1860 to 1899

1860 – Oregon’s population is 52,465. United States population is 31,443,321.
1860 – United States Civil War begins.
1860 – Jackonsville is incorporated with a population of 500 – 600.
1860 – Pike’s Peak gold was minted into $10 coins.
1860 – Quartz Mine, the Gold Hill mine, discovered in Rogue valley.

1861 – A new mail route from Sacramento to Portland guarantees delivery in seven days.
1861-62: Major winter flooding in Oregon and Northern California. Heavy snowfall followed by warm thawing rains.
1861 – Oregon volunteer party makes route from Rocky Point to settlements in Rogue Valley. Capt. Lindsey Applegate and company circle Upper Klamath Lake and return to Ashland via dead Indian country.
1861 – November 21, recruiting poster hangs in Jacksonville for cavalry to be situated in Fort Klamath.

1862 – May 10, Oregon Portage Railroad puts into operation for the first steam locomotive in the northwest.
1862 – Homestead law goes into effect giving 160 acres per person.
1863 – Colonel Drew builds a bad road, Rancheree Trail, from Jacksonville to Fort Klamath.
1863 – George Nurse contracted to provide hay for Fort Klamath.
1863 – Alexander Martin, doing business in Jacksonville under the name Glen, Drum and Company furnished supplies for the Army when the new fort site, Fort Klamath, was selected to be built in the Wood River Valley.

1864 – April, B.J. Pengra promotes the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road from Eugene through present day Klamath County to Winnemucca, Neveda. This is known as “Oregon Branch Pacific Railroad.”
1864 – First telegraph line to Jacksonville.
1864 – October 14, U.S. Government signs great Treaty of Council Grove with Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin Band of Snake Indians. Indians cede 22 million acres of land for non-Indian settlement. Indians keep 2.7 million acres which becomes the Klamath Indian Reservation. Both Old Schonchin and Captain Jack are signatories.
1864 -08: Each indian man, woman and child placed on the reservation and their descendants living on or off its bounds was alloted 160 acres of potential farmland. After the allotting was 1864 – Oregon Legislature offers $250,000 to any firm to lay 100 miles of track south of Portland.
1864 – Elisha Steele, acting Superintendent of indian Affairs, chooses Captain Jack over John Schonchin as Chief of the Modocs. Other notes indicate Captain Jack was elected.
1864 – David Linn set up a sawmill on Linn (Fort) Creek.
1864 – Construction begun on building Fort Klamath.
1864 – George Nurse set up a Sutlers (?) store at Fort Klamath
1864 – While the old Modoc chief, Schochin, remained in the reservation, Kintupash, Captain Jack, returned to Lost River and led an abusive harassment demanding rent for the occupation of “their land”, which most settlers paid.
1864-66 Agent Lindsay Applegate tries, and fails, to negotiate with Captain Jack on behalf of the settlers.

1865 – The US Civil War comes to an end after four years of fighting and 620,000 Union and Confederate soldiers dead.
1865 – Mrs. O.T. Brown and Miss Annie Gaines (namesake for Annie Creek) are the first white women to visit Crater lake and to descend from the rim.
1865 – Road survey from Fort Klamath to Jacksonville via a route similar to present day Highway 62.
1865 – August 25, Modocs complain through Elijah Steele and A. M. Rosborough about the Huntington treaty, stating their wish to remain in their own country.
1865 – November, Modocs disputes continue among the Modocs over the treaty. The Army offers to send troops to support Old Schonchin, who favors the treaty. Captain Jack’s attitude at this time is unknown.
1865 – Whitehall boats used to move supplies on Upper Klamath Lake from Rocky Point to Fort Klamath.
1865 – Ball Mountain Road opens for packtrain travel between Yreka and present day Klamath County.

1866 – O.C. Applegate names Pelican Bay.
1866 – First political delegate from present day Klamath County, O.A. Sterns gets a furlough from Fort Klamath to attend Republican County Convention in Jacksonville.
1866 – First Grain and vegetables are grown at Kowasta, a temporary Indian agency at the head of navigation on Upper Klamath Lake.
1866 – Lindsay Applegate brought supplies, tools and men to build log buildings near the mouth of the Wood River for Klamath Indian Agency to which he had recently appointed to head.
1866 – Samuel D. Whitmore is in charge of the Klamath Agency when L. Applegate returns to his home in Ashland.
1866 – Major Rinehart, in command at Fort Klamath, sent 80 men under the command of Captain Kelly, with one piece of artillery, across the south end of oregon to Pueblo Valley in Nevada, near present day Denio, for protection of settlers and the mail route from present day Susanville, California to Silver City, Idaho.
1866 – May 12, Klamath Agency begins operations on the shores of Upper Klamath Lake.
1866 – Samuel D. Whitmore is in charge of the new Klamath Agency when L. Applegate returned to his home.
1866 – Belgian Wendolyn Nus brings a herd of cattle to present day Klamath County and becomes first settler. He is killed at the beginning of the Modoc Wars.

1867 – George Nurse establishes Linkville.
1867 – George Nurse secures permits to ferry across Link River.
1867 – Regular army troops from Fort Bidwell relieve the volunteers at Fort Klamath.
1867 – The Growler , a newspaper, starts at Fort Klamath.
1867 – First known Basin homestead, O.A. Sterns and Lewellyn Carter.
1867 – October, Superintendent Huntington leaves The Dalles with $35,000 worth of provisions promised the Indians in 1864.
1867 – November 16, Klamath sub-Chief Blow requests that a witness be present at the distribution of goods to report on their quality to Washington DC. The request is not honored, and shows “a predisposition to be dissatisfied” according to the authorities.
1867 – Superintendent Huntington tries, and fails, to negotiate with Captain Jack.
1867 – November, Annuity goods are distributed. A small number of Modocs under Old Sconchin come for shares and settle on the reservation. The large number, under Captain Jack, refuse both to take goods or settle on the reservation, they remain in their old country.

