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Klamath Echoes RPPhEGNTE TRAIIi KLAMATH ECHOES I Sanctioned by Kiamath County Historical Society NUMBER 9 Retracing the Applegate Trail across Black Rock Desert in June. 1959. Mark Runnels. our grandson, left, and Dick Teater. PIONEER TRAILS Have you an eye for the old, old trails, 0, little by-path and long emigrant trail, The old roads and the new? Alas your lives are done! The emigrant's track is a weed grown ditch Who hurried here, who loitered there, Pointing to the setting sun. In the dust and the dew? The marks are faint and hard to trace, 0, was it a schooner last went by, The lore is hard to learn. And where will it ford the stream? 0 heart, what ghosts would follow Where will it halt in the early dusk, the trail And where will the camp-fire gleam? If the old years might return? Jeue Applegate, Captain of the 1846 road-hunters. Dedication We respectfully dedicate this, the ninth issue of Kiamath Echoes, to Jesse Applegate, 'The Saga of Yoncalla," much maligned and unrewarded founder of the Applegate Trail. Statesman, Surveyor, Captain of the Cow Column, 1843; Captain of the Southern Emigrant Route Exploring Party, 1846; Road Builder and Pioneer. "This is the noblest Roman of them all, His life was gentle and the elements So mixed in him that nature might stand up And say to all the world, This is a man." Senator James W. Nesmith lx Then. Ox-team and wagons as depicted at the Pendleton Round Up. Most emigrant ox-teams consisted of four oxen and one wagon. I. ,.. ____ ?__. Now. Trails West, Inc., historical caravan, following the Applegate Trail on July 18, 1970. In the Ipos beds, near Pot Hole Springs. Another mode of travel, Scooters, used by the Helfriches in retracing the Applegate Trail through High Rock Canyon in September, 1964. 111. An unidentified grave or a mass grave (8 x 13 feet). three-fourths of a mile northeast of the Massacre Ranch buildings. Some of the rocks were shaped by a stone mason from a nearby ledge. The marker has recently disappeared. The names and date would be appreciated. Dick Teater, left, and Devere Helfrich. right. Devere Helirich at the coyote pile along the Applegate Trail west of Massacre Ranch one mile, in March 1951. A Government trapper stacked the carcasses at this location in the early 1940's to prove his success. Massacre Butte and Lakes in background. iv. Kiamath Echoes Staff DEVERE HELFRICH MANAGING EDITOR HELEN HELFRICH - - ASSISTANT Officers KLAMATH COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY ROBERT R. ELLIOTT PRESIDENT LEONA ANGEL VICE-PRESIDENT ELDA FLETCHER - SECRETARY-TREASURER MR. AND MRS. H. A. BORGMAN - PROGRAMME CHAIRMEN RICHARD L. HE&SIG, BERNARD C. GRIFFIN, MARION BARNES, DEVERE HELFRICH - - DIRECTORS Address all communications to: KLAMATH EQ{OES P. 0. BOX 1552 KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON 97601 THE COVER: Our cover is a sketch of an actual photograph of a deserted wagon in the High Rock Canyon area. It was drawn by Stephanie Bonotto Hakanson, artist for all previous Klamath Echoes covers. Editor's Page The Applegate Trail should be pre-other Willamette Valley counties should served by marking in some manner. One also participate.It would be a big step hundred and twenty-five years have elap- toward furthering the recreation arid tour- sed since it was laid out, and itstraces ism movement in these areas. are disappearing by the day.It was the During the1940s the Oregon Coun- forerunner to tne settlement of Southerncil, American Pioneer Trails Association Oregon and Northern California.Several placed a n u m b e r ofApplegate Trail' members of the 1846 exploring par tymarkers, starting in the Willamette Valley liked what they saw, later returning toand reachingasfarsouth as Emigrant settle in the Klamath Country. Most ofCreek at the western base of Green Spring the emigrants after 1851 settled either inMountain.There they ran into difficul- Scott and Shasta Valleys of Northern Cali- ties. A certain group objected to the name fornia, or the Rogue and Umpqua Valleys "Applegate Trail," suggesting in its place of Southwestern Oregon. Many of their Southern Route to Oregon". Thus died descendants filtered back across the Cas-that project, and the marker on Emigrant cades and Sierras to become the first pio- Creek has long since disappeared. neers east of the mountains. This w r it e r,during the summer of A substantial start in marking the trail 1970, with two members of the United has been made by the organization, TrailsStates Forest Service, from Ganby, Califor- West, Inc.,headquartered in Reno, Ne- nia,retraced some of thetrail west of vada, working with the North Cal-NevaGoose Lake, and as a result of that trip, a Resources, Conservation and Developmentsegment of the trail has