KLAMATH COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Issue 118 TRUMPETER Fall 2019

In this issue Thomas Condon by History Project. GREAT FALL PROGRAMS 2019 Lower Lake Bus Tour Bob Hart, Director of the Lane County by Bill Lewis Historical Museum, will portray a living history presentation about Thomas Bradshaw Girls Part ll Condon. Thomas Condon was consid- by Ron Loveness ered a natural teacher who explained Paul Bunyan Ron Loveness the mysteries from the fossil beds near John Day, Ore- gon. Condon’s story is on the following page.

Meeting Schedule 2019 7:00 p.m. at the Klamath County Museum September 26, 2019 A living history presentation on the life of noted Ore- gon paleontologist Thomas Condon by Robert Hart John Hamilton, a fish biologist and hydropower branch October 24, 2019 History of the Salm- chief for the Yreka Fish and Wildlife Office, reflects on his on Migration in the Upper Klamath long career in the Klamath Basin. Credit: “I had to learn Lake by John Hamilton more. I wanted to know as much as possible about fish Other Events: October 5, 2019 Night life histories and habitat. I was extremely lucky to ... have at the Cemetery at Merrill Cemetery outstanding mentors to guide me.” November 10, 2019 2:00 p.m. Annual John Hamilton Potluck at the museum Museum Happenings Check the Midge for museum details and a list of other cultural happening in the community. Get on the list by sending your email to [email protected]