1868  –  Two farmers dig first irrigation ditch in the Upper Klamath Basin.
1868 – Flat bottom barge, 15 – 20 tons, is used by Fort Klamath soldiers on Upper Klamath Lake.
1868 – Spring, Fort Klamath soldiers plant a large produce garden at the southend of Upper Klamath Lake at Bennett’s Point directly across from Buck Island on the west side of the lake.
1868 – There were a half-dozen shacks in Linkville: soldiers, Indians, trappers and hunters made up most of the poulation.
1868 – Spring, temporary cabins are built at the site that would become the permanent Indian Agency in Chiloquin. A dam with a 1500 foot mill race is built nearby.
1868 – William S. Moore arrives at the Klamath Agency to construct a larger mill for the government.
1868 – First reported non-Indian born in what will become Klamath County.
1868 – Chief La-Lakes is placed in charge of the Williamson River Ferry in recognition for his past services.
1868 – The Klamath Tribes hold their first election to replace Chief La-Lakes. Allen david wins as 500-600 Indians vote on the banks of the Williamson River near the present day Indian Church.
1868 – George Nurse and Joe Conger built a ditch to irrigate gardens on the east side of Link River. This would become
a part of the Steele-Ankeny Ditch.
1868 – Christopher Latham Sales invented the typewriter.
1868 – Fort Klamath soldiers harvest produce garden.
1868 – Mrs. Addie Clark was the first white girl to reside in Linkville and attended school with five other pupils.
1868 – December 25, Ernest Union Lee is the first white child born at the Klamath Agency.

1869 – Sam Colver takes charge of the county road from Ashland into present day Klamath County, now known as the Green Springs Highway. Colver, O.T. Brown and William Songer are appointed as”viewers” with J.S. Howard as surveyor
1869 – Indian school for Modoc children opens at the Klamath Indian Reservation. Ivan. D. Applegate trains four Indian boys at Yainax subagency. Other notes mention Snake Indians.
1869 – First bicycles were invented.
1869 – Naylor Hockenhouse erects the first privately owned sawmill in the Upper klamath Basin.
1869 – May 1, Alfred B. Meacham replaces Huntington as Oregon’s Superintendent of Indian Affairs.
1869 – May 10, the Golden spike ceremony is held at Promontory, Utah connecting the first transcontinental railroad.
1869 – Forty-five Privates come from Crescent City to join the army at Fort Klamath.
1869 – A gang of white men are found in the Siskiyou Mountains and hung for robbery.
1869 – Captain O.C. Knapp replaces Lindsay Applegate as Indian agent for the Klamath reservation.
1869 – David Lynn and others from Fort Klamath build a boat to go on Crater Lake.
1869 – B.D. Worthington surveys a road from Butte Creek, Fish Lake, the unnamed Lake of the woods, Aspen Lake to Linkville.
1869 – Suez Canal is completed.
1869 – The present day Southern Oregon College at Ashland begins as a Methodist Institution, Ashland Academy.
1869 – James Sutton and david Lynn bring a canvas boat from Jacksonville and put the first boat into Crater Lake.
1869 – October, local settlers apparently petition General Crook to roundup up the Modoc Indians and moved them to the Klamath Reservation. Soon after Meachem and Knapp confer on how to make this happen.
1869 – December 13, Meachem, Knapp, Ivan Applegate and others set off to persuade Captain Jack’s Modocs to come onto the Klamath reservation. A party of soldiers goes with them as far as link River.
1869 – December 18, The Lost River Council: Meachem and others talk with Modocs about going on the reservation. Captain Jack seems willing to consider the idea. Shaman, Curley Headed Doctor, is opposed and after the Council he proposes to kill the party. Negotiations continue for several days.
1869 – December 23, soldiers arrive in the early morning hours, and a number of Modoc warriors flee. Meacham placed the remaining women and children in wagons and started for the reservation. He allowed “Queen Mary”, Captain Jack’s sister, to go meet with Captain Jack to persuade him to move to the reservation. She succeeded.
1869 – December 24, several days are spent sending messages to the leaders: they finally return, and the entire group is escorted to the reservation.
1869 – December 30, Modoc Indians arrive at Modoc Point, on the Klamath Reservation, to stay with Captain Jack.
1869 – December 31, a ceremony of reconciliation between the Klamath and Modoc is staged and the annuity goods are distributed to all.

1870 – Oregon’s population is 90,923. United States population is 38,558,371.
1870 – January 1, Second Great Council at the tribal reservation closes.
1870 – February, the Great Treaty of 1864 is proclaimed active.
1870 – February 14 – Modocs return to their old country on Lost River on a thirty day fishing pass. They meet Henry Miller and other new Tule Lake Basin settlers.
1870 – Shortly after the Modoc started building their homes, however, the Klamath, longtime rivals, began to steal the Modoc lumber. The Modoc complained, but the US Indian agent could not protect them against the Klamath.
1870- Mid-March, Modocs return to the reservation and their difficulties with the Klamath heighten.
1870 – H.E. Spencer purchased the Naylor Hockenhouse and his son R.A. Spencer ran it.
1870 – Several attempts were made by Captain Jack’s Modocs to find a suitable location, but the Klamath continued to harass the band.
1870 – Captain Jack and his band of Modocs left the reservation and returned to Lost River. During the months that his band had been on the reservation, a number of settlers had taken up former Modoc land in the Lost River region.
1870 – A flume is built, delivering water to the Klamath Agency from “the bubbling springs of the little people.”
1870 – Addie Clark and her father walked across the bed of Link River when it went dry, caused by a south wind that held the water back in Upper Klamath Lake.
1870 – O.C. Applegate begins building a road from pelican bay to Ashland-Jacksonville. Applegate names lake of the woods and builds cabins on the south shore.
1870 – The Swampland Act brings attention to the rich pasture lands of Klamath country.

