1930 – 1939

  … Rocky Point, Upper Klamath Lake, Fort Klamath, Crater Lake, Klamath Development Company
•  … Transportation, Logging. Railroads, Power, Communications, Mining
•  … Reclamation, Farming, Merrill, Malin, Tulelake
  … Klamath Falls, Jacksonville, Medford, Ashland
  … Indians, Klamath & Yainax Agency, Chiloquin, Spring Creek, Sprague

    1930
    • The USA population is 123,202,624, Oregon’s  is 953,786 and Klamath Falls’ population is over 16,000.
    January 2, price of gas raised by tax from 25 to 26 ½ cents per gallon.
    • January 4, Klamath Falls’ second six-story building, Oregon Bank Building, is nearing completion.
    • January 10, Dr. Ralph Stearns shows pictures taken on world tour.
    January 13, Highway officials rename Sand Mountain to Sun Mountain at suggestion of O.C. Applegate.
    •  January 13, Remodeling of Southern Pacific Railroad depot nearly complete.
    • January 21, murder trial to start with John G. Wright defendant and Sydney E. Darling the victim. John Wright would be found guilty.
    January, Bert E. Haney goes to Washington, D.C., to lobby for Poe Valley – Malin route for Great Northern Railroad.
    January, Harold Christie, Klamath cattle rustler, goes to state pen.
    January, Old Indian feud breaks out in Beatty district, the Riddles and the Bakers have been feuding since the murder of Bidwell Riddle on Nov. 28, 1928.
    Praise for Klamath’s potatoes nationwide.
    Klamath farmers send butter to San francisco Bay area market.
    Double rotary plow obtained for Crater Lake which will help roads to open earlier.
    • Telephone company says 3400 telephones are in use.
    February, Durant car, prices start at $785.
    • February, Klamath Falls ranks fourth in state in bank deposits.
    February, ‘Down Race’ to break trails for Fort Klamath ski event sponsored by the Baldwin Hotel.
    February 7, complaints about Indian agent L.D. Arnold and clerk R.W. Wheat go before U.S. Senate.
    • Each community in Klamath County is asked to have an entrant in the “Beauty Contest” which will be part of the Automobile Show to be staged here in March. The sponsors say girls between 18-25, 5 feet 5 inches, weight 125, would be good candidates.
    New bridge to be built at Keno.
      Southern Pacific Railroad intends to erect a bridge across Link River, a few feet below the highway bridge, to connect their industrial sites on both sides of the river.
    •  February 18,   American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovers the planet Pluto at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.
    Ski jumping a feature at Fort Klamath.
    • Human spider Johnny Woods to climb Willard Hotel.
    February 21, ski race from Fort Klamath to Crater Lake is held.
    • February 24, snowfall did not keep golfers from Reames Golf and Country Club.
    Effort will be made to bring Owens Valley farmers from California to Langell Valley. C.A. Henderson leads effort to have Owen Valley farmers to resettle in Klamath County.
    •  March, Klamath County sixth in car registrations in state.
     •  March, Southern Pacific spur line constructed to J. W. Kerns warehouse on South Sixth Street.
    • March, body of John D. Zoete, Italian, was found lying on floor of his cold cabin at Algoma, guarded by his dog, apparent suicide.
    • March, first time in history of motion pictures, the Columbia Pictures will hold a world premiere in klamath falls instead of Hollywood, Mr. MacPherson, Vox theater, persuaded the company to allow the residents of Klamath Falls to view Jack Holt, former Klamath County resident in his latest production Vengeance before it was released to rest of the world.
    •  March, Klamath Falls airport work is planned to start.
    • March 14, Baldwin Hotel purchased by Andy B. Moore.
     • March 28,  Copco drills well on Conger Avenue, drilling ceases at 856 feet.
    • March 28, Guardian Building & Loan opens Malin branch.
    April 12, General Sand and Gravel Company’s first scow-load of Williamson River sand was brought down the river and lake to the boat landing at Shippington.
    April 17, Post office opens at Lake of the Woods.
    • April 17, Jack Dalton robbed the Oregon Woolen Mills Store, locked manager and customers in closet after forcing manager to hand over money, hired taxi to haul him home. He evades sheriff deputies for several days before being caught in Malin and then sent the next day to the state penitentiary.
    • April 25, Klamath Bus Company opens service.
      May 2, Northern Pacific Railway Company officials believe that Klamath Falls ships more lumber by rail than any other lumbering center in the U. S.
    • May 2, Tex Howard and his 11 musicians arrive for their dance engagement at the Altamont Tavern in a giant 12 passenger Ford Cabin plane.
    • May 2, Capt. O. C. Applegate guides a party of 60, or more, on a tour of the Lava Beds. He will lead tours throughout the year.
    May 5, Fred Cornell, sheepherder, slain on Lower Klamath Lake.