1 Thomas Condon was born in County Cork, Ireland, on March 3, 1822. At age In 1871, Condon published eleven he emigrated to New York with his his first paper on geology, parents. He worked as a school teacher an overview of Oregon’s before entering a Presbyterian seminary geological past, written, like in Auburn, New York, at the age of twenty many of his subsequent -seven. After graduating in 1852, Condon works, for a popular accepted a position as a missionary in audience. That same year the newly settled territory of Oregon. He he gave a series of lectures and his wife Cornelia struggled to make a in Portland that would living in western Oregon before moving to solidify his position as The Dalles in the spring of 1862 to lead Oregon’s preeminent geologist. In 1872 the town’s Congregational church. It was the legislature appointed him Oregon’s in The Dalles where Condon would make first state geologist, and the following his first contributions to the geological year Condon resigned his position with the Congregational church and moved to sciences. Forest Grove, where he assumed a Long interested in natural history, Condon professorship at . began collecting fossils and giving public In 1876 Condon became the first lectures on geology soon after moving to geology professor at the newly opened The Dalles. In 1865, he accompanied an , where he taught army patrol from Ft. Dalles into the John for nearly twenty years. Over the course Day country, where he had heard there of his long career, Condon made significant contributions to scientific was a rich deposit of fossils. Although he understanding of Oregon’s ancient past, was not the first to discover fossils in the but he was also a respected educator area, he was the first to recognize the who sought to encourage the public’s significance of the deposit. Condon’s appreciation of the state’s geological fossil discoveries in the John Day country history. He died in 1907, leaving behind a lasting legacy of scientific and soon became known to some of the educational achievement. nation’s top paleontologists and geologists, a number of whom—including Othniel C. Marsh, , and —wrote him requesting specimens. Many of the specimens Condon sent were species new to science, and several were named after him. 2 On June 29th of this year the Klamath County Museum held a bus tour and the Historical Society joined it in place of its annual bus tour. All the tours that Todd Kepple has done have been great, and this tour was one of the best ones that I have been on. It was titled “Bus Tour of the Lower Lake ar- ea.” Topics included Midland, farms This is what Lower Klamath Lake looked and ranches, drainage of Lower Kla- like before 1909. Teters Landing was lo- math Lake, geothermal greenhouses, cated about across Highway 97 and the sucker rearing, White Lake City and railroad tracks from the pumping station Lower Klamath Refuge. that can be seen from the highway. It was all that and more. I will not be History able to do this wonderful tour justice in this short article, but I will try to hit Early explorers of the Klamath Basin the high notes. recorded that the Klamath and Modoc tribes caught sucker fish from the upper The tour began at the county fair- basin and gathered the eggs of water grounds and the first point of interest birds in the marshlands. The women of was Washburn Way south of South these tribes gathered the yellow water Sixth Street. Before 1940, it was lily that ripened in the marshes for food known as Midland Road. The Highway and used the stems of Tules for making 97 bridge across the Klamath River baskets and mats. With the arrival of opened in 1936 and Southside By- white settlers in the late1800s, the food pass didn’t open until 1987. The road gathering by the tribes was disrupted as and highway systems in the Basin farmers began grazing cattle and con- were very different in early times than structing irrigation systems in the Kla- it is today. We saw several other inter- math Basin to raise crops. Dramatic esting and historic sites as we trav- changes to Lower Klamath were accel- eled toward what I was most interest- erated when Congress passed ed in, Lower Klamath Lake. After read- the National Reclamation Act in 1902. In ing the reprint of John Fortune’s “Early 1905, the new Reclamation Service au- Transportation in the Klamath Basin.” I thorized the Klamath Project, which was very interested in learning more straddled the Oregon-California state about the lower lake and how it be- border. came what it is today. 3 The Klamath Project involved the crea- are striving for a balance between man tion of dams, dikes, canals, and drain- and nature. age ditches that eventually drained large Liskey Farms is famous for its geother- areas of the lower lake eliminating vast mal greenhouses. They cover 3.5 acres areas of marshland. The reclamation and though the years have raised many plan allowed the Southern Pacific Rail- different plants. Many people in Klamath road to build a dike across the lake for can remember buying garden plants their rail bed. The dike blocked the from the outlet they had in Klamath spring overflow from the Klamath River Falls. into Lower Klamath Lake. President Theodore Roosevelt created the 80,000-acre Lower Klamath Lake National Wildlife Refuge in 1908. Presi- dent Woodrow Wilson reduced the size of the refuge to 53,600 acres in 1915 to increase the area for agricultural devel- opment. “Some 85,000 acres were dried up and all that remained was a 365 acre pond by 1922,” wrote William Kittredge. Tracey Liskey gave us a tour of the The drained bed of Lower Klamath Lake greenhouses. They have retired from turned into a dusty waste of dried peat growing the many different plants that that burned annually into the 1930s. The they have in the past. They have leased Lower Klamath marshlands, however, the greenhouses to Rick Walsh who is gained a semblance of restoration, and growing and marketing microgreens waterbirds began to return in 1941 when now. They are also working with other engineers built a 6,000-foot tunnel from experimental crops. the Tule Lake Basin to deliver excess irrigation water to the refuge. Following World War II, farmers learned to leach the alkali through deep drains and be- gan to grow profitable crops in Lower Klamath. Today What we saw on the tour told us that now the Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife and the lower lake farmers

4 Tracey Liskey took us to the “fish In Merrill, we ate lunch at the City Hall nursery” were the geothermal heat is and got to tour their museum. used as part of the process of hatching Back in the bus and we headed to and raising shortnose and Lost River Stateline Highway. On the way we saw sucker fish. the Anderson-Rose Diversion Dam Zach Tiemann, from the U.S. Fish and (formerly Lower Lost River Diversion Wildlife Service told us how and why Dam), on Lost River about 3 miles southeast of Merrill, Oregon, which diverts water to serve the lands re- claimed from the bed of Tule Lake. That dam is built near the natural bridge which was use both by Native Americans and early settlers to cross Lost River.

there is a nursery and how it works. After spawning, the fertilized eggs are released in the streams and the biolo- gist capture thousands in nets, then On Stateline Highway, we crossed the eggs are transported to the nursery on Lower Klamath National Wildlife Ref- Lower Lake Road. uge.. After being raised at the nursery for two or three years, about 30,000 are The 50,092-acre refuge is a varied mix release back into Upper Klamath Lake of intensively managed shallow marsh- each year. By protecting the fish in es, open water, grassy uplands, and their early growth stage, it is hoped to croplands that provide feeding, resting, re-establish a strong population of the nesting, and brood-rearing habitat for shortnose sucker, so they will be re- waterfowl and other water birds. moved from the endangered species list. We also learned that the sucker fish are an important part of the lake’s ecology. They feed on the larvae of midges. Then it was lunch time. We headed to

