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The Klamath Project
(Seventh Draft)
Eric A. Stene
Bureau of Reclamation History Program
Denver
,
Colorado
Research on Historic Reclamation Projects
1994
The Klamath Project
The Klamath
Project encompasses an alternately barren and wooded area of
Oregon
and
California
, an area steeped in history. The lucrative
beaver pelt market lured trappers to the area in the early nineteenth century.
Peter Skene Ogden, a trapper for the Hudson Bay Fur Company, entered the Klamath
vicinity in 1826. Captain John C. Fremont led a
U.S.
military expedition to the area in 1843. In
the 1840s, early pioneers set out across the "great
American
Desert
" of the
Great Plains
to settle the west coast of the young
United States
. For most the promise of
California
and
Oregon
lay ahead. The rugged landscape drew
farmers to its fertile valleys for nearly a century. Increased agriculture led
to increasing demand for irrigation, culminating in construction of the Klamath
Project.
Project Location
The Klamath
Project covers territory in
Klamath County
,
Oregon
, and Siskiyou and
Modoc
Counties
in northern
California
.
Klamath Falls
, Merrill, Bonanza, and
Malin
,
Oregon
and
Tulelake
,
California
, comprise communities on the project.
Clear
Lake
Dam
and Reservoir,
Tule
Lake
, and
Lower Klamath
Lake
lie south of the Oregon-California border.
Gerber Dam and Reservoir,
Upper Klamath Lake
, Link River Dam,
Lost
River
, Miller, Malone, and Anderson-Rose
Diversion Dams occupy
Oregon
territory. Temperatures on the project
range from -24 to 105 degrees.
Historic Setting
Settlers carved their niche
in
Oregon
Territory
after fur trappers paved the way. In the first
century of the
United States
' history, agriculture remained king here. Most
pioneers set down roots to begin farming. As in other parts of the western
United States
, the proximity of whites and Native Americans led
to culture clashes, in
Oregon
, but the advent of the American Civil War took
regular army troops from frontier posts to the eastern battlefields.
To protect the
Oregon
whites against the perceived threat of hostile
natives, the
Oregon
government authorized a volunteer cavalry unit in
1863. Recruits, on their way to join the First Oregon Cavalry Regiment, sang,
I'm a raw recruit with a brand new suit.
One hundred dollars bounty.
And I've just come down to
Ashland
town.
To fight for
Jackson
County
.
The First Oregon paid the
cavalry troopers $31 to $39 a month. Sergeants received a few dollars more.
Looking for a strategic
location to secure major migration routes, the Regiment's officers chose the
Wood
River
Valley
, near
Upper Klamath Lake
, to build
Fort
Klamath
. The present site of
Klamath Falls
received consideration, but the officers passed it
over. The area remained fairly quiet for the volunteers, and the need for the
First Oregon Cavalry receded with the end of the Civil War. Troop A of the First
U.S. Cavalry replaced the First Oregon in July 1867.
Five years later conflicts
between the Klamath and Modoc Indians, placed on the same lands by the United
States Government, resulted in the Modoc War. Kientpoos, more commonly known as
Captain Jack, led the Modocs to
Tule
Lake
, where they entrenched themselves in the lava
beds against 1,000 troops for six months. After fierce and bloody fighting,
General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby started negotiations with the Modocs in an
effort to convince them to return to the reservation. Instead, on
April 11,
1873 , Captain Jack and his
group ambushed Canby, Alfred Meachem, Leroy Dyar, and Reverend Elisar Thomas,
killing Canby and Thomas, and wounding Meachem. Captain Jack surrendered to the
U.S. Army on
June 1,
1873 . The Army tried and
convicted Captain Jack, Schonchen John, Black Jim, and Boston Charley for the
murders of Canby and Thomas. All four were executed at
Fort
Klamath
on
October
3, 1873 .
In 1882, five
years after the Modoc War, farmers introduced irrigation to the Klamath area.
Several Linkville residents incorporated the Linkville Water Ditch Company. They
dug a low capacity ditch connecting town lots to the
Link
River
, two miles above present day
Klamath Falls
. William Steele enlarged the ditch and
extended it fifteen miles in 1884. The Klamath Falls Irrigation Company took
over the ditch after Steele died in 1888. Subsequent enlargements turned the
ditch into a high capacity canal, known as the
Ankeny-Henley
Canal
.