1871 – John Loosely completes an irrigation ditch at Wood River for a grain and hay farm.
1871 – The Klamath School District organizes a three month school in Linkville.
1871 – June, Captain Jack shoots and kills a Modoc doctor whom he blames for his niece’s death. Ivan Applegate attempts to have Captain Jack arrested.
1871 – July 16, Simpson Wilson and Nancy Hall are the known first marriage in Linkville.
1871 – Late July, G.S. Miller, a settler, gets into an argument with Modocs over hunting ducks on his lands.
1871 – Roundtrip from Yreka, California to Fort Klamath takes four days.
1871 – A 10′ x 25′ boat powered by two horses on a treadmill brings supplies from pelican Bay to Fort Klamath.
1871 – Thomas Sly brings early wagon train across cascades with supplies for Fort Klamath.
1871 – October 21, sending a letter from Ashland to Linkville by private express costs $2.50.
1871 – November 29, Captain Jack explains to Ivan Applegate and others that the Modocs do not want to live with the Klamaths or on any reservation.
1871 – December 11, first Post Office open in Linkville, George Nurse is postmaster.

1872 – Linkville’s population is 40.
1872 – January 3, J. M. True swears out a complaint against unnamed Modocs for stealing hay. Charles Monoroe gets into an argument with Modocs over stolen hay. In mid-January settler Poe is sure Modocs stole his whip.
1872 – February – May, Canby, Meachem, and Meachem’s future replacement, know arresting the Modoc would have dire consequences and struggle with what to do with the Modocs, who are adamant that they will not return to the reservation.
1872 – a former salt water sailor named Moody runs a boat on a fairly regular run from Eulalona (Head of Link River) to the Klamath Agency or Agency Lake. This was a keel-bottomed boat about I0′ by 40′ with a small sail. The boat was named Mary Moody, probably after his Indian wife Mary.
1872 – Silas Kilgore is given contract for first mail service to present day klamath County area.
1872 – George Thompson Baldwin arrived in Ashland from Missouri.
1872 – April 1, T.B. Odeneal replaces Alfred Meachem as Superintendent of indian Affairs for Oregon.
1872 – April 3, Major Elmer Otis held a council with Captain Jack at Lost River Gap, near what is now Olene, Oregon. At the council, Major Otis presented Captain Jack with some settlers who complained about the behavior of Jack’s men. Captain Jack countered that the Modoc were abused and unjustly accused of crimes which other Indians had committed.
1872 – May 4, The Oregon Sentinel reports that the reported Indian troubles along the Lost River are unfounded. “The Indians are friendly and peaceful; and there has not been, nor is there now, any cause of alarm.”
1872 – May 22, Canby orders patrols to stop in Modoc country.
1872 – The California and Oregon Railroad reaches Redding from the south and the Oregon and california Railroad reaches Roseburg from the north.
1872 – Sam Colver takes an active part in trying to help the Modocs maintain peace. He has almost succeeded when a lynching party of whites set out to kill a band of Modoc coming to the reservation.
1872 – First gristmill is in place at Klamath Agency.
1872 – June 17, Odeneal recommends arresting Modoc chiefs.
1872 – First July 4th celebration in Linkville.
1872 – July, false rumors in Lost River country say the Modocs are killing cattle in preparation for war. Many new settlers flee for “safety.”
1872 – July 6, Odeneal’s recommendations are approved to remove the Modoc from the Tule Lake Basin and returned to the Klamath reservation.
1872 – July 17, John Green assumes command at Fort Klamath.
1872 – July 28, Frost destroys Yainax crops on Klamath Reservation. Old Schonchin’s people depend on government handouts for subsistence.
1872 – John Loosely files homestead in the Wood River Valley.
1872 – Esther Hart, a full blood Klamath Indian born on the reservation was a cook, as a girl, for well-to-do families in Linkville. She wed Frank Silvers and they established Silver’s Resort on the Williamson Rover. When frank died, leaving her with six half-grown children. she married a young German immigrant, Hans Anderson, eho worked for her.
1872 – September, John Green and his troops on patrol pass near the Modocs, but no conference takes place.
1872 – October 5, Green reports that settlers insist the Modocs were constantly making trouble but could not name specifics.
1872 – October 20, Canby instructs Wheaton to give Odeneal aide, if necessary, to move Modocs. He instructs a large force should be used to end any battle quickly.
1872 – November 11, The Lost River Battle marks the first hostilities of the Modoc War (1872 -73).
1872 – November 20, Odeneal leaves Salem for Modoc country to set events in motion.
1872 – November 28, Captain James Jackson, commanding 40 troops, left Fort Klamath and arrived in Captain Jack’s camp on Lost River about a mile above Emigrant Crossing near present day Merrill on November 29.
1872 – November 29, Wishing to avoid conflict, Captain Jack agreed to go to the reservation, but an argument erupted. One soldier had been killed and seven wounded in the encounter; the Modoc lost two killed and three wounded.
1872 – November 29-30, A small band of Modoc under Hooker Jim retreated from the battlefield to the Lava Beds south of Tule Lake. In attacks on November 29 and November 30, they killed a total of 18 settlers.
1872 – Late November, one group of Modocs, under the leadership of Hooker Jim, proceeded east around Tule Lake, killing 14 male settlers in retaliation for the attack by troops.
1872 – Late November, Captain Jack and Hooker Jim’s were later joined by Hooker Jim’s band.
1872 – December 3, Jump Off Joe and his militia reached the outskirts of the Stronghold. While reconnoitering the area around a dry creek bed, they were attacked. They attempted to take shelter in the creek bed, but were quickly overcome; and the Modoc killed all 23 men.
1872 – December, another band of Modoc, the Hot Creeks, joined Captain Jack after they had been tricked by settlers into thinking that they were all going to be hanged for being Modoc.
1972 – December 21, a Modoc party scouting from the Stronghold attacked an ammunition wagon at Land’s Ranch.
1972 – By January 15, 1873, the U. S. Army had 400 troops in the field near the Lava Beds.