    • May 7, Klamath Heating Company will abolish outdoor sawdust pile.
    • May 7, Oregon Governor Norblad gives address at 10th annual Chamber of Commerce banquet.
    • May 9,  J.D. Howard tells of carvings at Peninsula during trip to Portland.
    May 13, new train service for the handling of logs between Chinchalo, the logging camp of the Kesterson Lumber Company and Klamath Falls, has been established.
    May 14, pine beetle crews ready to do business in Crater Lake National Park.
    May 15, Kokawas Drew, 92, a resident of Beatty, and believed to be one of the oldest known Indians on the reservation, died last night at her home, she was a Modoc that had resided on the Klamath reservation.
    May 15, Copco authorizes water system for Shippington.
    May 20, Fire in Bonanza destroys blacksmith shop, bank, post office, restaurant, drug store, and general merchandise store. at first there was doubt Bonanza would rebuild but that was quickly dismissed.
    • May 20, two negro women arrested in Klamath Falls on charges of solicitation.
    May 20, William Bray, well known Klamath lumberman, launched a 32-foor gasoline tugboat on Lake Ewauna, which will be used for hauling logs up the Klamath river from Keno to Klamath Falls. The boat was shipped from Oakland.
    June 2, $450.00 will buy a garden tract in Altamont Acres.
    • June 5, special train arrives at the Southern Pacific depot in Klamath Falls with 175 Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce prominent citizens. A group of Klamath Falls business men, waiting with automobiles, present visitors with a itinerary, short resume of Klamath Falls history, its growth and resources before going on a tour.
    • June 6, Ralph Hill, a Klamath Falls youth, is in Chicago to race against nation’s best. Earlier in the year he had set the Oregon State high school record for the mile.
    June 7, Klamath Flying Service is operating three planes, two are owned by Alexander Eaglerocks and a Travelair owned by Norman Hansen.
    • June 9, prohibition officer Albert Brown killed near Alturas, posse scours hills in Modoc Co. for Rodney Selby, suspected killer.
    Earl Ager started one of the first Tulelake businesses. He built a 
warehouse on the new Tulelake railroad siding and sold Case tractors.
    • June 9, laying of butane gas mains gets under way.
    June 9, Carpenter brothers are in charge of the new tugboat Florence towing logs on Klamath River.
    Mountain Lakes Primitive area is one of the first primitive areas approved by Chief Forester Robert Y. Stewart.
    • June 14, F.W. Bold and son, of Bonanza, have let a contract to L. C. Mills, and T. K. Harker of Klamath Falls for a one story concrete store building, 50 by 90 feet, on the site of the old blacksmith shop which was recently destroyed in a fire at a cost of $12,000 to $15,000.
    • June 16, Frank Martin under arrest for delivering whiskey onto reservation.  this will be a common offense throughout the 1930’s.
    • June 17, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act is signed by President Herbert Hoover. Its effective rate hikes would slash world trade.
    1930’s: State plant bass, crappie, yellow perch, carp, bullhead catfish in Upper Klamath Lake.
    J.W. Taylor, homesteader and engineer,
laid out the to-be Tulelake streets, property lines and blocks.
    • June 17, while digging at the corner of Sixth and Main street to make a basement and foundation for the erection of a new First National Bank, workers found several old iron pieces, relics from the first building on that location, Carick’s Blacksmith Shop. Mr. Carick, was killed in Klamath County by lightning.
     • June 19, two runways at the airport are finished.
    • June 25, Midland Road is the first oiling project done by County.
    • June 25, Shippers defeat Sawmill Department in a Weyerhaeuser League ball game.
      June 25, reports unfavorable to covering the “A” Canal.
    June 30, Clayton Kirk, full-blooded Indian, admits to killing of Louie Knight, half-breed, in gunfight.
    • June 30, Game Warden Marion Barnes warns picking up fawns is against the law.
    Joe Mancini, an Italian immigrant, cut all the rock and built the walls around the Sinnott Memorial and the Crater Lake rim parking lot. ( 1930 – 1933.)
    • August 12, technology moves forward.  Clarence Birdseye invents frozen food with his quick-freezing process and patents the concept.
    October 11, dispute over authority of state to issue permit for Copco hydropower plant on Klamath River.
    October 13, slight earthquake felt Crater Lake.
    • October 20, new Federal building in Klamath Falls.
    November 15, State attorney general rules that the state has no authority to issue permit for Copco power project on Klamath River.
    November 28, Mrs. Bath authorized to protect birds on Link River
    • December 2, in order to combat the growing depression, President Herbert Hoover asks the U.S. Congress to pass a $150 million public works project to increase employment and economic activity.

