E RIVER VALLEY- BLY 1974 KLAMATH ECHOES ------------ <:__ Sanctioned by Klamath County Historical Society NUMBER 12 The southwest side of Gearhart (Gayhart) Mountain as seen from the junction of Campbell Road and Highway 140, one mile east of Bly. The North and South Forks of Sprague River head on the slopes of Gearhart. SOLI TUDE think I shall climb to the woods today Where nobody's there to know; Only a hawk in the high, thin air And only the cattle below. And no one shall hear my coming. And no one shall see me pass. Only the wind in the great gb~st pines And the eyes in the still. green grass. Belly Cornwell - l . The Mitchell monument some ten miles northeast of Bly on the Dairy Creek Road. DEDICATION We dedicate this. the 12th is ue of Klamath Echoes, to the memory of those innocent and uninvolved persons who perished here as the result of enemy action. The marker reads: Dedicated to those who died here May 5, 1945 BY Japanese Bomb Explosion Elsie Mitchell Age 26 Jay Gifford Age 13 Edward Engen Age 13 Dick Patzke Age 14 Joan Patzke Age 13 Sherman Shoemaker Age J 1 The only place on the American Continent where death resulted from enemy action during World War II We deplore the inane stupidity of senseless vandals who have desecrated this marker. We suggest that some organization restore this marker to its former beautiful appearance. -II .. The girls' dormitory at Yalnax Sub Agency, with teachers and pupils, all unidentified. The " Galloping Goose" used on the O.C. & E. railroad during construction days. · Ill · Written on the front of this picture was the caption " Crater Lake Lumber Company". On the back: "Pete Lorenz Sprague River logging", presumably on the Whiskey Creek timber sale. ~ The old Sly Cemetery several miles west of town, situated in the edge of the timber. Dark stones in foreground and others mark some 20 unknown graves. - IV - Klamath Echoes Staff DEVERE HELFRICH Managing EdilOr HELEN HELFRICH Assistant Editor OFFICERS Klamath County Historical Society JIM CO LEMAN President WILLIAM E. KRAL - • - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Vice President MEL VENE NITSCHELM Secretary-Treasurer BOB ELLIOTT, LEONA ANGEL, WALLACE UERLING and DEVERE HELFRICH - - - · - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Directors Address all communications to: KLAMATH ECHOES P. 0. BOX 1552 KLAMATH FALLS, OREGON 97601 Second Printing- 2005 THE COVER: The Upper Sprague Ri ver Valley and rail fence along the Campbell Road. As in all past issues of Klamath Echoes our cover for this year was drawn by Stephanie Bonoto Hakanson. -v- EDITOR'S PAGE This, the 12th issue of KlamaTh Echoes. continues our historical encirclement of the Klamath Country. The Upper Sprague River Valley. running from east to west. and including in this order the communities of Bly. Old Garner, Beauy. Old Yainax Sub Agency and the town of Sprague River. is hereafter described historically as far as we have material. From the beginning, 1873, for the next 55 years. to 1928. this territory was strictly range and stock country. Then following the approach of the Oregon, California & Eastern Railroad, and the advent of the lumbering industry, the latter has been in the ascendency. although the cattle industry is still of major importance. Al.l of the original pioneers have long since passed on and only grandchildren for the most pan were available for interviews and to point out locations. etc. However, intensive research in old newspaper files and county history have en­ abled us to unearth stories actually left by the pioneers, which we have repeated, feeling that these stories are unknown lo, and unavailable to most present day readers. Only after setting down all of this information in chronological order has a true hisrory developed. Stories such as that of Yainax, the first post offices, the first settlements, and the land grants for roads have resolved some of the mysteries of the various communities. Old time pictures have been the most difficult item to obtain. Surely there are more in existance- but where? Probably after this book is printed some will be un­ earthed. We wish to especial.ly thank the following people: Mr. and Mrs. Everett Bell. Owen Watts, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Patzke, Mr. and Mrs. Ben Cornell, Olive Hall, Frank Obenchain, Jr., Dibbon Cook, Mrs. Mary L. Heidenreich, Mrs. Vernelia M. Hadley, Dibbon Cook and Mrs. Louella Anderson. We wish especially to thank the Herald and News newspaper for the continued use of their flies of the Republican, Evening Herald and KlamaTh News. ·VI· < Crane Mills at Bly with part of the Upper Sprague River Valley In background. Courtesy Riley Harris PRE-SETTLEMENT Upper Sprague River Valley