1873 – January 16, troops from Land’s ranch, commanded by Col. R. F. Bernard, skirmished with the Modoc near Hospital Rock.
1873 – January 17, Army’s disastrous attack on Captain Jack’s Stronghold. In the attack, the U.S. Army lost 35 men killed, and 5 officers and 20 enlisted men wounded. 52 Modoc warriors suffered no casualties in the fighting, as they had the advantage of terrain and local knowledge over the militia.
1873 – January 25, Columbus Delano, Secretary of the Interior, appointed a Peace Commission to negotiate with Captain Jack. The Commission consisted of Alfred B. Meacham, the former superintendent for Oregon as chairman; Jesse Applegate, and Samuel Case. General Edward Canby, commander in the Pacific Northwest, was appointed to serve the Commission as counselor. Frank and Toby Riddle were appointed as interpreters.
1873 – February 19, the Peace Commission held its first meeting at Fairchild’s ranch, west of the lava beds.
1873 – March 14, Emma Evalyn Wilson is the first known white girl born in the region, in Langell Valley.
1873 – April, Gillem’s Camp was established at the edge of the lava beds, two and one-half miles west of the Stronghold. Col. Alvan C. Gillem was placed in command of all troops, including those at Hospital Rock commanded by Col. E. C. Mason.
1873 – The federal government opens a land office in Linkville.
1873 – Topsy Grade is built between Linkville and Keno to connect with Yreka, an important freight road.
1873 – April 12, rev. james Dickerson Bonner ran a stage station on the Pioneer route over Sugar Hill. As an Elder, he conducted church mettings of five valley residents.
1873 – April 2, the commission and Captain Jack met in the lava beds midway between the Stronghold and Gillem’s Camp. After much discussion, the meeting broke up with no resolution.
1873 – April 5, Captain Jack requested a meeting with Meacham. Accompanied by John Fairchild and Judge Roseborough, with Frank and Toby Riddle serving as interpreters. The meeting ended with no agreement. After Meacham returned to camp, he sent a message to Captain Jack, asking that he meet the commission at the peace tent on April 8. While delivering this message, the Modoc interpreter Tobey Riddle learned of the Modoc plan to kill the peace commissioners. On her return, she warned the commissioners.
1873 – April 8, just as the commissioners were starting for the peace tent, the signal tower on the bluff above Gillem’s Camp received a message; it said that the lookout had seen five Modoc warriors at the peace tent and about 20 armed Modoc hiding among the rocks nearby. The commissioners realized that the Modoc were planning an attack and decided to stay at Gillem’s.
1873 – April 10, the commission sent a message asking Captain Jack to meet with them at the peace tent on the following morning.
1873 – April 11, General Canby, Alfred B. Meacham, Rev. E. Thomas, and L. S. Dyar, with Frank and Toby Riddle as interpreters, met with Captain Jack, Boston Charley, Bogus Charley, Schonchin John, Black Jim, and Hooker Jim. General Canby and Reverend Thomas were murdered. Dyer and Frank Riddle escaped by running. Meacham fell seriously wounded. US efforts for peace ended when the Modoc killed the commissioners.
1873 – April 15, U.S. Army attacks Stronghold, fighting continued throughout the day, the troops remaining in position during the night.
1873 – April 16, each advance of troops was under heavy fire from the Modoc positions. That night the troops succeeded in cutting the Modoc off from their water supply at the shore of Tule Lake.
1873 – April 17, everything was in readiness for the final attack on the Stronghold. When the order was given to advance, the troops charged into the Stronghold but Modocs escaped through an unguarded crevice after heavy bombardment from US Army snubnosed Coehorn mortars. US casualties included one officer and six enlisted men killed, and thirteen enlisted men wounded between April 15-17. Modoc casualties were two boys, reported to have been killed when they tried to open a cannonball and it exploded. Several Modoc women were reported to have died from sickness.
1873 – April 26, Captain Evan Thomas commanding five officers, sixty-six troops and fourteen Warm Spring Scouts were attacked by 22 Modoc led by Scarfaced Charley. Some of the troops fled in disorder. Those who remained to fight were either killed or wounded. US casualties included four officers killed and two wounded, one dying within a few days, and 13 enlisted men killed and 16 wounded.
1873 – May 2, Bvt. Brigadier General Jefferson C. Davis, the new commander of the Department of the Columbia, reported to relieve Gillem of command, and assume control of the army in the field.
1873 – May 10, Battle of Dry Lake, at first light, the Modoc attacked an Army encampment at Dry Lake. The troops charged, routing the Modoc. Casualties among the Army included five men killed, two of whom were Warm Spring Scouts, and twelve men wounded. The Modoc reported five warriors killed.
1873 – June 1, As troops headed west expecting to locate Captain Jack, they found Hooker Jim and his followers, who surrendered. Hooker Jim and three other Modoc offered to track down Captain Jack who surrendered at Willow Creek on June 1 and the Modoc War comes to an end.
1873 – June 4, Captain Jack, his wife, and little girl were captured by Army scouts,’Captain’ William F. Drannan and George Jones in Langell’s valley. (This account disagrees with previous account).
1873 – July 4, General Davis prepared to execute Captain Jack and his leaders, but the War Department ordered the Modoc to be held for trial. The Army took Captain Jack and his band as prisoners of war to Fort Klamath, where they arrived.
1873 – July 8. Captain Jack, Schonchin John, Black Jim, Boston Charley, Brancho (Barncho) and Slolux were tried by a military court for the murders of Canby and Thomas, and attacks on Meacham and others. The six Modoc were convicted, and sentenced to death.
1873 – Pre-stamped penny postcards were presented.
1873 – August 18, Robert Spink was born near Atlanta, Georgia, son of james W, Spink, a Kentucky native.
1873 – September 10, President Ulysses S. Grant approved the death sentence for Captain Jack, Schonchin John, Black Jim and Boston Charley; Brancho and Slolux were committed to life imprisonment on Alcatraz. Grant ordered that the remainder of Captain Jack’s band be held as prisoners of war.
1873 – November 3, Captain Jack, along with three others, are hung and buried in Fort Klamath for the murder of General Canby.
1873 – November 16, 153 Modoc men, women and children arrived in Baxter Springs, Kansas ubder federal custody.
1873 – November 30, The Modocs arrived by wagon at the Quapaw Agency at Seneca Springs, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Five Modoc children attended school on their alloted 1600 acres. Modocs will not be allowed to return until after the turn of the century.