    1931
    January 6,  shakeup takes place in Klamath Falls Police Force, eight officer dismissed.
    January 8,  Fish, Game Committee will report on stream closings and fishermen vs sportsmen.
    January 12,  division over Klamath Irrigation District proposed purchase of McCormack site.
    • January 12,  Rogers, local banker, thinks Depression will be over by July.
    January 17, Great Northern Railroad routed through Klamath Falls.
    January 19, A.M. Thomas of Klamath Irrigation District present at Washington DC public lands meeting.
    • January 19, Natural Gas Corporation opened new plant.
     January 28, Klamath retail businesses reach $14 million in census. Crop value in Klamath County over $5 million.
    January 28, E. Mead of Reclamation opposes local canal roof.
    February 3, bank cashier confesses to robbing Chiloquin bank.
    February 3, Klamath Irrigation District and Copco plan arbitration.
    February 6, Butler Bill passes authorizing Klamath Irrigation District to buy McCormick power site,
    • February 20, the first annual Pioneer Dinner is held at
    Presbyterian Church in Klamath Falls.
    February 20, proposed bill to allow $4,500,000 hydroelectric development on the Klamath River. Klamath Falls city council favors support of power bill.
    • February 28,   beautiful blonde woman, Pearl McGinnis, aka Lottie Mason of Seattle, found  horribly slashed to dead in Willard Hotel. Charles Wells was arrested. Authorities later ruled Mason was victim of suicide.
    March 2, Malin man, William Clements, arrested for shooting up town.
    • •  March 2, Dairymen meet meet in Fort Klamath, 4,000 watch winter carnival.
    March 4, Senate passes power bill; Copco gets small portion of what it sought for Klamath River projects but development of power projects now possible. March 7, Klamath Falls men visit Salem to protest bill.
    • March 3, the Star-Spangled Banner, by Francis Scott Key, is approved by President Hoover and Congress as the national anthem.
    • March 3, Police wages cleanup drive on “sporting district” aka prostitution.
    March 10, Tulelake town site to open.
    •  March 10, Klamath River Indians protest plan to close river to commercial fishing. Oregon Governor Meier vetoes Copco bill. Copco plans to build Keno dam.
    • March 11, Lake County joins California-Oregon Development Association.
    The first Tulelake 
school building was built in 1931. Tulelake Elementary School opened up in 1933
 and a three room Tulelake High School was built in 1934.
    March 12, Contract to be let for construction of Klamath Falls-Weed Highway. March 18, California Legislature approves Weed Highway.
    March 16, Ralph Budd, president of Great Northern Railroad delivered speech in Klamath Falls. Great Northern awaiting two decisions, one regarding Merrill and Malin. Great Northern gets permission on March 18 to build line to the south.
    • March 17, the state of Nevada legalizes gambling.
    March 18, Columbia Utilities Company will take over Reclamation Service telephone system.
    March 18, lumber yard to be built in Tulelake.
    Tulelake post office opens.
    March 19, Klamath Development Company names Stephen Sabo as manager.
    • March 20, Officers close another house of prostitution, Green Front house in the flats.
    • March 20, work completed on J.W. Copeland lumber shed.
    • March 21, Jimmie Whippo’s OSC Campus Cords, dance band and a real “terpsichorean treat” to appear at Altamont.
    March 21, Copco cuts electric rates for irrigators pumps.
    March 21, homesteads allotted to 24 veterans of World War I at Tule Lake.
    March 28, Great Northern and Southern Pacific reach agreement on use of tracks.
    March 30, Joshua Odell “Joe” Swindler, Chiloquin chief of police, shot and killed by wife, second-degree charge filed against Letha Gray Swindler. Murder trial started May 7.
    April 15, first public auction of
 Tulelake lots was held. 121 lots were sold on that 
day for between $65 and $350.
    Spring, construction begins on the Weed – Klamath Falls Highway.
    May 1, construction is completed on the Empire State Building in New York City and it opens for business.
     May 3, Chiloquin is the largest livestock shipping point on Southern Pacific Railroad lines in Oregon. 6,000 head of cattle go out every fall and come back in the spring.
    • July 2, Thousands thrilled by air stunts at Klamath Falls airport.
    • August 19, Tom Mix with Circus performs in Klamath Falls.
    • Another mud flow on Mt. Shasta was handled easily because of new channel built after the 1924 flow.
    September 19, Klamath County completes new Link River Bridge.
    October 2, Mayor rushes to rescue of park caretaker in deer attack,
    • October 9, sheepman Russell Fogg shot and killed near Bonanza, Fred Morrow surrenders.
    • October 12, turkeys being raised on Bloomingcamp ranch on Skillet Handle.
    • October 21, new federal building housing post office and Reclamation offices is dedicated.
    October 22, second story to be added to Great Northern depot.
    November 7, Pine Tree Theater to open under management of Harry Poole.
    November 12, Bank of Bonanza robbed, $4,000 taken, Fred Johnson, Bob Wilson charged with robbery.
    November 13, Oregon State Highway Department takes over the Klamath Lake Highway from Klamath Falls to Lake of the Woods.
    • November 15, bandits hold up poker party, $1,500 taken, nine are arrested for gambling.
    • November 15, first turkey shipment from Bloomingcamp ranch readied.
    November 19, Klamath County first to start movement aimed at refund of Indian money.
    December 3, Diamond Lake inclusion in Crater Lake National Park opposed.
    • December 15,  Police Chief & Judge argue over double-parking in Klamath Falls.