5 The giant pumps move the water back and forth between the Klamath River and Lower Klamath Lake as needed.

“This refuge is one of the most biolog- ically productive refuges within the Pacific Flyway. Approximately 80 per- cent of the flyway's migrating water- fowl pass through the Klamath Basin on both spring and fall migrations, with 50 percent using the refuge. A Droplets Tale by Todd Kepple Peak waterfowl populations can reach Theoretically, a drop of water could fall 1.8 million birds, including 500 bald in the Clear Lake area south of the eagle and 10,000 tundra swans. state line, flow north across the border Spring and summer nesting wildlife in Lost River, circle west past Bonanza include many colonial water birds, and south past Henley and east past such as white-faced ibis, heron, egret, Merrill before crossing the state line cormorant, grebe, white pelican, and back into California and ending up in gulls.” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service . Tulelake, just a few miles from where it The 2001 water cut off not only hurt started. It could then be pumped the farmers in the Basin but also did through the Sheepy Ridge tunnel into damage to the refuge. Many species Lower Klamath Lake, then flow north died and the Pacific Fly Way was across the state line through the Kla- altered because of the lack of water. math Strait, and wind up in the Klamath The refuge is now recovering thanks River, which flows south into California to the combined effects of Lower Lake to the Pacific. farmers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and In reality, that probably doesn’t happen the Bureau of Reclamation. to any water molecules. But it does Next we saw one of the pumping sta- serve to illustrate how complicated tions that regulates water levels in the water issues are around here. Lower Lake Refuge

6 Missing Bradshaw Girls – Part II

This intriguing story broke the week after the Fourth of July in 1925. The sensational story took several bizarre twists and turns making headlines during the rest of the month with newspaper coverage all along the Pacific Coast. The story is repeated in this article as it was reported with most wording, punctuation and spelling that was used 95 years ago. Langell Valley was then known as Langell’s Valley. Tule Lake (two words) refers to the district of the actual lake. The town of Tulelake (one word) did not exist for another six years. There were no railroads nor Highway 139 in the ar- ea in 1925. The road from Malin to Alturas traveled by the Modoc County Sheriff was not paved. Try to visualize the headlines that are shown below in all caps and bold print screaming for attention by using large block letters that sold papers. Most sub- titles were printed with bold large lettering with the first letter of each word capitalized. The headlines of the first two newspaper articles are repeated here to refresh your memory. Wednesday July 15 - MISSING Friday July 10, 1925 - Headline - GIRLS REPORTED SAFE – KLAMATH GIRLS DISAPPEAR Bradshaw Sisters In Dunsmuir; – Girls Ran Away Because They Had To Herd Sheep on Fourth – Constable Cozad Leaves This Authorities Unable To Find Any Morning. Sheriff Sharpe of Modoc County On Likely Clue –Mysterious Let- Trace of Juveniles - Note Left to ter Gives Information of Whereabouts--- Father Telling of Their Disappoint- -Unknown Man Faces Arrest. ment - Whereabouts Are Unknown. I.W Rhodes, former employee of the Tuesday July 14 - GIRLS BODIES Bradshaw ranch, was taken into custo- SOUGHT IN WELL - Freshly dy Monday night by county authorities Caved-in Well Near Bradshaw and has been held for investigation in connection with the disappearance of Camp Is Being Excavated Today. the two Bradshaw sisters. Rhodes de- Action Follows Information Given nies having any knowledge of the girls’ By Sheepmen, Who Tell Of Hear- whereabouts, according to sheriff’s ing Screams On Night Girls Disap- deputies, but says he thinks the girls peared; Girls Missing And Well are safe. Found Caved In Next Morning. According to information received by [Note – at this point we continue with authorities, Rhodes is said to have tak- the “rest of the story.”] en an auto trip into California at about the same time the girls disappeared.