The Van Brimmer
Brothers also started a small ditch in 1882, to irrigate 4,000 acres near the
Oregon-California border on
Lost
River
. Construction took four years, and after
completion, the brothers incorporated the Van Brimmer Ditch Company. Then, J.
Frank Adams and some neighbors completed a six mile canal from
Lost
River
to Adam's Point in 1886. Originally
Adams
' canal received water from
White
Lake
through the Van Brimmer canal. Light
precipitation in the winter of 1887-88 left
Adams
' canal dry, forcing him to tap
Lower Klamath
Lake
as a more productive water supply.
Adams
lengthened the canal to twenty-two miles in
1904. Charles and Rufus Moore excavated a canal on the west side of the
Link
River
rapids in 1877 to furnish power for a saw
mill and transport logs from
Upper Klamath Lake
to the mill. The brothers built another
canal, beginning in the same location, to power a flower mill and supply
irrigation water for lots and orchards in west
Klamath Falls
.
Project Authorization
In October 1903, John T.
Whistler, Oregon District Engineer of the Reclamation Service, investigated the
Klamath region at the request of Chief Engineer, later Reclamation Director,
Fredrick H. Newell. Whistler recommended a controlling dam at the lower end of
Upper Klamath Lake
to retain enough water to irrigate 200,000 acres.
Older residents of the area recommended
Clear
Lake
as a Reservoir instead of
Upper Klamath Lake
. Newell visited Klamath in 1904 to assess the
project's possibilities. While there, he addressed a large audience. In his
speech, Newell said he believed Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock
would approve construction of the project.
Approval of the Klamath
Project rested on adjudication of all vested and conflicting water rights;
surrender of rights on Lower Klamath and Tule Lakes; cessation of rights and
title to the federal government by Oregon and California for Lower Klamath and
Tule Lakes; and Congressional approval allowing Hitchcock to destroy
navigability of the two lakes. Hitchcock and Newell received petitions for a
Reclamation project beginning in late 1904 and early 1905, as residents of
Klamath Falls
, Merrill, Bonanza, and the immediate area
campaigned for the Project. Reclamation secured rights to land and water from
owners of the Little Klamath Ditch, the
Ankeny-Henley
Canal
, and the Jesse D. Carr Land & Livestock Company
on
April 7,
1905 , for a total of $337,500.
Only the Klamath Canal
Company threatened project authorization. Three men named Hawkins, Brown, and
Gould incorporated the Klamath Canal Co. on
May 18,
1904 . The company filed on
water rights from Upper Klamath Lake in 1904, equaling the total flow of the
Link River. Prospects of Reclamation involvement in the area convinced the
company's owners to cease construction of the main canal, including a circuitous
7,000 foot tunnel. Reclamation estimated the company spent approximately $84,000
on construction. The Klamath Canal Co. claimed expenditures of $175,000 and
wanted $200,000 to transfer its rights and contracts.
Reclamation filed on the
waters of
Upper Klamath Lake
and
Link
River
in July 1904, when investigations and surveys
confirmed the project's feasibility. Reclamation doubted the validity of Klamath
Canal Co.'s water filings because they conflicted with federal laws. However
under state law, the company's claims preceded those of Reclamation. The
government served the company notice to abstain from any water diversion on the
grounds of interstate navigability of the waters. The company disregarded the
notice and diverted water anyway.
The Justice Department
responded by issuing a temporary restraining order. Meanwhile land owners in the
Klamath
Basin
became more insistent that Reclamation start
construction of the project, and increased their opposition to operations of the
Klamath Canal Co. Finally, in a meeting in
Los Angeles
on
April 25,
1905 , Reclamation and the
Klamath Canal Co. reached an agreement. Reclamation paid the company $150,000
for its water rights. At the same meeting Reclamation reached an accord with the
Moore Brothers for their rights.
Local farmers unanimously
supported the project and organized the Klamath Water Users' Association on
March 4,
1905 . The
Oregon
and
California
legislatures and the United States Congress passed
all necessary legislation to begin the project by early 1905. Ethan Hitchcock
authorized the Klamath Project for $4.4 million on
May 15,
1905 . The government allocated
$1 million immediately.