    1932
    January 6, old settler Frank Duke, with a good memory, recalls severe drouth of 1889.
    • January 22, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation is established to stimulate banking and business. Unemployment in 1932 reached twelve million workers.
    • January 22, singing of Nelson Eddy warmly appreciated by a sold out show at Klamath Union High School.
    January 29, Winema is the newest town in great Tulelake District.
    • January 29, Klamath Falls Fire Department moves to Central Station.
    • May 28, Sea Scout ship Norse King ready for service on Upper Klamath Lake.
    July 9, by presidential order the Crater National Forest becomes the Rogue River National Forest.
    August 2, Klamath Falls attacks a canal hazard – 11 recorded drownings over past five years.
    American Legion Post 164 was built in Tulelake, California. Other developments in the 1930’s
 included the two-story Clyde Hotel, Shasta Lunch, clothing store, Marcha Theater 
and Tulelake Hotel.
    August 3, saving Skyline trail as a primitive area or highway becomes a discussed issue.
    • Haircuts for adults cost 50 cents and 35 cents for children.
    Clarence Hedgepath, Harry Reed and Lee Corbin built and launched a boat at the wineglass slide at Crater Lake. The Hedgepeths were the only people to ever have a private boat on Crater Lake, about five years. The reason was they lived at the lake.
    • November 8, Democratic challenger Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats incumbent President Hoover in the presidential election for his first of an unprecedented four terms.
    November 22, Beatty teacher, Lenora Johnson, puts intruding Indians to flight.
    December 8, Eagle Ridge Tavern burns.
    • December 10, Negro to hang; Theodore Jordan convicted in murder of train attendant Sullivan.
    • December 12, ducks frozen in ice on Upper Klamath Lake.
    Winter 33-34: snowfall accumulation at Crater Lake is 36.8 feet.

    1933
    • February 26, bomb rocks Main Street.
    • March 31, the Civilian Conservation Corps is authorized under the Federal Unemployment Relief Act. It would provide work for two and one-half million men during the succeeding nine years and help construct many national park and other projects across the United States.
    April 6, A. Geary donates land for gardens for those on relief.
     • April 10, City officers arrest thirteen for liquor Sales to Indians.
    May 4, Klamath rancher R.E. Geary dies in Portland Hospital.
    May 5, naturalist W.A. Finley revisits Upper Klamath Basin and describes previous studies.
    May 20, Oakland man, E.P. Ivory, owner of the Ivory Pine Company, buys Pelican City Mill.
    • May 27, Klamath Brewery Company to start in Klamath Falls.
    June 6, car radios installed for State Patrol.
    June 7, Southern Pacific Railroad prices for round trip to San Francisco cost $17.95. Round trip to Los Angeles costs $32.75.
    • July 27, two Armory fund measures beaten by small margin. The following newspaper headlines reported: 8-2, Country Armory Project Pushed. 8-7, Final Armory Action Pending. 8-11, Armory site Group meets, choice pending. City and County study proposals for Armory Site. 8-17, Site for Armory named on Monday. 8-21 Public Building will be erected on Main St. 8-25 Armory Bond issue before City Leaders, Levy to Retire Debt of $45,000. 9-6, Final Armory Approval pends, Public works board expected to accept. 9-18, Armory Work May start soon.
    November 7, fire destroys grandstands at fairgrounds.
    • November 7, City adopts liquor restrictions that challenge state laws. State vows lawsuit.
    November 11, in South Dakota, a strong dust storm strips topsoil from depression era farms. It was one in a series of such storms to plague the Midwest during 1933 and 1934.
    • December 5, the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed, ending prohibition.