1874 – February 1, Klamath Agency Boarding School opens with 15 pupils
1874 – Peter Britt takes the first known photos of Linkville and Crater Lake.
1874 – Daniel Gordon built the second privately owned mill near Keno. He sold it to his son-in-law Newton W. Pratt three years later.
1874 – According to an official report the Modocs had made more progress with less land than any of the other Indians under jurisdiction of the Quapaw.
1874 – Topsy Grade connects Linkville and Yreka.
1874 – July 15, First school district for permanent yearly attendance established in Linkville.
1874 – October 24, lake County is created out of Jackson County. Linkville is named the county seat.

1875 – April, George Fiok buys the first state land parcel in Linkville.
1875 – Scarfaced Charlie was deposed as Chief of the Oklamoma band of Modocs and Bogus Charley, 25, was appointed Chief.
1875 – George Baldwin came to Linkville and established a small tin shop near the Link River Bridge.

1876 – First wagon bridge spanning the Rogue River at Gold Hill was a tollgate built by Thomas Chavner.
1876 – First mail route from Yreka is established via Topsy Grade.
1876 – Ashland prints its first newspaper, The Tidings
1876 – The French create an international company, La Société internationale du Canal interocéanique, was created to undertake dig what would become the Panama Canal.

1877 – Fall, Albert S. Gatschet is the first ethnographer to visit Klamath Indian country.
1877 – First community Christmas tree in Linkville.
1877 – W.S Moore and Rufus Moore dig a ditch to power his sawmill at the south end of Upper Klamath Lake. The ditch also supplied water to a log f1ume, 1,000 feet long, to transport logs from Upper Klamath Lake.
1877 – Over 150,000 Chinese emigrants are on the west coast under labor contract.

1878 – J. Frank Adams started ranching on Tule Lake Basin land northeast of Lost River. He supported the Van Brimmers with their irrigation canal project and started to build another six-mile canal system that tied into the Van Brimmers’
canal and provided water for the east side of Lost River. To the south was the shores of Tule lake. Over the years Adams would expand his canal system to cover most of the land north of Tule Lake and east of the Lost River. Irrigated agriculture in the Tule Lake Basin was proven feasible.
1878 – Linkville platted in a forty acre plan.
1878 – First log cabin built in Lakeview, Oregon.
1878 – Linkville Water Ditch Company built a canal from Link River to irrigate town lots in Klamath Falls. Known as the Ankeny-Henley Canal, it was extended to Klamath Valley, and divided, one branch paralleling Lost River on the west side, the other passing through Olene Gap into Poe Valley.

1879 – January 6, Fort Klamath post office is established at the fort.
1879 – H,M. Thatcher and Sykes Worden build the steamboat General Howard. It is 12′ by 65′ at a cost of $8,000. The boss carpenter for the project had designed the Merrimac of Civil War fame.
1880 – Oregon’s population is 174,768. Linkville’s population is 250. United States population is 50,189,209.
1880 – George Loosley and George Nurse but the steamboat General Howard.
1880 – Hood Railroad survey passes north near Aspen Lake and west of Upper Klamath Lake to Fort Klamath.
1880 – Newton Pratt sold his mill to Charles Withrow.
1880 – H.J. O’Brien homesteaded in what would become Klamath County. He drove a herd of cattle in with Mr. Hanley.
1880 – George Eastman developed his first Kodak camera.
1880 – September 7, Wood River school is established at old Fort Klamath.
1880 – January 1, the French begin construction of the Panama Canal.
1880 – Klamath wheat takes first place at national exhibitions in New Orleans, Sacramento and Omaha.

1881 – Bogus Charley and Snacknasty Jim died in Oklahoma.
1881- General Howard becomes the first steamboat to move lumber on Upper Klamath Lake – for W.S. Moore Lumber Mill.
1882 – The Van Brimmer brothers began digging a canal in 1882 from the Lower Klamath Basin to Tule Lake Basin. In 1886 their irrigation project began supplying 4,000 acres with water. They recouped construction and expenses by charging grateful users $1 per acre on the west and south side of the Lost River.
1882 – Farmers begin irrigating in the Klamath Basin. The Linkville Water Ditch Company is incorporated and a shallow canal is dug connecting Linkville (Klamath Falls) town lots to Link River above present day Klamath Falls.
1882 – U.S. Geological Service started topographical mapping of the United States.
1882 – U.S. Government telegraph line is completed from Fort Klamath to Fort Bidwell, 150 miles, and from Fort Klamath to Ashland, 99 miles.
1882 – October 17, Klamath County is created out of Lake County.
1882- John Colwell is the first recorded child born in Klamath County, Merrill, after it is separated from lake County.
1882 – The first Klamath County officials are appointed by Governor Moody. W.S. Moore(County Judge), Stephen Stukel and O.T. Brown (County Commissioners), W.C. Hale (Clerk), Charles Putnam (Sheriff), E.R. Reames (Treasurer), S.C. Summer (Coroner) and C.H. Dyar (School Superintendent).
1882 – First meeting of Klamath County Commissioners.
1882 – Wagons haul supplies across a frozen Upper Klamath Lake.
1882 – January, First cattle brand recorded in Klamath County is C for S.B. Cranston.
1882 – June 17, Central Pacific Railroad begins track up the Sacramento River Canyon.

