Klamath Falls, OR

Saturday, June 17, 2017

We had a pleasant trip from Redding, CA to Chiloquin, OR on Thursday and have been getting settled in and acquainted with this area.  It is amazing how much snow there still is in the upper reaches of the mountains between Redding and here.  Weather has been cooler than usual also with temperatures staying in the 70’s instead of in the 90’s though Redding was heating up when we left.

Our drive to Chiloquin from Klamath Falls takes us past Upper Klamath Lake which is the largest body of fresh water in the state.  The Klamath basin contains six national wildlife refuges. 

Chiloquin is located about 23 miles north of Klamath Falls and is a town that really no longer exists in terms of businesses.  Only a grocery store, hardware store, realtor, visitor center, a bakery and little else.  There are still homes in the area and it is a beautiful area to spend outdoors summer and winter with forests and lakes, fishing, etc.  

Our campground is set along the Williamson River and has been very busy since we arrived.  People are boating on the river, playing in the shallow river as it flows past, and fishing.   The new owners have done much to improve a place that previously had a bad reputation.  Their efforts show with the park full each night. 

Today we drove back to Klamath Falls to see the sights there.  We found these two huge homes to photograph and later met the owner and her grandson of one of them on a tour we took of the old Baldwin Hotel.  She is in the process of doing some restoration.  She told us the house is 3,000 square feet and when built new in the 1800’s cost $6,000 which included the design and materials which had to hauled by wagon to Klamath Falls from somewhere in California because the train had not arrived in Klamath yet.

The Baldwin Hotel (opened in 1906) was originally a hardware store with four floors with the owner selling hardware on the first floor and renting out the upper floors to tenants.  It was a hotel from 1908 until 1977 becoming a museum in 1978.  

Baldwin Hotel

Hotel lobby then

Hotel lobby now

Our docent gave us the one hour tour with lots of information about Klamath Falls origins along with info about the building and its use.  Very interesting.  The hotel was built against a mountain wall of basalt which can be seen during the tour.

 Each of the rental rooms has its own sink and each floor had a common bathroom for use by the tenants.  Mr. Baldwin did install another shower room with a sink and large shower available to his tenants.  A man ahead of his time.  There were also offices, a barber shop, beauty shop as well as a dining room and kitchen.  Lots of artifacts and antiques and many hand quilted quilts (many crazy quilts) which drew my attention.

Notice the sink in the background by the window.

Note wood chute where wood was supplied for heater and cooking.

A couple of other things caught out attention during the tour that are shown below. 

The second thing is this picture.  We were asked what we thought this fellow was hauling.  The item is made of some sort of cloth.  I’ll leave you to try to figure it out with the answer at the end of the blog.

After finishing the tour we drove around town noting as below that the residential areas are built on the hills surrounding the town with steep streets much like San Francisco.    

There were a number of old buildings including the historic 1940’s art deco Ross Ragland Theater which seats 800 people.  Wow! 

The downtown area also sports several murals on the side of some building including the three below.

We turned back toward the campground but drove off on a local highway which took us through the countryside toward Crater Lake.  We will explore that another day but for now we are seeking what is left of Ft. Klamath.  We first found this old cemetery with some interesting  headstones

and then explored the Fort grounds.  Nice little museum but little else to see. 

From 1863 – 1890, Ft. Klamath was the army post from which the federal government conducted its Indian campaign where frequent clashes between the white settlers and the Modoc Indians of the area occurred.  Today there is a historic post office, guard house, jail and a small grave yard which contains the graves of Captain Jack, the leader of the Modoc Indians and three of his warriors.   

Returning to our campground we spy this old barn with the snow capped mountains in the background.  What a beautiful sight.   

The answer to what the man is hauling is a container which picked up horse droppings along the track where horses were pulling trolleys.  How this worked is not know.  People were complaining about the smell and this apparently was the solution.  Would  love to know how it was done.

More sightseeing in the next couple of days.