    1934
    • January 1, U.S. Department of Commerce officials pledges $10,000 for Klamath Falls airport runway development.
    Congress passes the Indian reorganization Act, providing for Indian self-government and corporate business councils modeled on the Klamath Plan proposed in the mid-1920s by Wade Crawford and the Klamath Tribe. Now, the Klamath Tribe votes against implementing the Act.
    • March 24, Police Chief J.R. Shaw indicted, fired in April 27, Willis Mahoney campaign money scandal.
    April 23, two Crater Lake Lumber Company employees, Art Hagerty, Gus Carson, drown in log drive accident on Whiskey Creek.
    • April 27, Horace Manning acquited in murder of attorney and legislator Ralph Horan.
    • May 19, Willis Mahoney loses bid for Democratic nomination for governor.
    • June 25, noted scientists studying local Indians.
     July 16, new road built by CCC crews up Pelican Butte provides scenic thrill.
    July 24, Indian commissioner’s report pegs Klamaths as richest tribe.
    July 26, Robert Spink died after accumulating 520 acres on Spring Creek, 400 of which he had at his death and left to his heirs.
    • July 30, fire destroys mill and much of the town of Dorris.
    • Klamath falls City Council considers measures to rid the city of a black widow spider infestation.
    August 1, Eleanor Roosevelt visits Crater Lake National Park.
    • August 20, seven arrested in liquor raids, Mayor Mahoney describes Main Street conditions as deplorable.
    • August 24, North Klamath Falls American Legion Post drum corps wins state title in Astoria.
    • August 29, Judge Alfred L. Leavitt dies.
    August 21, Crater Lake stamps will be issued.
    C.C.C. camps were established at Lost Creek, Annie Springs and at Wineglass Slide at Crater Lake.
    Klamath Reservation population was 1,201
    • Airmail postage rates reduced from eight to six cents.
    • September 1, slot machines banned in Klamath Falls by City Mayor Willis E. Mahoney.
    October,  Potato Festival begins in Merrill to celebrate the end of the harvest and farming life in general.

    1935
    • January 16, Henry Semon heads House Ways and Means Committee.
    • February 3, Moore Park cougar has rickets.
    • March 19, Adeline Yarbrough, mother of three, shot down and murdered as is Roy Biehn who dies a day later.
    Gus and Olive Johnson lease Harriman Lodge for girls camp. (1935-39).
    Eighteen lumber companies are working in the Klamath Falls area.
    July 1, Gus and Olive Johnson move to Harrimans Lodge.
    • July 4, Oregon Shakespeare Festival opens in Ashland.
    • A community center and gymnasium, with a stage, is built at 1451 main Street.
    • August 14, the Social Security Act is passed by Congress as part of the New Deal legislation and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It would begin payouts to retirees within two years. Workers began contributing into the system during the same year, at a rate of 2% of the first $3,000 in earnings, half paid by the employee and half paid by the employer.
    Census reveals 1,420 Indians on the rolls at Klamath Agency, 35 tribes are represented on the Reservation’s 1,000,000 acres.
    Earl and Dorothy
 Ager started a grocery business at the Clyde
Hotel in Tulelake.
    • August 21, the Historic Sites Act is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, declaring a national policy to preserve historic sites, including National Historic Landmarks.
    Civilian Conservation Corp. makes road to top of Pelican Butte, once known as “Lost Peak”, passable by car in 30’s.
    • December 2, bridge across Klamath River going up on Weed-Klamath Falls highway.
    December 4, Mary LaLakes dies at age 107.