Construction History
The Klamath Project
incorporated several privately built canals and, Reclamation initially
constructed Clear Lake Dam and Reservoir, Lost River Diversion Dam, and the A
(Main), B (East Branch), and C (South Branch) Canals on the Project.
Clear
Lake
Dam
and Reservoir stored water on the
Lost
River
. Water releases from
Clear
Lake
traveled downstream the diversion facilities at
Lost River Diversion Dam which then transferred the water into the canals,
including D (Adams) and G (Griffith) Canals. In the 1920s, Reclamation increased
the irrigable lands of the Klamath Project. To this end, Reclamation constructed
Gerber Dam and Miller Diversion Dam on Miller Creek, and Malone Diversion Dam,
on
Lost
River
, to irrigate lands northwest of the original
Klamath Project lands through the North and
West
Canals
.
The
Lower
Lost
River
(Anderson-Rose) Diversion Dam increased irrigable
acreage in the
California
lands of the Klamath Project. Reclamation added E
(North Poe) and F (South Poe) Canals northeast of the original Project lands,
and J Canal in the southeast. Following World War II, Reclamation started
reclaiming land around
Tule
Lake
for agriculture. Reclamation drained the marsh
lands and constructed irrigation facilities necessary for future farms,
including M, N, P, Q, and R Canals.
Construction of the Klamath
Project started under the direction of Project Engineer D. W.. Murphy in 1906,
and continued under Walter W. Patch, his 1909, replacement. Mason, Davis &
Company of
Portland
,
Oregon
, received the first contract for excavating nine
miles of the
Main
Canal
, and International Contract Company contracted
work on six highway bridges crossing the canal. Mason, Davis & Co. started
operations in March 1906. Heavy snowfall and subsequent heavy rains impaired
work by horse teams on the excavation and caused delays in receiving equipment
and supplies. Because the company had to haul equipment forty miles over the
mountains, most equipment did not arrive until June.
Mason, Davis & Co. could not
work on three miles of the
Main
Canal
during the 1906 irrigation season because the
location approximated that of the
Ankeny-Henley
Canal
, then in operation, and threatened to interfere
with the canal's operation. Despite the problems and delays, the company
succeeded in completing most of the four miles available for excavation. The
work delayed by the use of the
Ankeny-Henley
Canal
faced further postponement because of ground
saturation and the early onset of winter. In addition to wet, winter weather,
the company encountered
hot springs
in the area which resulted in more trouble for
Mason and Davis. The company removed material from the canal with a skip and a
hoist. The
hot springs
increased water and ground temperatures to
dangerous levels during blasting. Several horses received scalding burns,
serious enough to necessitate their destruction.
The rain and snow, of winter,
made canal excavation a slow and arduous task. The work required three steam
pumps to handle water from the canal. Mason and Davis could only use the horse
teams on the upper portions of the canal cut. The company received a contract
extension and completed two sections of the canal
May 20,
1907 . Mason and Davis completed
enough of the section containing the canal headwork's to place it into
commission
June 27,
1907 . They did not fully
complete the contract until July.
Reclamation invited bids for
construction of the
East
Branch
Canal
May 12,
1906 , with a view toward
finishing the contract by the opening of the 1907 irrigation season. Reclamation
intended to open bids June 21, but no contractors bid on the project.
Reclamation officials speculated labor shortages caused the reluctance to bid on
the canal, because potential contractors might not feel confident of finishing
by the deadline. Reclamation authorized day labor by force account. Project
officials hired horse teams for excavation in 1906, until Reclamation shut down
the work for the winter of 1906-07. They resumed the following spring using
government horse teams on the job. In July 1907, a scarcity of labor forced
Reclamation to cease operations on the
East
Branch
Canal
in order to concentrate forces on the
Keno
Power
Canal
, so-called because its primary role, later on,
was to supply the California-Oregon Power Company with water for hydroelectric
power generation.
Original plans intended the
Keno
Canal
to irrigate 40,000 acres on the west side of
Lower Klamath
Lake
, including reclaimed marsh lands. A board of
engineers, consisting of Andrew J. Wiley, D.C. Henny, E. G. Hopson, and D. W..
Murphy, recommended irrigating the marsh lands directly from the lake and the
Klamath River
through the
California
and Northeastern Railway levee, constructed
through an agreement between Reclamation and the
California
and Northeastern Railway in 1907. The
California
and Northeastern agreed to build a railroad
embankment across the north end of
Lower Klamath
Lake
to double as a levee. Further investigations
indicated other lands would not justify construction of the full canal. The
shortened canal now only needed to satisfy the contract with the
Moore
brothers and, with some enlargement, supply power
for pumping water to the marsh lands.