7 However, he is reported to have a hazy Suspicion of ranchers of Tule Lake recollection as to where he went or the that the girls had met a violent death, at purpose of the trip. or near their sheep camp, was not miti- On the hottest lead uncovered since gated yesterday, when the bodies of the the mysterious disappearance of Esther girls were not located at the bottom of a and Junie Bradshaw from a lonely well which had mysteriously caved in the sheep camp on the edge of the lava night of their disappearance. The sheep beds one week ago, Sheriff John Sharp camp is located on the edge of the lava of Modoc county, and Constable Gary beds. A ranch employee, working on the Cozad left at 6:30 a.m. today for Dun- Harder ranch, expert in tracking, picked smuir where they hope to locate the up the track of a large man which lead two missing girls. direct from the sheep camp back into the wild and desolate lava beds. The track They will stop at Alturas, California, was about a week old and was lost by and search for the man who, according the tracker among the caves, rocks and to their information, transported the chasms of the lava country. girls to the northern California town. The man would be prosecuted under Decision to organize a searching party the Mann act if captured as he is re- into the Lava Bed country was made by ported to have driven from the sheep the ranchers at the Harder ranch yester- camp into Oregon, over the Ashland- day afternoon. It was thought that the Klamath Falls highway and into Califor- tracks led to the bodies of the two girls. nia by way of the Pacific highway. A Two members of the Evening Herald letter received from a person in Dun- staff yesterday afternoon visited the de- smuir by Cozad yesterday gave the of- serted sheep camp. As far as one could ficers the information which led them to see, there was no sign of habitation. believe the girls are in Dunsmuir. Con- The girls lived alone in a little tent and stable Cozad declined to disclose the herded sheep. Their father’s camp was identity of the man who is said to have taken the two girls from the sheep four miles distant. camp, nor would he tell the name of his According to reports of Tule Lake informant. ranchers, a ten-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Bradshaw is now herding the Brad- There is no doubt in the minds of the shaw sheep. Mrs. Bradshaw was report- officers before they left this morning, ed still in the Tule Lake country. that they were on the right track and that before nightfall they would locate Thursday July 16 - Authorities Ex- the two girls and the man who took pect To Find Sisters In Portland them into California. By Tonight.

8 . I.W. Rhodes, Former Employee at Rhodes is said to be about 42 years Bradshaw Ranch, Makes alleged Con- old. On Monday of last week, he re- fession That He Aided Girls to Run ceived his wages in full when he left Away—Officials Leave For North. the employ of A.W. Bradshaw, father of Search for the missing Bradshaw sis- the missing girls. He received approxi- ters – Junie and Esther – today cen- mately $311. With this money he came tered in or around Portland. into Klamath Falls and purchased a secondhand automobile. He is report- I.W. Rhodes, former employee at the ed to have returned to the camp where Bradshaw sheep ranch, is reported to the girls were camped and to have aid- have confessed last night to Sheriff ed them in their escape late Tuesday Sharp of Modoc County and local offi- night. They are said to have been cials that he aided the girls in their es- seen or heard passing another camp cape from the Tule Lake sheep ranch on the way to the main highway at late on the night of July 7. about two o’clock Wednesday morning, Rhodes is further reported to have a week ago. told them he could take them to the Whether or not Rhodes found the two girls where they would be found un- girls an apartment or furnished room in harmed. Portland and left them there or took Acting on this purported confession, them to the home of friends or relatives Rhodes last night accompanied sheriff could not be learned this afternoon and Sharp and Constable Cozad to the will not be known until Rhodes leads north where they expected to locate the officers to the place where he says the girls by nightfall. the girls can be found. A report that the girls would be found A.W. Bradshaw today made an at- at the home of their sister, Mrs. H.E. tempt to have a warrant sworn out for Bryant, 1460 Minnesota Avenue, Port- Rhodes charging him with a violation of land, was proven unfounded when the Mann act for transporting the girls Portland newspaper reporters today across the state line from Modoc Coun- checked up on the rumor and found the ty into Oregon. The complaint was re- girls had not been seen by their sister. fused, it was reported, because of the There was another report that absence of anything showing that said Rhodes had taken the girls to the home transportation, if any, was for immoral of his brother in Goldendale, Wash., purposes. but this could not be verified, as The girls’ father declared that the Rhodes would not reveal the hiding authorities had promised to release place to anyone but the officials to Rhodes and not press any charges whom he is said to have confessed. against him if he would lead them to