    1936
    February 6, “Hobo blockade” in effect in Dorris as Los Angeles police try to intercept indigent travelers. Vagrants are chased away from the California – Oregon border.
    • April 3, 250 acres donated as addition to Moore Park.
    May 21, Indians vote on four timber sales. The House approved Indian measures two weeks earlier.
    • July 1, boy killed in auto racing mishap at county fairgrounds.
    Summer, the State Highway department improves and oils the Klamath Lake Highway.
    • Harry Reed was in charge of equipment maintenance on the Klamath Indian Reservation. ( 1936 – 1942).
    An Indian team delivers the first defeat in 1,000 games to the Harlem Globetrotters at the Klamath Falls Armory.
    Rainbow trout are released for the first time in Fourmile Lake.
    Clarence and Mable Hedgepath, and Rudy Lueck, a ranger, skied around the rim of Crater Lake. Mabel becomes the first woman to accomplish this.
    August 1, Gypsies camp on courthouse grounds.
    • August 2, Bonanza, Merrill and Malin school projects are completed.
    August 12, Forest Service builds at Bly
    August 22, dangerous curve on The Dalles-California Highway to be taken out.
    August 26, dike breaks at Tule Lake, crops threatened.
    October 3, A petition is sent to the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors to incorporate Tulelake as a city. Included was a list of businesses including 7 restaurants, 15 potato cellars, 3 auto garages, 3 warehouses, 5 service stations, 3 tourist camps, 2 hotels, 6 liquor stores, 2 welding shops, 2 lumber yards, theater, steam plant, 2 barber shops, 2 dry goods stores, hardware store, electrical contracting business, plumbing business, blacksmith shop, shoe store, fuel yard, Chevrolet agency, Plymouth agency, Bank of America, 2 churches, telephone exchange, Southern Pacific Depot and drug store.
    October 5, Weed – Klamath Highway dedicated.
    • November 5, a boy, Douglas Fraley, falls through ice while skating and drowns.

    1937
    • February 16, Wallace H. Carothers patents the polymer, invented in the Dupont labs.
    Charles Lake had bought and was running the original Spink Market in Chiloquin.
    April 9, Emil’s Supermarket at Ninth and Pine, Moty & Van Dyke on Klamath Avenue and Safeway in Mills Addition are under construction.
    • April 9, Klamath Fall’s has another redlight raid and a prostitute suspect is named.
    April 20, Harry “Captain” Hansberry is killed when his team of horses run away at his homestead in Rocky Point.
    • Tulelake was incorporated.
    August 2, Southern Pacific passenger train derails near Yamsay, 20 injured.
    August 6, Gilchrist Company building railroad and dam.
    September 27, Crater Lake Box and Lumber factory in Sprague River burns.
    • November 8,  J.C. Penney to open in former Golden Rule store at 803 Main Street.
    • December 30, Klamath Falls Ministerial Association conducts union revival campaign.