Another board of engineers,
consisting of Henny, Hopson, and Murphy, convened in
Portland
in January 1907, to plan construction and
specifications of the
Keno
Canal
. The contract with the
Moores
required delivery of water through the
Keno
Canal
by
October
1, 1907 . The board recommended
dividing the excavation work into small schedules to permit local contractors to
bid on the work. Reclamation would accomplish concrete and excavation work above
the headworks by force account. They hoped such contingencies would expedite the
work's progress.
The plan went awry as only
one company bid on the schedules. Reclamation considered the bid excessive and
decided to proceed by force account for the entire canal. Work started in June
1907. Excavation work promptly ran into unexpected dilemmas. The hillside slopes
of the canal location proved very steep, with houses and orchards immediately
below the site, and a power plant and wooden pressure pipe nearby, on the
Klamath River
. These factors prevented any liberal use of
explosives for excavating the hard chalk and basalt material. Horse teams
handled excavated material where possible. Workers used derricks to remove
massive boulders while horse teams dislodged the large rocks with chains.
Laborers carried smaller rocks out with wheelbarrows.
The Project History
complained of having scarce and unsatisfactory laborers, whom Reclamation paid
$3.00 for an eight hour day, for several months. Reclamation finished the canal
excavation in October 1908. Upon priming the canal, Reclamation discovered
considerable seepage which caused movement of the lower banks. Reclamation lined
the right bank and bottom of the canal, with four inches of concrete, for a
distance of 267 feet. Workers placed riprap the same distance along the left
bank. The lining and riprap reduced the seepage greatly, but Reclamation
maintained a force of three to five men for several months to puddle subsequent
seepage with soil and manure.
Reclamation awarded the
contract for three schedules of the South Branch Canal to Maney Brothers of
Saint Louis on May 8, 1908, and they began work five days later. Maney Brothers
did all the excavation work with horses and scrapers. Reclamation allowed a
contract extension from
November
15, 1908 , due to harsh winter
conditions. Maney Brothers concluded excavation
March 25,
1909 . Reclamation lined the
section, by force account day labor, with red fir planks. The canal lining
required 376,000 board-feet of wood. The planks warped some, above the
waterline, but the embankment stayed water tight.
The
South
Branch
Canal
needed a flume across the Lost River Slough,
draining from the
Klamath River
to the
Lost
River
. Reclamation accomplished the work by force
account with day labor. Reclamation built the flume of red fir lumber to a
length of 4,300 feet. Flume construction used 722,000 feet of wood. Reclamation
cut all the wood in the Cascade Range Forest Reserve. Campbell and Huffman of
Klamath Falls, contracted the superstructure work on the flume, including a
spillway gate for the Lost River Slough controlled by screws and lifting wheels.
W. H. Mason of
Klamath Falls
, contracted five schedules of the
South
Branch
Canal
. He started work in August 1908. Unspecified
delays resulted in an extension of Mason's contract from
December
15, 1908 to
March 15,
1909 . Mason successfully
finished the schedules by the new deadline. Reclamation authorized $61,000 for
force account work on the South Branch distribution system, and used the money
to hire local farmers to work on the system. James W. Jory, a local farmer,
received the contract for the three schedules. The Project History
reported Jory accomplished satisfactory work.
J. M. Heizer conducted
studies of the proposed
Clear
Lake
Dam
site on
Lost
River
with diamond drills in 1905. L. W. Hall conducted
further investigations of the dam in 1908. Excavation by force account, for the
outlet channel began in September 1908, under I. S. Voorhees. Winter forced a
pause in work for the year. A caretaker occupied the construction camp, and
Reclamation took the opportunity to cut juniper logs for telephone poles and a
trestle.
Reclamation placed William
Sargeant in charge of dam construction. In April 1909, he supervised building of
the construction camp, organizing the work, and receiving equipment and
supplies. Austrians, Montenegrins, and Serbians formed the majority of the work
force. Reportedly the Austrians proved outstanding workers, though supervisors
considered all satisfactory. Reclamation bought $10,000 worth of new equipment
for construction, and had to haul the new equipment fifty-five miles, from the
railroad to the dam site. The Reclamation Service increased the labor force in
June to begin work on the waste channel. Workers used material excavated from
the waste channel in the rockfill portion of the dam.
