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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1963)
HERALD AVD NEWS, Klamalh Falls. Ore. Sunday, Kohruary 24, 1963 PAGE 5-A T:J' 11; v T? ..u J 3 -K-vi.si. ALONG THE MUDDY STREETS Occasionally during the muddy season, four horses instead of two would be used to pull the horsecar, as in this view. Also, youngsters de lighted in climbing atop the horsecar and bedevilinq Charley Adams, the driver. The streets were unpaved and, as the picture proves, muddy indeed. TIED TO DEVELOPMENTS This was the Buena Vista, named for the. addition pro moted by the Klamath Canal Company, and for which promotion the horsecar was originated. No one seems certain of this event, but it may be the event of April, 1907, which recounts a trip by J. M. Bucll and about 20 guests on the trolley line, then for an excursion on the Buena Vista which had been launched only the day before on April 12, 1907. TROLLEY IN OPERATION The one-and-only horse-drawn trolley of Klamath Falls is shown near the end of the line on Linlc River near Upper Klamath Lake. From left to right, Judge George Grizzle holding his youngor daughter, Thelma, Mrs. Grizzle, Mrs. Fry, a relative, and on the driver's seat, Charley Adams, driver. Horse-Drawn Trolley Once Served In City (Continued Jrom Page 2-A) by It. E. Hunsakcr and has at tracted a great deal of attention. 0. A. Stearns took time by the forelock and boarded the car at his home and paid his fare for the privilege. "It is the intention of Manaser Bucll to place the car at the dis posal of the Fourth of July com mittee and the service will be inaugurated on the National Hol iday." Apparently the earlier street car was merely an improvised type of car. not the Sutter Streetcar which actually arrived in June of 1907. Tickets for $1.50 each were sold for the streetcar ride of the fourth. These were souvenir tick ets. R. M. Richardson was the motnrman and Dr. Martin col lected the fares. The Fourth ot July proved to be one of the most sparkling parade affairs the city has ever seen. The future was rosy indeed for the budding community. The rail road was pushing near, the irri gation canal would soon be ready, land developments were being pushed ahead in Hot Springs and Buena Vista, with the KD Com pany also pushing new develop ments at Midland, Dorris and Mount Hebron points. Klamath Falls stood on thc thrcshold of great growth. Fore casts were flowing freely of communitv of 50.0110 persons. This was big talk (or a mall town of only 2.000 persons, but everyone could feel the breath of growth blowing down the Klamath Basin The streetcar was inaugurated Horse-powered, it was destined for an early demise by a com bination of events. The KD Com pany, having lost the race of the rails, did not follow through with a trollcv of its own. Instead, it pushed the paving of roads in the Hot Springs area, promoting its development vigorously and toil scoring the crowning triumph w ith the construction of the White Telican Hotel. The little horse-drawn street car. meantime, found itself hard- pressed for customers and be deviled hy the weather and the muddy streets. It would run to the end of the line where the horses were un hitched, taken around to the other end and hitched up for the return trip. The city frequently asked the company to modernize its horse-j car and convert it into an electric! trolley. Despite frequent prom-1 iscs of good intentions, the com pany failed to improve beyond the two-horse stage. Finally in 1010 the city admin istration issued an ultimatum to the company to modernize or else with the result that the city can celled the franchise and found it self in the trolley business. It lasted only a short time, how ever, and the city junked the sys tem. The trolley car eventually came to rest in Moore Park where it became a fixture for many years. In 1M0 they were still wailing for money to fix it up. Hjwevcr. fire struck it. and about all that remains todav is a few pieces of it. still at Moore Park. In 19:18, Copco unearthed a sec tion of the old rail line while dig-' ging on Main .Street. Along the old. route the horsecar followed out California Avenue to Front Street, embedded beneath the sur face one may still find sandstone markers about six inches square and a foul and a half long with a cross chiseled inlt the lop. Today, the horsecar is just a memory to some of the old-timers, and something that has only been mentioned in the town's history to late comers, but there was such a horsecar and its hitory was pretty synonymous with the ad vent of Klamath Falls into the age of population explosion. To day, some f3 years after the turn of the century, facts prove that1 they were pretty good prophets, back in those days. The county j that had only 7.000 people then' has now grown past the 50.000 mark, and the town that was just 2.000 people now is about 30.000 to 35.000 if one includes the sub urbs which were only vacant hillsides or open pasture land as the ccnturv turned. li Government Canal Capped Irrigation History In County While space in this issue docs not permit us to fully explore the history behind the irrigation that enabled the Klamath Country to blossom out into a major agri cultural center, it is important to briefly recognize the various irri gation attempts. The first such attempt was made by a number of I.inkville citizens who organized the Link ville Water Ditch Company back in lfiTR. II years alter Linkville was begun. A hcadcale was placed in the fast bank of Link River near its entrance off Upper Klamath Lake and a small canal was dug through the then town of Link ville and the water was used to irrigate town lots. It was known as the Ankcny Canal. In IftJU. William .Slccle. a rancher, acquired rights in the company and extended the ditch rut into the sagebrush for about 15 miles to permit cultivation ant to prove up on government land Forty miner s inches of water was given the company and Steele took the rest. After his death in iwa. the Klamath Falls Irrigation Compa ny was termed which enlarged the canal to a capacity of 50 sec ond feet. The canal ran alone the foot hills in a southeasterly direction from Klamath Falls for about e ;ht m.lcs where it divided into two branches. The maximum acreage irrigated war, probably never greater than 4.000 acres. While this canal was being util ized, others sprang up in the area. The Van Brimmer brothers built a canal to supply water from the White Lake arm of Lower Klam ath to about 4.000 acres in the vicinity of Merrill. This was in I8JH. In infff. J. Frank Adams com pleted a small canal from Lost River to Adams Point, about six miles This was known as the Lit tle Klamalh Water Ditch Com pany. It was later extended to about 22 miles in length. The Moore Brothers. Charles and Rufuj built a ditch in 1877 that Urk off near the Itapids on Link River, ran along the west hank (or alxiut OV) feet. This was used to transport logs and (urnish power. In 18!I2 it was reconstruct ed to a length of 3.750 feet and water used (or power (or a flour mill and for irrication. On Mav 18. 11104. the Klamath Canal Company was orcamzed and incorporated (or $1 million This comiany acquired certain rights n( way and water filings along a line which had been ex plored for a government canal Their rights were finally pur chased from the federal govern ment for Jl.vi.nno. In 1!H officials of the Reclama tion Service 'organized two years before' laid down four stipulations the area must meet before gov- irnnliniK-d On Page 13-A) 'j-. - "t uriTT t mi -tt i' Silica Win . . . 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