1883 – George Nurse moved to Yreka.
1883 – Brown trout introduced to America from Europe and Asia.
1883 – December 24, first train from Portland reaches Grant Pass.
1884 – February 27, Reverend Robert Mclean organizes Linkville’s first church, Presbyterian.
1884 – Steamboat General Howard is converted to City of Klamath to haul supplies up Wood River to Fort Klamath.
1884 – April 19, first train headed south reaches Ashland.
1884- A.L. Leavitt arrives in Linkville on the Summer’s wagon trail.
1884 – April 10, Joseph A. Bowdoin publishes first Klamath area newspaper. The Linkville Weekly Star. A man named Curtis was also involved.
1884 – Seldon Kirk is born at the Klamath agency. He will become a leader for preserving the Klamath Reservation.
1884 – E.H. Harriman buys up a small New York Railroad, repairs and sells it. This begins his railroad career.
1884 – First Klamath County election ballots are printed.
1884 – June, first Klamath County officials to be elected; George Smith (Judge), Matt Obenchain and R. Tutchinson ( Commissioners), J.O. Allen (Surveyor), M.C. Childers (Assessor), C.R. Delap (School superintendent) and other officers are elected.
1884 – Thomas Martin used Moore ditch for flour mill. Martin Mill, 1884-1908.
1884 – Congress fails to appropriate funds to improve and
deepen Wood River for navigation.
1884 – Joe Short was the first person to plant more than ten acres of potatoes.
1880’s – During the early days, Klamath County homesteaders near Bonanza begin using native fish called suckers for fertilizer and oil. They attempt to get laws passed to prevent American Indians, who have fished for suckers for centuries, from catching them.

1885 – Ankeny Canal, the area’s first irrigation canal, is completed.
1885 – C.C. Low opens Linkville’s first restaurant.
1885 – Gladstone Steel lobbies to make Crater Lake a National Park.
1885 – April 1, Central Pacific’s railroad interests are transferred to the Souther Pacific Company.
1885 – Steamboat Frank, a minister of Society of Friends Church in Oklahoma, died.
1885 – The spring at Klamath Agency was known as “Beatles Rest.” Modoc ridge was known as “Plum Hills.”
1885 – Louis Gerber filed on a homestead fifty miles east of Linkville.
1885 – October 6, Solon Shattuck purchases 51 acres in Wood River Valley.

1886 – October 13, Railway north reaches McCloud.
1886 – Linkville spends $35,800 for building improvements for the year.
1887 – January 25, John Loosely and Robert Paul seek permission from the War Department to build a school at Fort Klamath.
1887 – Josiah Doten plattes Keno. It was originally called Doten.
1887 – April 9, railway north reaches Ager which remains Klamath County’s shipping point until 1903.
1887 – May 15,
1887 – July 1, Southern pacific Company takes over Oregon and California Railroad.
1887 – E.H. Harriman secures control of the Iowa Central.
1887 – Van Brimmer irrigation ditch in Merrill is completed.
1887 – White Lake was so low that the
irrigation canal became dry.
1887 – A.M. Peterman built a planner and cabinet shop in Linkville.
1887 – Second Topsy Grade is completed.
1887 – Last stage coach through Barron’s Station on Siskiyou Mountains.
1887 – A bill to seek municipal government in Linkville fails.
1887 – December 17, Golden Spike ceremony in Ashland joining Oregon and California by railway.
1887 – December, first train from California reaches Grants Pass.

1888 – February 2, City charter granted to Linkville.
1888 – A cut was made into Lower Klamath Lake to help irrigation supply water to Tule Lake Basin farmers.
1888 – R.E. Dusenberry bought Withrow’s Mill.
1888 – A new company, Klamath Falls
Irrigation Company, enlarged the Ankeny Canal to 50 cubic feet per second.
1888 – May 15, The French Panama Canal Poject declared bankruptcy. After eight years, the work was about two-fifths completed, and some $234,795,000 had been spent.
1888 – 4,000 acres were set aside for the Modocs in Oklahoma.
1888  –  California State court rules Klamath River Reservation abandoned, opening the lower river to non-Indian commercial fishing overseen by The state of California.
1888 – First women’s club is formed in Linkville. A group of ten women present a flag to the County court.
1888 – William Gladstone Steele carries 600 Rogue River rainbow trout fingerlings to Crater lake. 37 survive and swim away. In 1940, the rainbow population in Crater Lake grew to 200,000.
1888 – Mayflower, a steamboat, is the first to travel on the Klamath River south of Linkville.
1888 – A stage drawn by four horses connects Ager CA with linkville. This also connects portland and san Francisco train passengers to Linkville. The stagecoach departs Ager at 2:30 p.m. and arrives in Linkville at 5 a.m. ( 14 hours) at a cost of $7 one way.
1888 July 2, first Linkville courthouse built.
1888 – First Rocky point post office opens as Pelican with Charles Stidham the first of five postmasters.
1888 – First conversion of marsh to farmland at McCormack Point.
1888 – September 5, first jail in Linkville.
1888 – September 6, Fire in Linkville burns business district, Bunch Town.
1889 – W.E. Bowdain took over the Linkville Weekly Star and lost it all in a fire several months later.