The outlet conduit from the
dam to the waste channel stretched 156 feet when completed. The outlet started
as two chambers near the foot of the dam, controlled by cast iron gates. The
chambers joined forty feet below the gates, forming the main conduit. Workers
excavated an average of eighteen feet deep. They encountered porous lava
covering hard basalt ten feet deep. Under the basalt they found "a sticky, red,
volcanic mud." The crews excavated cutoff trenches through the muck to the hard
rock three feet below and filled them with concrete to stabilize the foundation.
The conduit is ten feet in diameter.
Reclamation used levees built
by Jesse Carr to divert Willow Creek into
Clear
Lake
, retaining enough to water livestock and for
boilers and sprinkling. A small, earthen cofferdam upstream proved sufficient to
dry the foundation of the dam. To prepare the foundation for the dam embankment,
Reclamation cut tulles and cleaned out several mud holes. Work crews excavated a
five foot wide trench down about seven feet, to bedrock. They refilled the
trench with the largest rocks available.
Workers used material
excavated from the waste channel for the rockfill. The arrangement limited the
placement rate on the fill to the excavation rate of the channel. Reclamation
built
two sixteen
foot high trestles across the valley at the dam
site. Crews rolled two yard capacity, side dumping cars onto the trestles and
dropped rock from them onto the fill. Horses drew trains of three cars to the
dump sites. When they completed dumping from the two trestles, crews used posts
from the two to build a third trestle across the center of the site. From here
workers dropped rock onto the center of the fill.
Reclamation crews dug through
two feet of tule and marsh grass across the channel to the foundation of the
earth embankment. After draining water from the site, the ground surface became
impenetrable to the orange-peel excavator acquired for clearing the site.
Workers used a plow on the hard material. The material immediately beneath the
surface proved too soft to support loaded wagons. Workers rigged up a hoisting
engine at one end of the site, attached a plow and slip to it with a cable, and
used the combination to excavate the soft material.
Seven feet below the surface
lay solid basalt slabs with only a few seams. Crews washed the rock, then
cleaned the cracks with wire and grouted them. Work crews discovered lava blocks
separated by clay seams forming the foundation on the east side of the river.
They used gads, steel wedges used to break out loose pieces of rock, and bar
drills, small rock drills, to excavate the trench between the lava boulders,
afterwards filling the seams with grout or cement, depending on the size of the
cracks. On the west side, porous lava seams permeated the foundation. Workers
excavated through the lava to the solid rock below. They filled the excavated
portions with concrete. A four ton, cast iron roller leveled and compressed the
re-fill to four inch layers.
Crews filled gaps in the
rockfill at the contact point with the earth embankment for a proper foundation.
They placed the earth, taken from the east slope of the valley, in six inch
layers, watered it, and compressed it with a four ton roller. A nearby borrow
pit supplied the stones for the riprap on the upstream slope.
Lava encountered in
excavation of the waste channel varied in hardness, causing problems for
Reclamation crews. They used 40 percent dynamite to "spring" drill holes, then
finished blasting with 50 to 500 pounds of "Champion" powder. Where water in the
excavation site prevented the use of powder, the crews used only the dynamite.
Uncertainty of the rock's density often resulted in charges being too light or
too heavy. Explosions from light charges dissipated through seams and soft
spots. Heavy charges dislodged more material than desired. The resulting
excavated material ranged from powdered rock to boulders. The boulders required
block-holing, or drilling holes in the rocks for a small charge of explosives to
break them for removal.
Labor shortages afflicted
construction of
Clear
Lake
Dam
in the early months of 1908. As a result,
Reclamation officials considered progress in July and August unsatisfactory. Men
frequently deserted the dam construction to take advantage of higher wages from
local field harvests. Near the end of August 1908, 100 Bulgarians arrived at the
Clear
Lake
Dam
site to begin work. From then until the middle of
November, Reclamation retained plenty of labor.
Reclamation identified two
saddles to the south of
Clear
Lake
, one below the high water mark of the future
reservoir. Reclamation decided to raise dikes on the saddles to prevent water
from escaping over them during floods. Workers built a 13 foot high dike
stretching 1,600 feet across the lower saddle. The other dike measured 3-4 feet
high, with a length of 1,200 feet.