been saved from Project.Markers havebeenplacedat the bull-dozer's blade. Black Rock, Double Hot, the wagon slide It is the further hope of this writer that into Fly Canyon, mouth of High Rockcertain timber interests can be persuaded Canyon, both ends of Upper High Rockto save the Jenny Creek Wagon Slide, Canyon, Bruff's Elbow Rock near Massacrepossibly by building a path to the slide for Ranch, Painted Point and possibly Fan-foot traffic only. dango Pass. There has been a California It was during the late summer of 1970 State historical marker commemorating the that the Applegate Trail was decided upon combined Applegare and Lassen Trails atfor the subject of this year's issue of Kia- this point for a number of years. math Echoes.Most of the material has More tours and the placing of markersbeen gathered over a period of years, and are planned for the 1971 summer season the fieldresearch was completed tothe (if it ever arrives).Possibly this issue ofbase of the Cascade Mountains.It was Kiamath Echoes may help in the locationthrought this much could be completely of many more markers. written during the winter months and the The purpose of Trails West, Inc.,as remainder finished when spring arrived. now organized, includes marking the Ap- Old man weather saw it otherwise. The plegate, Lassen and Nobles' Trails in Ne- snows came, and the snows came When vada from Lassen's Meadow (Rye Patchspring was supposed to break, much of the Reservoir)westward to the Californiacountry we needed to explore was still State Line. Further, the overall plan is tocovered with snow, mud and fallen trees. continue the marking oft h e s etrails Late in April we began to probe the side through Modoc and Lassen Counties. roads.Then the rains c a m e and more Insofar as the Applegate T r a i 1 is con- snow. The last snow-fall caught us in the cerned, the North Cal-Neva R C & DJenny Creek area on May 20th.By luck- Project ends at a line west of Goose Lake,ily hitting a few beautiful, warm days, in- running due south f r o m Crowder Flatterspersed with the storms, we have been through Willow Creek Ranch. able to finish our project, except in two or This brings up the need of a new or-three short sectors. Tomorrow, May 28th, ganization, or a subsidiary of Trails West, 1971the manuscript of theApplegate Inc., to mark the trail through the remain-Trail goes to the printer. der of Modoc County, and the northeastern It is hoped that this will givea better corner of Siskiyou County, including the understandingofthe beginningof the Yreka trail in f u 11.Klamath. Jackson, settlementofthisterritory andaid in Josephine, Douglas, La n e a n d possiblysome marking organization beingformed. vi. ',Sb J/__9",7 7'e _I, Pb0 IA.e n . f iDA HO I OREGON tS.'I.. Half j)'7e4shSfoJuu £- r7;tc( kia,414 f// P/f SI Yrk4 T,w, / 4/ ti' -NEVA D/j z A'A BhicJI...... JçO1 C4L1Fo F?I.e N1 Ij '1 S Hsr,ihI rElko THE APPLEGATE TRAIL By Devere Heif rich Chapter I When, route was deemed necessary: War with Great Britain over the lo- Where, Why, Who and How cation of the boundary between Canada The Applegate Trail was explored, laidand the United States was a definite possi- out and first used in the year 1846, as ability, and, if such a situation came to pass, southern route into the Willamette Valley,Great Britain controlled, by means of a then the principle settlement in the Ore-string of Hudson's Bay Company posts at gon Country. Fort Vancouver, Fort Nez Perce and Fort The traili t s e 1 f, branched from theHall, the only road into or out of the parent California Trail on the HumboldtOregon Country by which troops or sup- River at what later became known asplies could be moved, or, for that matter, Lassen's Meadow, now Rye Patch Reser- settlers make a retreat out of the territory voir, near Imlay, Nevada. It led in a north- south of the Columbia. westerly direction across the Bla& Rock There was the difficulty of the Ore- Desert, through High Rock andFortygon Trail down the Snake and Columbia Nine Conyons, innorthwestern Nevada, Rivers to The Dalles where the wagon to enter California near its extreme north- road then ended. On this route the emi- easterncorner, 29 milessouth ofthe grants of 1843, '44 and '45 experienced California-Oregon State Line. much loss of property and even life.In ItcrossedtheWarner Mountains ataddition, grass and water were scarce over Fandango Pass, skirted the southern end ofmuch of the way, and the hardships almost Goose Lake, this section varying from yearunbearable. to year depending on the shore line of the From The Dalles only crude Indian lake, and keeping a slightly north of westtrails crossed the Cascade Mountains, over course, passed north of Clear Lake to reachwhich wagons could not be transported.
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