1890 – Oregon’s population is 317,704, Klamath County is 2,444. Linkville’s population is 364. United States population is 62,979,766.
1890 – Major flooding in Northern California and Oregon.
1890-91: Thirty foot drifts of snow recorded at the head of Agency Lake. Very hard winter with extraordinary high waters on the lake.
1890 – First County Teacher Institute.
1890 – Bob Emmitt constructs the third and present day Topsy Grade.
1890 – Eugene and Frank H. McCornack begin purchasing land in the Klamath Falls area.
1890 – Bowdain sold part interest in the rebuilt Linkville Weekly Star to “Peter the Poet” Connolly.
1890 – Lincoln sells his Rocky Point original homestead to Kendall would build a lodge, later known as Pelican Bay Lodge, for tourism.
1890 – Loosley family in Wood River Valley build the first klamath county creamery.
1890 – Warren Mills built his house at 123 High Street.
1890 – Fort Klamath is abandoned by military. John Loosely is appointed caretaker.
1890 – Scarfaced Charlie died in Oklahoma.
1890 – Several small boats, mostly barges equipped with steam engines and stern wheels, haul freight and do towing on Upper klamath Lake. These were operated by Buddy richardson, Louis Dennis, Bert Wilson, D.W. Griffith and others. Oregon, Hobson, Alma, Mud Hen, Hornet, Hooligan, North Star and Eagle were some of the boats.

1891 – May 6, Annie Creek Ditch Company incorporates in Wood River Valley.
1891 – Rancher Nathan S. Merrill bought 152 acres for $3,000 from J. Frank Adams. Adams had bought the land from the Van Brimmers two years earlier.
1891 – J.W. Malone and John Young name Crystal Springs.
1891 – The Rogue River Valley Railroad, known as the “Jacksonville Cannonball” was built to connect Medford and jacksonville and was in operation for 35 years.
1891 – D.G. Brown arrives in Rocky Point inspect Lake and Runyan property in which his father-in-law, Francis Dodge, has an interest. Brown buys 5000 acres between Malone Springs and Crystal springs from Runyan and Lake. Brown homesteads on an adjacent site.
1891 – Pacific and Eastern Railroad is incorporated with the backing of James J. Hill.
1891 – West Side Canal-, Thomas Martin and Charles and Rufus Moore Company.
1891 – Indian agent Sam Culver, 77, drowns while crossing ice on Upper Klamath Lake. Indian find his body in the Spring.
1891 – Nathan S. Merrill bought 152 acres for $3,000 from J. Frank Adams.

1891-92: Harsh winter with lots of snow.
1892 – April 28, Klamath Fall’s newspaper Weekly Express is started by David B. Worthington.
1892 – George Biehn organizes fishing trips for wealthy Southern California businessmen to fish local streams and rivers around Upper Klamath Lake ( from 1892 to 1900).
1892 – April, a traveling Lumbertown is in operation in pokegama.
1892 – First log school is built at Odessa, near the site of the future Pioneer Guest Ranch.
1892 – First railroad subsidy subscriptions. Southern Pacific asked for $100,000.
1892 – December 10, Theodocia Shattuck becomes first postmaster of the new Fort Klamath settlement.
1892 – harsh winter with lots of snow.

1893 – February 7, Linkville renamed Klamath Falls.
1893 – Union Pacific Railroad goes into receivership.
1893 – A.L. Levitt is president of the Klamath Falls City Council.
1893 – Cascade Range Forest Preserve is established.
1893 – D.G. Brown and Ben Peterman builds school at Crystal.
1893 – families living in Rocky point area include Mr. welsh on the north side of varney Creek, Ira Hanson on what becomes th Fred McTimmonds homestead, Grays, Torreys and Spence. Familes living in the Crystal area include Louis Plantz on Cherry Creek, Jack Adkins near Jack’s Spings, Mr. hicks and Bob Dobson at the head of Crystal Creek, Huge Silvers and his son Charles homesteading south of Crystal. George Malone and his father-in-law Mr. young homesteading near Malone Springs. B. Saint George Bishop near Lookout Point (presently The Cedars) and Dennis Crowley who ran a logging camp south of Lookout Point.
1893 – Early deed to what will become Point Comfort belongs to Marion Cassius Kasson, surveyor, school teacher and speculator. Left in 1900 for a visit to the Paris Exposition and never returns.
1893 – “Logger” Jones operates around Howard Bay and brings the first high logging wheels to Upper Klamath Lake.
1893 – Privately printed penny postcards were put on the market.

1894 – Lawrentz family, early settlers in Rocky Point, open a post office named Lawrentz, open until 4/17 1895. Rocky Point was first named Leavitt’s Point after A.L. Leavitt.
1894 – Weekly Express sold by David B. Worthington to J. Scott Taylor.
1894 – Peter Connolly bought Bowdain Cut.
1894 – J.V. Houston and wife Margaret arrived in Linkville.
1894 – Klamath Falls light and water Company provides the first electric lights for Klamath Kalls. H.B. gates owns 51% of the company, The remainders was divided among E.R Reames, Charles Moore and Rufus Moore.
1894 – Post office opens at Crystal.
1894 – Fire wipes out east end of Klamath Falls.
1894 – First noted potato crop in Klamath County
1894 – May 28, Nathan and Nancy Merrill “dedicated the streets and avenues of Merrill for use of the public forever,” as recorded at the Klamath County Court House. The original townsite was 80 acres. Antone Castel, hired by the Merrills, created plans for a town with two business thoroughfares, residential streets along with school and park sites.
1894 – August, a flour mill opened in Merrill that was built by Thomas Martin and financed by Merrill.
1894 – large fish die off of mainly suckers and chubs on Upper Klamath Lake.
1894 – October 30, Shattuck deeds one acre to George Pan who builds the first Fort Klamath General store.