The labor shortages at
Clear
Lake
Dam
stalled construction of the dikes. Reclamation
officials prepared to postpone raising the dikes until spring of 1910, but the
increase in available workers in September 1909, allowed them to proceed with
construction plans. Work started on the dikes
October
6, 1909 . Crews dug a cutoff
trench beneath the embankment sites and filled it with material from the borrow
pit. Horses and wheelers hauling earth compacted the embankment sufficiently,
eliminating the need for rollers. Austrians worked on the rockfill and proved
exceptionally skilled at handling the stones. The Project History said,
"the rock embankment was solidly built and presents a first-class appearance."
Reclamation intended to build
Clear
Lake
Dam
and dikes by contract, but events altered the
plans. Only two companies bid on the work. Maney Brothers of Winnemucca,
Nevada
, bid $188,980, which Reclamation considered too
high. Mahoney Brothers of San Francisco, bid $115,770. Reclamation checked
Mahoney Brothers' financial background to discover their poor financial
reputation. Reclamation estimated the work would amount to $151,750. When
completed in 1910 Clear
Lake
Dam and dikes cost Reclamation $125,350.
Clear
Lake
Dam
is an earth and rockfill structure stretching 840
feet long at its crest. The dam stands forty-two feet high. The top width
measures 20 feet with a maximum bottom width of 177 feet.
Clear
Lake
Reservoir has a capacity of 527,000 acre-feet,
increased from its original 460,800 acre-feet prior to raising the dam in 1939.
President William Howard
Taft authorized the issuance of bonds against the Reclamation Fund in 1910, for
future work on projects including the Klamath Project. Before expenditure of
money from the bonds, he ordered a Board of Engineers from the Army Corps of
Engineers examine and report on each project using the bonds. The Board of
Engineers visited the Klamath Project September 30 through
October
2, 1910 . The Board reported the
water supply was sufficient and the lands, excluding the marsh lands, could
support construction costs. The Army engineers recommended caution on developing
the Tule Lake Division, and determined the Modoc Division was feasible, but had
yet to receive presidential approval. The Board recommended postponement of
developing the marsh lands until they could show agricultural productivity. The
Army Board recommended the Klamath Project receive $600,000 from the Reclamation
Fund for the years 1911-14.
Reclamation engineers
decided, in 1910, to put Lost River Diversion Dam at a site called
Wilson
's Bridge southeast of
Klamath Falls
. George C. Clark received the contract for
construction of the dam. Reclamation supplied cement, gates, gate frames, and
structural and reinforcing steel.
Clark
started construction in March 1911. As winter
approached
Clark
heated the water and sand for mixing the concrete.
Later, workers burned fires under the work for ten days at a time. The fires
decreased the time required for the concrete to set. Canvas placed over the
concrete allowed heat and smoke from the fires to circulate around the work.
Clark
's precautions paid off as the concrete received
no damage from freezing.
Though it still required some
finishing work, Reclamation began storing water behind the Lost River Dam in
January 1912. The gatekeeper and a small work force applied the final touches.
They built two wing walls at the downstream end of the dam, a garage near the
dam, and completed other smaller projects. The Lost River Diversion Dam is a
hollow U shaped multiple arch weir, with straight embankment wings. The dam's
crest length extends 675 feet with a structural height of 42 feet.
W. H. Mason of
Klamath Falls
, contracted excavation work on three schedules of
the Lost River Diversion Channel in November 1910. Mason commenced operations in
March 1911, establishing a camp and starting a stretch of canal. He discovered
the ground beneath was waterlogged. Mason ceased using his horses due to ground
saturation. On April 4, Walter Patch, the Project Engineer, sent a message to
Mason requesting he put his horse teams back on the excavation work. In the
following months Patch sent Mason letters of a similar tone, intending to speed
his progress.
Mason waited for the arrival
of an excavator to continue canal excavation. The machine arrived in June 1911,
but a poor design limited its effectiveness. After moving only 2,000 cubic
yards, Mason discarded the excavator in favor of team work. Mason lost valuable
time, and Reclamation lost patience. In September 1911 Reclamation suspended the
contract schedules contract not yet started by Mason, and completed them by
force account, finishing
December
6, 1911 . Mason waited until
March 1912, to renew construction. He continued working for twenty-five days
after the deadline until Reclamation terminated his remaining schedules on
April 30,
1912 .