9 .the girls and aid in their apprehension. ranch, confessed to aiding the girls to make their way out of the Tule Lake dis- The rumor or clue which sent the of- trict. They claim they ran away because ficers speeding toward Dunsmuir yes- their father kept them in the desolate terday morning was a blind lead, and sheep camp and that Rhodes had the Portland angle did not become helped them at their request. known until they had returned to the city last night. “We’re tired of living in the open,” Junie told officials, “the old tent leaked. The Friday July 17 - BRADSHAW GIRLS water was awful and full of alkali, and FOUND; WILL BE BACK HOME we had to carry it about 500 yards. The SOON. Girls Who Ran Away From country is desert. It gets awfully hot in Sheep Camp Located in Rooming the daytime, and there isn’t a tree for House. miles. Then it gets cold at night. The WERE TOO LONESOME. coyotes came around and howled. We Work of Sheep Herding in Tule Lake two girls hadn’t slept for a whole night too Much for Adventuresome Girls. while we were out there. We were just scared to death. PORTLAND, Ore., July 17---Junie and Esther Bradshaw, aged 14 and 12, “Yes sir, you said it when you asked if daughters of A.W. Bradshaw, sheep- we weren’t gypsies. That’s all we are. man of the Tule Lake district in Kla- We have four brothers and three older math County, who disappeared from sisters, but they’ve all scattered, and we their sheep camp several days ago, two girls are the only ones left with dad were located in a Portland rooming and ma. We were too busy moving house late yesterday. They are now in around. “We just got tired of it, tents the custody of the Women’s Protective and deserts and alkali and sheep camps, and thought that we would Division. come to Portland and find a job working PORTLAND, Ore., July 17---Junie and in some one’s house. We wanted a Esther Bradshaw, aged 14 and 12, chance to live in a real house, with a daughters of A.W. Bradshaw, sheep- roof over our heads, and bathtubs and man of the Tule Lake district in Kla- gas and electric lights and other things. math County, who disappeared from We want to be white girls; not gypsies.” their sheep camp several days ago, The girls will be returned to Klamath were located in a Portland rooming County today. house late yesterday. They are now in The discovery of the girls in Portland the custody of the Women’s Protective yesterday bears out the news story in Division.Klamath officials came to Port- the Herald yesterday afternoon in which land after I.W. Rhodes, former employ- it was stated the girls were known to be ee on the Bradshaw 10 in hiding there and would be found just Friday September 25 - BRADSHAW as soon as the ex-employee, Rhodes, WANTS AUTO BACK FROM directed officers to their hiding place. ANNOYED SPOUSE Thursday July 23 - BRADSHAW Sheep Man Asks Help of Police in GIRLS TO SOON RETURN. Negotiating With Wife Here Within the next few days, Constable CHILDREN NEED IT Cozad and possibly Mrs. A.W. Brad- Mrs. Bradshaw is Adamant; Refuses to shaw, will leave for Portland to bring Turn Car Over to Husband The A.W. back Esther and Junie Bradshaw who Bradshaw family is again in a turmoil, ran away two weeks and a half ago. this time over the ownership of an au- Word was received this morning by tomobile, police reported today. Mrs. Constable Cozad from Carrie S. Bradshaw has deserted her husband Turner, operative of the Woman’s Pro- and is now residing on Applegate tective Division, that the girls may now Street in this city, police say. Brad- be released from the care of the juve- shaw is tending to his flock of sheep in nile authorities of Portland. the Tule Lake country. Just what will happen to the girls Girls With Father when they return to Klamath Falls no- body seems to know. Whether they Junie and Esther Bradshaw, whose will be restored to their father, to their mysterious disappearance from their mother or will be taken in charge by home two months ago caused such an county authorities is yet to be decided. uproar in the county, are with their fa- ther. Bradshaw claims that his wife Before the county may assume figura- tive authority over a girl, a complaint has his automobile and that he needs must be filed with the county court and the machine badly because his chil- a hearing held before the county judge dren must drive 12 miles to school in to determine whether or not it would be Malin each day. He came to police advisable to return the children to their and solicited their aid in securing his parents, County Judge R.H. Bunnell property. Every time he would ap- explained this afternoon. In case the children are taken in charge by the proach his wife on the subject, he county, they would be kept in some would meet with silence, he told the public institution. No complaint has as police. yet been filed with the county court, Judge Bunnell said. Note – apparently Police Refuse Aid no complaint was filed in court as the fol- This morning bright and early, he lowing article appeared in the Evening was on hand at the police station and Herald in the Fall of 1925 – Ed.] endeavored to secure the aid of a pa- trolman in negotiating with his wife for the car.

