This is Floyd Wynne with THE VIEW FROM HERE   (12-11-03)

          The recent study of Upper Klamath Lake and how it looked prior to the Link River Dam and the Klamath Irrigation Project  being instituted doesn’t need to depend on pictures from 1921 showing the before and after effects of the dam.....all they have to do is read the diary of John C. Fremont.

          His report on a visit to the Klamath country includes information on the state of Upper Klamath Lake, at least in December, which is detailed in his narrative, published back in 1856.

           On December 10, 1843, he arrived at what he called Tlamath Lake, indicating this was the Indian spelling for the lake.   He wrote in his journal the following:  “The country began to improve; and about eleven o’clock we reached a spring of cold water on the edge of a savannah, or grassy meadow, which our guides informed us was an arm of the Tlamath Lake; and a few miles further we entered upon an extensive meadow , or lake of grass, surrounded by timbered mountains.  This was Tlamath Lake.”

          He also wrote:  “The point on which we were encamped forms, with the opposite eastern shore, a narrow neck, connecting the body of the lake with a deep cove or bay which receives the principal affluent stream, and over the great part of which the water (or rather ice) was at the time dispersed in shallow pools.  Among the grass, and scattered over the prairie lake, appeared to be similar marshes.  It is simply a shallow basin, which, for a short period aat the time of melting snows, is covered with water from the neighboring mountains; but this probably soon runs off, and leaves for the remainder of the year a green savannah, through the midst of which the river Tlamath, which flows to the ocean, winds its way the outlet on the southwestern side.”

          This December report indicates that without the dam to retain the spring runoff, Klamath Lake became a marsh in the Fall months.

          In addition to this report, there have been reports in the history of this area that at certain times the Link River would run dry.  At other times the water would create a falls over a short portion.

          It was said when the river ran dry.....one could fish on the rocks in the river, and at other times huge bands of water snakes would be seen on the banks of the river.

          The engineering for the irrigation system was done in 1905 as a part of a study of water needs in the West.   The construction of the
canal system took almost two years to complete at a cost of about five million dollars.     

          All of this worked well from the inception of the irrigation system in 1907 until 1921 when the Linkville Dam was constructed to provide additional power.     Prior to that, power generators were constructed along Link River.   The first of these was constructed by the Klamath Falls Light and Water Company November l, 1895, utilizing a canal type operation to secure a proper flow.

          But going back to the Fremont report, it is interesting to note how he described his first meeting with the Klamath Indians.   He determined to visit the Indian village and wrote: “We were surprised , on riding up to find one of them a woman, having never before known a squaw to take any part in the business of war.  They were the village chief and his wife, who, in excitement and alarm at the unusual event, and appearance, had come out to meet their fate together.  The Chief was a very prepossessing Indian, with handsome features, and a singularly soft and agreeable voice...so remarkable as to attract attention.

          “The huts were grouped together on the bank of the river which, from being spread out in a shallow marsh at the upper end of the lake, was collected here into a single stream.  They were large round huts, perhaps 20 feet in diameter, with rounded tops, on which was the door by which they descended into the interior.  Within, they were supported by posts and beams.”

          So Colonel Fremont described his first encounter with the Klamath Indians along Link River.

          Reading his narrative gives credence to the report that at times Upper Klamath Lake was mostly a marsh, filled mainly with the melting of winter snows....but receding to a “green savannah” as Fremont described it in the winter.

          So much for history.

  This is Floyd Wynne and that’s THE VIEW FROM HERE.