    1938
    January 1, Tulelake building investment soars
    • January 6, Republic Electric Power Corp. buys out Klamath Natural Gas Company.
     • January 11, Bend-Portland Freight Lines opens new terminal at Market and Oak streets.
    • January 11, City policy on hiring only city residents for city jobs questioned.
    January 17, Reclamation Repayment Commission hears protests from local irrigators.
    January, moonlight skiing enjoyed at Crater Lake National Park.
    January 20, spud growers support program diverting potatoes to livestock feed.
    January 21, William Kittredge returns from stockgrowers meeting in Wyoming.
    • January 24, vice and gambling closures in Klamath Falls are said to be complete.
    January 24, construction on the Dalles-California Highway from Modoc Point to Williamson River and a new route to Crater Lake Highway is ready to begin.
    • January 28, Vasa Lodge, First Covenant Church, to observe 300th anniversary of landing of Swedes in America.
    January 28, Klamath Reclamation Project holds Tulelake homestead drawing.
    Shaw Lumber Company starts operations at Tionesta.
    Construction under way on Enterprise Irrigation District’s power plant at “C” canal drop.
    February 2, final meeting scheduled for Tule Lake sump drainage.
    Wells were drilled to 1900 feet in Tulelake.
    • February 2, wrestling event at Klamath Falls Armory. Dude Chick is a regular wrestling star on the bills.
    • February 3, four local basketball squads are scheduled to play Broadway Colored Clowns at Klamath Falls Armory but the Colored Clowns basketball team is stranded by storm in Alturas; game in Klamath Falls canceled.
    • February 5, speed limit signs erected on South Sixth Street east of viaduct.
    February 5, work on Weed highway, which will shorten trip to Weed and eliminate Deer Mountain grade, is suspended until spring.
    Civilian Conservation Corp. takes over Point Comfort. (1938-39).
    • February 10, Klamath Union High School construction site picketed. They will be removed the next day and the labor dispute is unsettled.
    • February 11, Pepsi-Cola introduced to Klamath Falls.
    • February 14, Jesse Owens’ Olympians, negro basketball team, defeats Klamath Falls’ coaches team.
    February 16, lessees on Tule Lake sump agree to forfeit 6,000 acres as anti-flood precaution.
    • February 16, hundreds of ducks found grounded around town due, initially reported, to ice on their wings. This cause will be debated in Klamath Falls newspaper editorials.
    • February 19, Women’s Library Club has successful fundraiser for Doernbecher Hospital.
    •  February 23, Klamath Falls author Doris Palmer Payne plans several promotional appearances in connection with her new book Captain Jack, Modoc Renegade.
    February 23, decline in value of timberlands shifts tax burden to farms.
    • February 25, Klamath Falls lies on route of proposed super-highway which would eventually become Interstate Highway 5.
    • February 26, a heavy influx of Oklahomans into Klamath County is reported; many families destitute.
    • February 28, dirt from Klamath Union High School excavation being used as fill on bank of Link River.
    March 1, State Department of Agriculture appoints Evan F. Hartin as permanent inspector for Klamath Basin.
    • March 4, Klamath County car dealers include Walter Locke, L.O. Arens, Ed Ostendorf, Herg Hauger, Elmer Balsiger, Kenneth Moore, Howard Abbey, Frank Snyder, Ralph McCulloch, Lee Scroggins, Dick Miller, Frank Humphrey, Verne Moore, F.A. Victory and Mitchell Tillotson. They were part of a successful campaign to reduce used car inventory.
     March 8, Tommy Haley wins potato growing contest and female grapplers big drawing card in wrestling match at the Klamath Falls Armory. women wrestling is a big draw and matches are held on a regular basis.
    March 8, group forms to seek better roads in suburbs… “roads so bad as to require a preacher on one end, a mechanic on the other and a 20 mule team in the middle.” Also, weight limits were lifted on Weed highway.
    • March 8, Patricia O’Neill, Klamath “Hotel” keeper – place of prostitution activities, is a major witness in Seattle white slave murder trial.
    • March 9, midge control study started.
    •   March 9, Langell area farmers seek work on roads.
    •   March 9, Merrill street repairs pushed.
    • March 9, liquor operatives raid the Embassy Club, Red Rock Tavern and the Ritz. Harry Bert Mazier, Vivan Frances Mazier, Carl Albert Walters, Harry Alexander Bowen, James Fred Pulver, Earl Webb, Genevieve Florence Mercer, Arther Gerdes, and Robert L. Novak are arrested.
    • March 14, Klamath Union team heads to state basketball tournament.
    • March 14, more than 5,000 visit new U.S. National Bank building on opening day.
    • March 15, Merle West named to high school board.
    • March 16, former Mayor Willis Mahoney indicted for reckless driving in connection with fatal accident.
    March 16, Horsefly, Langell Valley, Klamath Drainage districts get more time to pay construction charges on Reclamation project.
    • March 16, Judge Edward B. Ashurst while attacking vice in grand jury instructions quotes former house operator Patricia O’Neill: “Vice doesn’t fight the law; it buys it.” He also mentions another operator, Ginger Wilson. Patricia O’Neill denies her statement about vice.
    • March 19, Klamath Traffic Safety Council formed. Members include Paul Lambert, Mrs. Hal Ogle, Catherine Gaylord, Charles Mack, Hugh Rosson, R.E. Carlson, Frank Eberlein, Leigh Ackerman, Carl Cook, William Frohnmayer, Ed Ostendorf and Martin Swanson.
    March 19, deer rescued from ice of Tule Lake.
    • March 21, Grand Jury urges redlight abatement, prostitution concerns, of Palm Hotel at Fifth and Elm streets.
    March 21, Klamath Indian Tribe seeks local option on alcohol. Klamath Falls Chamber of Commerce joins study of liquor option for Klamath Indian Reservation.
    March 21, Chiloquin post office robbed. Charges will be files against Dale Willard.
    March 25, beet sugar expert H.T. Carlson to supervise crop on 1,000 committed acres.
    • March 25, CCC youths leave on trains for the east, replacements due in April.
    March 30, Copco plans power line into Lake County.
    • March 30, mine explosion may cost sight of local pioneer, Arthur “Pete” Jones.
    April 4, guests inspect CCC camp at Tulelake and
    Klamath CCC camp fetes visitors at Merrill.
    • April 4, proposed plans for museum in Moore Park developed.
    April 4, nine local residents among those awarded Klamath Reclamation Project homestead tracts in Tulelake.
    • April 5, City council views acquisition of property for baseball fields on Adams Street in the Mills Addition.
    April 5, Indians get $125 per capita payment.
    • April 9, District Attorney Hardin Blackmer moves to prevent sale of indecent magazines to underage customers.
    • April 11, Tulelake CCC camp to be vacated.
    • April 11, Flood menaces Modoc Point.
    • April 12, Klamath Sportsmen’s Association
    discusses deer overpopulation.
    • April 12, Klamath and Lake Chambers of Commerce discuss poor highway conditions.
    • April 19, first airmail service in Klamath Falls.
    • April 19, Cooperative Concert Association to begin season.
      April 20, flooding on Sprague, Williamson rivers threaten railroad bank.
    April 20, homesteaders begin construction on Tule Lake homes.
    • April 21, milk to retail for 11 cents a quart.
    April 25, U.S. Supreme Court upholds ruling awarding Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin tribe $7.3 million in land dispute dating to 1906.
    Harriman Lodge trying to convert to a guest ranch.
    • June 25, the National Minimum Wage is signed into law within the federal legislation known as the Fair Labor Standards Act. It established a minimum wage of $0.25 at the time, as well as time and one half for overtime and the prohibition of most employment for minors.
    • Dr. Cressman discovers the Fort Rock Cave.
    Claude Robert Spink and wife Alice were operating their family service station and grocery store on corner of Chocktoot Street and Lalo Avenue in Chiloquin.
    • Researcher Stanley Jewett reports a “pigpen stench” in Howard Bay.
    September 20, Judge Ashurst, court clerk Hannon have fist fight at courthouse. Grand jury will gather at Judge Ashurst’s bedside.
    • September 22, charges filed against John Stewart in accidental hunting deer hunting death of Barbara Thompson.
    • September 22, Joe Shirk, barbecueist extraordinaire, gives tips on how to fix dinner for 700 at the annual Rotary barbecue.
    • October 1, theater owner Harry Poole sentenced to eight years in prison for statutory rape. The trial’s jury selection went slowly. The girl testified describing the attack which Poole denied.