1895 – June, Fort Klamath Creamery sends butter to San Francisco.
1895 – June, Joseph G. Pierce and George Farnsworth bought the Weekly Express.
1895 – O.B. gates installs the first electric lighting system.
1895 – Robert Spink arrives at the Klamath Agency to take a commissary clerk’s position.
1895 – Merrill Oregon has its own 20′ x 40′ school house.
1895 – Dr. Hemenway was a doctor in Bonanza, He had married a local woman who died young. He remarried through a Lonely Heart Agency but it didn’t work out. the new wife lived in one-half of the house and he lived in the other half. She was the fourth of five wives.
1895 – November 1, first electric lights were made operable by a small plant on the east side of Link River.
1895 – November, a holdup of the stage on Topsy Grade attempted by A.C. Frick who had just escaped from the Klamath County jail.
1895 – November 26, George Nurse died after being injured by horses.

1896 – Miss Jessie P. Rose comes to Crystal to teach.
1896 – A Merrill, Oregon post office was established in 1896.
1896 – April, Bowdain began another Klamath Falls newspaper, The Republican.
1896 – Botanist Frederick B. Coville inventories the plants used by Klamath Indians and studies the processing of the yellow water lilly (wocus) for food.
1896 – Herbert Fleishhacker begins making highly successful investments in electric power in Oregon as well as California, 1896 – 09. Fleishhaker will become a major financial power in Klamath Falls and a major land owner in Rocky Point.
1896 – 3,800 acres of Wocus marsh converted to farmland.
1896 – John Goeller became sole owner of Klamath Falls Planing Mills built up by Peterman.
1896 – Rev. Jesse Kirk, Henry Blow, Allen David, Jack palmer and David Hill were some of the Klamath Tribal dignitaries.
1896 – William T. Shive builds a store, home and rooms for occassional overnighters. This the start to the Fort Klamath Hotel.

1897 – February 15, Robert Spink and Alice Leona Eveland wed at Klamath agency by Major Joseph Emory, and ordained Minister and Superintendent of the Klamath Reservation.
1897-89: New policy initiated at Klamath Agency discontinued issuing of rations and the Indians were to receive small payments from timber sales, leases, and cash settlements for relinquished land. the Indians were to be issued cattle, farm machinery, seed and lumber and taught how to use them.
1897 – The Houston Opera House, built by J.V. Houston, opens in Klamath Falls to provide stage entertainment.
1897 – June 4, the Pokegama post office name was changed to Klamathon.
1897 – E. H. Harriman raises $100,000,000 through a loan from the Illinois Central, forms a syndicate and takes over the Union Pacific Railroad.
1897 – Alice Spink, as school teacher at Klamath Agency received $ 30 -40 a month. Robert Spink received less than $75 a month as financial clerk in the klamath agency administrative department.
1897 – Claudia Spink Lorenz, historian, was born in Atlanta, Georgia while her mother Alice was visiting her husband’s parents.
1897 – A.L. Leavitt becomes the area’s first circuit judge.
1897 – Robert Spink was transferred to the Navaho and Hopi reservation in Arizona and new Mexico where he was Assistant Chief Clerk at Keams Canyon Agency. He was in charge of financial and office records. He was 24.
1897 – December 18, George L. Herchberger, the original homesteader, sells Odessa to Louis Dennis.
1897-98 – Temperatures at Fort Klamath reach -42F.

1898 – Southern pacific begins publication of Sunset Magazine as part of a campaign to bring settlers to the west.
1898 – United States goes to war with Spain.
1898 – Robert Spink is commissioned by the Smithsonian to collect Indian blankets, pottery, tools, baskets and artifacts for study.
1898 – August 15, big fires in timber between Pelican Bay and Lake of the Woods.
1898 – The precarious Topsy Grade was in continuous use along the Klamath River.
1898 – Oliver C. Applegate, son of Lindsey, is appointed the tenth Superintendent of the Klamath Agency.

1899 – July, the steamboat Oregon makes four trips weekly between Klamath Falls and Pelican Bay and other stops.
1899 – “Professor” Godfrey puts on the first air circus, he makes a balloon ascension and parachute jump.
1899 – Glacier on Mt. McLoughlin disappears.
1899 – August 31, first mention to a motion picture was made in the Klamath Republican.
1899 – Topsy Grade is rebuilt.
1899 – G. Grant Crary is proprietor of a resort on Pelican Bay.
1899 – E.H. Harriman reacquires the Oregon Shortline and gains control of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company.
1899 – June 1, The Klamath County Bank is the first Klamath Falls bank.
1899 – July 6, half the town of Pokegama was destroyed by fire starting in the kitchen of Parshall Store.
1899 – Spink returned to Klamath agency from the southwest after being offered the same position that he held there, Assistant Chief Clerk.
1899 – The U.S. created the Isthmian Canal Commission to examine the possibilities of a Central American canal and to recommend a route.
1899 – Chitwood Drug Store opens the first soda fountain in Klamath Falls.
1899 – December, Chitwood Drug Store opens the first theater in Klamath Falls.
1899 – December 20, snow is five feet deep in Wood River Valley.

klamath project timeline icona

Pre-1859… Fire and Ice, Humans and Water

1860 – 1899… Roads, Linkville, Modoc Indian War, Klamath Falls

1900 – 1949… Automobiles, Reclamations, Trains, Farming

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, 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.

more california water timelines icon

1850 – 1889 … A growing need for irrigation and power

1900 – 1949 … Reclamation & Realization

1950 – 1999 … Big projects & legislation

2000 – present … Times they are a changing

Acknowledgements
These Califoria Water timelines above are complied from Imperial Valley, San Diego, Metropolitan Water District – serving all of Southern California, Monterey, Santa Clara Valley, San Francisco and Hetch Hetchy, Central Valley, Klamath River, Upper Klamath Basin and Colorado River timelines.

alamos history timeline icon

Álamos, Sonora, Mexico Timelines … Álamos is at the southeast corner of the Great Basin & Range, Klamath County is at the northwest corner of the Great Basin & Range. Both Álamos and the Upper Klamath Basin are rich in history, wildlife and natural ecosystems.

©2014 Anders Tomlinson, all rights reserved.