with its southward into the main Klamath Basin, communities of Old Yainax, Sprague across the mountains, via the Klamath River, Beatty and Bly, is the subject of River Canyon, to again return in early the 1974, or 12th issue of Kla.math spring and leave the vicinity southward Echoes. from Tule Lake early in May, 1827. This valley is enriched with expansive Undoubtedly some of hls trappers ex­ meadows, watered by the North and plored or trapped up Sprague River. South Forks of Sprague River, Sycan Sixteen years later, Captain John C. River and numerous creeks, the largest Fremont with his exploring expedition perhaps being Fishhole. passed eastward across Klamath Marsh The Indian name for Sprague River to Summer Lake in December, 1843. was Plai, or Plaikni Koke. Koke was the A William T. Hamilton claims to have general word for river, and Plai indicated camped on some unknown stream that the stream came from the upper or flowed into Klamath Lake during the higher country. The two forks of Sprague winter of 1843-44. He was supposed to River head on the slopes of Gearhart have been a member of a party of 43 Mountain sitting astride the north-south trappers led by Old Bill Williams, the line between Klamath and Lake Counties. Mountain Man. If so, he would have been For untold centuries the Upper Sprague near Klamath Lake when Fremont passed River Valley was the home of several through only a few miles to the north. wandering bands of Snake Indians. Then This story was first printed in 1905. In came the white man with his herds of 1960 it was printed by the Oklahoma cattle, horses, mules and sheep and ever Press under the title, "My Sixty Years On increasing lust for more of the Indian's the Plains, Trapping, Trading and Indian land. Lastly, beginning in the 1920's, the Fighting." This portion of the story lumber industry arrived and with it rall­ smacks too much of the ed Buntline roads, improved highways and farm roads. type of hlstory according to this writer's Who the first white men were to see or opinion, and is just another "yarn", not enter the Upper Sprague River Valley is to be considered as authentic Klamath unknown. However, documented history Country histo ry. records many near misses by exploring and trapping parties, some of whose During early May of 1846, Capt. John members probably did enter the valley, C. Fremont, with Kit Carson as guide, but if so it is unknown. Following is a once more entered the Klamath Country brief chronology of some of these parties: to circle Upper Klamath Lake, entering The Hudson's Bay Company party and leaving the basin via Tule Lake. led by Finan McDonald and Thomas During his stay here he had a battle with McKay who penetrated south from the the Indians on Williamson River. near the Columbia River in the early fall of 1826, present U.S. Highway 97 crossing. as far as the neighborhood of present day Joel Palmer, Superintendent of Indian Chiloquin on Williamson River where Affairs for Oregon, according to his Sprague River unites with the former. Pocket Diary of 1854, traveled up the The Hudson's Bay Company Fur Bri­ Deschutes River from the Warm Springs gade of Peter Skene Ogden, who late in Indian Reservation into the Klamath 1826 also traveled south from the Colum­ Country in mid-August of that year. How bia River to arrive near present Chiloquin long he remained or where he went is on December 6th (5th). He continued unknown at present. -I- Lt. R.S. Williamson, who was attached Two citizens and one soldier were wound­ to the Pacific Railroad party, accompan­ ed. After the fight, LL Davis with his ied by Lt. Phillip H. Sheridan, traveled party returned forty miles to Allen's through the Klamath Country from south camp. Col. Drew sent a guard and am­ to north in 1855. by a route appro1limat­ bulance after the wounded. Considerable ing present U.S. Highway 97. trouble is anticipated." G.H. Abbott.lndian Agent for Oregon. Next, as previously printed in Klamath paid a visit to the Klamath Country. Echoes No. 9 for 1971. "Col. Drew probably in 1857, when it is told be opened up a new line of travel from Fort concluded treaties with the Klamaths and Klamath, via Sprague River, Drew's Valley Modocs. lf so. he may have traveled up (named for Col. Drew) and around the Sprague River as far as Council Butte. northern end of Goose Lake to the Apple­ This. however. is highly speculative. gate Trail which crossed over the Warner According t~ the History of Central Mountains at Fandango Pass. He was at Oregon, 1905, * * * considerable travel the time conducting a train of seven to the John Day country mines crossed wagons (Richarson's) from Shasta Valley Sprague River Valley toward Sycan and who were headed for the John Day mines.