell asked them to have some six-horse teams ready at a moment's notice to go and get the rails for a street car. In the meantime, Brown hired a teamster, J. M. Mclntlre, to haul rails from Pokegama for the Klamath Falls Land and Transportation Company, a sub sidiary of the Klamath Canal Company. . ' Each side was carefully check- San Francisco and was the of the horse-drawn trolley's first Sutter Streetcar. It arrived in Klamath Falls with the Sutter Street sign still on it. The Klamath Republican of April 18, 1907, carried the account trip. It reads: "The first street car to be operated in this city was run from the corner ol Main Street and Conger Avenue last Saturday afternoon under the di- The preparation of this story and the acquiring of pictures to document the story would have been im possible without the assistance of Hal Ogle, Mrs. Minnie Grizzle, the Klamath County Museum and number of other sources. We are indebted to them for their aid. STREET CAR ARRIVES This was the great day of June 15, 1907, when the street ear arrived from San Frencisco. One can see the words "Sutter" on the front. The trolloy was from the proud Bay City fleet and traversed Sutter Street. R. E. Hunsaker drove the two-teams that pulled it into town. It is shown halted in front of the Bald win Hardware Store, now the Baldwin Motel. ft TH A ' . f '.;.(.-.. ..... . - 0ft T i. 'X' :, JULY FOURTH PARADE The horsecar was officially put into service as a part of the July Fourth celebration in 1907. The parade that day also turned out to be one of the most festive In the history of the town. Here, a decorated pair of horses and buggy roll down Main Street alongside the trolley tracks. MEET THE PEOPLE WHO SAVE YOU MORE fl GREAT THINGS BREWING The feeling of optimism and coming growth domi. nated activities of the 1907 Fourth of July celebration, Weyerhaeuser and other big timber interests had only recently purchased big stands of timber, the railroad was slowly moving toward Klamath Falls, and land speculation was rampant. This was typical of the well-decorated floats that took part in the 1907 parade. Ing on the vher and knew just what they were planning. One morning. Campbell ordered Kirkpatrick to hitch up. and would not tell tliem w here they were go ing until they had left town. Then, they were told to head for Grass Lake where thry would pick up tracks for the trolley. Brown immediately dispatched Mclntire to Tokegama lo pk k up rails for the trolley, also. He real ized that the KD Companv had the jump on him, so he dispatched Bob Hunsaker with a gallon jug of whiskey to meet the outfit com-, ing from (irass Lake. Hunsaker apparently did his work well. The hard-pressed trsnv strrs rnjoyed a brief respite Irom their labors and accepted the ad vice from Hunsaker about the best road lo take to get to Klam ath Falls. As a result they wound up hoMV lesly mired in the mud ami lost the race lo have Ihe first rails put down. ' Brown won the $.'ro and tlie race as Mclntire pulled into town with the rails (or the trolley. Thr Payne dispatch says that Brown did not wail for Ihe rails but hired every man available and began tearing up Ihe streets for the track at midnight on a Satur day. The crews worked trserishly throughout Sunday and into Mon dav preparing tlie roadbed for tlie tracks. Brown promptly threw a big party to celebrate Ihe triumph. Work, however, en in grading for Ihe rails continued for many months, and it was not until mid April 1907 that tlie first streetcar becan operation. f Y Bob Jonci Mrs. Bob Jones Your Safeco Agency JjN Southern Oregon Insurance Agency 119 So. 6th Ph. TU 2-4671 rection of Mr. Bucll of the Klam ath Falls Land and Transporta tion Company. While it was an improvised affair it sufficed to carry nearly twenty guests of Mr. Buell to the Upper Lake where they enjoyed a ride on the newi Buena Vista launch. The launch got its initial bath Friday after noon when a large number of citizens were present to witness, the christening and tlie trip Satur day afternoon was the first long trial trip of the new boat." Tlie article continued . . . "Tlie work of ballasting the track com menced this week and will be l' AGE J-A pushed to completion as rapidly as possible." However, there appears to be some discrepancy in the details, because a later article in the Re publican dated June 20, 1907. says: "The first streetcar to reach this city was brought in Saturday (Continued on Page 5-A HERALD AND NEWS, Klamath Falls, Ore. Sunday, February 24, 196J Just for the record . . . weVe sounding our own horn about our 43rd FURNITURE 1920-1963 Ever since our founding in 1920, the name of Lucas has been associated with fine furniture and floor coverings, and many Klamath home makers have been our customers all that time! i With an area of over 20,000 square feet (over Vi an acre) Lucas Furni ture is one of the largest furniture stores in Southern Oregon or Northern Cali fornia, and an affiliate firm, Lucas and Howard in Lakeview, serves the people of that area. Wide selections in a complete price range, plus easy credit terms make Lucas Furniture a convenient, friendly place to trade. Come in . . . browse around . . . make Lucas "your" furniture store, too! V - t-i. i m y?&w-'l' mi" i iJ'. k4 A ' TAiiM:hjLd e . . J Part of the huge rug department one of the largest in Southern Oregon, featuring Karastan and Lees. Buy with Confidence -Famous Brands You k Lees and Karastan Carpets Armstrong Linoleum RCA Whirlpool Appliances k Biltwell, Kroehler, Tempo and Leonetti Upholstered Furniture Flint Ridge Maple it Bauman Fine Furniture -k Bassett Bedroom Furniture -k Virtue Brothers Dinettes k Simmons and Serta Mattresses and Springs k Strato-Lounger, Barca-Loungcr and Slytcr Roto-Rock Chairs JO.?. Your credit is good at Lucas Furniture! In Lakeview . . . LUCAS and HOWARD 12 No. e St. 0 in Klamath . . FURNITURE, mi . MAIN money was put up and the stage The sticetcir was purchased