    1939
    Chiloquin High School has 151 pupils.
    Chiloquin is one of two municipalities exclusively licensed in the U.S. to operate a city store to sell wine and beer. The profits are to be used for local street and public utilities improvement.
    • January 16, Klamath Falls’ Main Street underpass work under way.
    • January 23, hundreds throng Upper Klamath Lake ice for skating.
    • • February 16, Klamath Falls residents complain about train whistles at Main Street crossing.
    April 29, relocation of The Dalles-California highway under way north of Modoc Point.
    • July 8, construction of Klamath Falls’ Montgomery Ward and Pacific Telephone buildings under way.
    August 2, spectacular fire burns on Stukel Mountain
      August 29, at 4:20 p.m., smoke is discovered at the Forest Lumber Company at Pine Ridge. The fire spreads for five miles through forest until stopped at Agency Lake. Total loss is estimated at $2,000,000. The Forest Lumber Company was never rebuilt.
    • September 5, the United States declares its neutrality in the European war after Germany invaded Poland, effectively beginning World War II after a year of European attempts to appease Hitler and the aims of expansionist Nazi Germany.

  … Rocky Point, Upper Klamath Lake, Fort Klamath, Crater Lake, Klamath Development Company
•  … Transportation, Logging. Railroads, Power, Communications, Mining
•  … Reclamation, Farming, Merrill, Malin, Tulelake
  … Klamath Falls, Jacksonville, Medford, Ashland
  … Indians, Klamath & Yainax Agency, Chiloquin, Spring Creek, Sprague

    upper klamath basin timelines icon

    Klamath Basin Timeline: Before 1500 … Islands, Mountains, and People

    Klamath Basin Timeline: 1500 – 1839 … England, Spain, Russia

    Klamath Basin Timeline: 1840 – 1859 … Trappers, Gold and Trails

    Klamath Basin Timeline: 1860 – 1869 … Applegates and Captain Jack

    Klamath Basin Timeline: 1870 – 1879 … Strongholds and Swamplands

    Klamath Basin Timeline: 1880 – 1889 … Klamath County and Newspapers

    Klamath Basin Timeline: 1890 – 1899 … Merrill, Flour and Potatoes.

    Klamath Basin Timeline: 1900 – 1909 … Steamboats and Locomotives

    Klamath Basin Timeline: 1910 – 1919 … Automobiles and Movies

    Klamath Basin Timeline: 1920 – 1929 … Recreation and Refuge

    Klamath Basin Timeline: 1930 – 1939 … Depression, Sporting and Tulelake

    Klamath Basin Timeline: 1940 – 1949 … Internment and Homesteading

    klamath project timeline icona

    1950 – 1999… Timber, Ranches, Boomers

    2000 – Present… Legislation, Court decisions, Science Studies

    Modoc Indian War… Indians, Settlers, U.S. Army

    Acknowledgements
    Bill and LoEtta Cadman, Ina and Roy Reed, Pat McMillian, William Brady,
    Andrew Ortis, John Pratt, Art Eggleston, Rob Crawford – Crawford Farms,
    Bev Wampler, Gayle and Chuck Jaynes, Richard Kopczak and
    Cindy Wright are some of the many folks that allowed access to their
    libraries and, or, shared information to help Anders compile
    the above timelines.

    © 2014 Anders Tomlinson, all rights reserved.