11 Taking the position that it was more or less of a family altercation, the police to go a long way into the woods to find some more. It was raining pitch- decided to leave their hands off. So far forks, and the harness used on the as was known by authorities here today, ox was a brand-new buckskin har- Mrs. Bradshaw still has possession of ness from deer harvested from the the automobile. (End of newspaper re- Interstate herd. ports.) [Note – The manner of reporting this He finally found a patch of dry wood story during 1925 is an example of what and loaded the sled to capacity and “Slow Journalism” is not. Speed to re- started back to camp. He was on a port unverified rumors grabbed head- good road and went back in a hurry lines and sold papers but was often in without looking back to see how the error. Today, the rush to be first is most- load was. When he got to camp, he ly left to social and broadcast media. found out that the buckskin harness Sensational initial reports are commonly had stretched, and the load was no- in error and overstate actual events. where in sight – only a thong of “Slow Journalism” is preferable with re- buckskin stretched back into the sponsible, accurate and confirmed woods. About this time the dinner sources - Ed.] bell rang, so he went in the cook- house to eat, leaving the ox stand- Paul Bunyan Discovers Buckskin ing. While he was eating, the sun came out and when the bull cook got It is reported that the buckskin back, he found that the shrinking harnesses for Paul’s oxen were in- buckskin had dried and drawn the vented when he came to log where load out of the woods all the way in- the Interstate deer herd roams near to camp. the Oregon/California state line. Everyone knows how buckskin Paul heard of this and took out a stretches when it gets wet and how patent on the idea, and after that on- it shrinks to almost nothing when it ly buckskin harnesses were used in dries out. This was the principle Paul’s camp for the long hauls. utilized by the buckskin harness NO TALE IS TOO TALL FOR PAUL and the discovery is believed to have been an accident, in this man- ner: Paul was logging on Fishhole Creek south of Bly when one of the bull-cooks found all the dry wood in camp had been used up. He had

12 Trumpeter Staff 2019 KCHS Officers It is time to Bill Lewis President: Gloria Sullivan renew your Membership Sue Fortune Vice President: Beatrice Naylor John Fortune Secretary: Mary Nobel Membership fees are due at the end Phyllis Goebel Treasurer: Richard Touslee of each year. Mary Nobel Members at Large: Individual $15.00 Ron Loveness Doy Touslee Supporting $30.00 Cindy DeRosier Life Member Bill Lewis $125.00 Carol Mattos Make checks KCHS Website : payable to the klamathcountyhistoricalsociety.org Klamath County Are you update Bill Lewis— Webmaster Historical Society on your KCHS Email the Society at: dues? Please Mail to or drop off check and if not [email protected] (Webmaster) at the Klamath County Museum please catch up. Did you know?—The Trumpeters and The Historical Echoes are now online and can be 1451 Main Street Society needs viewed at: Klamath Falls , OR your support! http://klamathcountyhistoricalsociety.org

Update your information: Mail to: KCHS at the address above. Name:______Address:______Phone Number: ______

13