James Jory contracted one
schedule on the diversion channel and began in May 1911. Jory started with a
small force and repeatedly experienced delays. He made little headway by the end
of the year. By March 1912, Jory realized he faced penalties if work did not
make the deadline. Jory pushed his work through continuing winter conditions and
financial losses, completing the contract on
April 1,
1912 .
Construction remained light
for the next several years. Reclamation built a sixty-four foot truss span by
force account, in 1912, to extend the
East
Branch
Canal
over the
Lost
River
. Reclamation expanded the
Adams
Canal
in 1913. The Service decided to accomplish the
rock work by force account. They separated the canal work into fourteen
schedules to give contracts to local farmers. Winter weather extended into
spring, preventing work from starting until water was turned out of the canal in
fall of 1913. Five schedules remained incomplete at the end of the year. Work
finished on the
Adams
Canal
enlargement in May 1914.
Reclamation received
authorization to excavate the
Poe
Valley
laterals of the
East
Branch
Canal
by force account, in 1906. Work on the laterals
came secondary to the main canal work. Operations started on the North and South
Poe,
Griffith
, and
Nuss
Lake
laterals in 1913. Reclamation began expanding the
Griffith
lateral, just north of the
Adams
Canal
, into a main canal by force account in 1914.
Reclamation did not operate any mess halls or mercantile stores on most project
operations, but did on the
Griffith
Canal
work. More often, ranchers and local employees
supplied workers with meals charging Reclamation $.35 for each meal. Reclamation
deducted $.25 per meal from the worker's pay. Laborers received $2.48 per day on
project work. The Operation and Maintenance Report reported 95 percent of
the canal workers were "American."
Reclamation finished the
Griffith
Canal
work on
April 4,
1915 . Reclamation completed 65
percent of the work by force account and local farmers accomplished the
remaining 35 percent. Reclamation started renaming the Klamath Project canals in
1915. The
Main
, East Branch, and
South
Branch
Canals
became A, B, and C Canals respectively. The
Adams
, North Poe, South Poe, and
Griffith
Canals
became D, E, F, and G Canals.
Reclamation drew up plans for
the
C-G
Cutoff
Canal
in 1918, connecting the two canals to supply G
Canal. Reclamation excavated the cutoff by force account in 1921. The cutoff
crossed nine-tenths of a mile between the two canals, supplying water to some of
the Tule Lake Division.
Reclamation reached an
agreement on
February
24, 1917 , with the
California-Oregon Power Company to lease the
Keno
Canal
for ten years at $1,000 a year. The contract
allowed California-Oregon Power to regulate the outflow of
Upper Klamath Lake
, subject to existing irrigation rights of the
Klamath Project. The power company placed a temporary low-crib dam near the
source of the
Link
River
in 1919. They began construction of the Link River
Dam on
July 29,
1920 , just below the crib dam.
Senator George E. Chamberlain of
Oregon
, telegraphed Secretary of the Interior John B.
Payne on
August
20, 1920 , requesting he halt
dam construction long enough to determine the legality of the 1917 contract.
Payne listened to arguments
and explanations about the contract in a hearing on
December
2, 1920 . He initiated a
supplemental contract on December 10 which did nothing to alter the original
contract. California-Oregon Power resumed dam construction
May 15,
1921 . They completed
construction of the dam on October 29 of the same year, concluding the finishing
touches on the dam by the end of the November. The Link River Dam is a concrete
slab structure with a crest length of 435 feet. The structure stands twenty-two
feet high with a seven foot top width.
Link
River
Dam's reservoir,
Upper Klamath Lake
has a total capacity of 873,000 acre-feet.
Construction of the Lower
Lost River Diversion Dam coincided with construction of the J Canal, to supply
water to the Tule Lake Division. W. D.. Miller of
Klamath Falls
, contracted construction of the Lower Lost River
Diversion Dam in 1921. He started work on the dam
July 25,
1921 , and completed the job on
December
11, 1921 . The dam and
structures consisted of a reinforced concrete Ambursen weir with sluice gates
and headworks on the north side, to supply J Canal. The Lower Lost River
Diversion Dam, now the Anderson-Rose Dam, stands 23 feet high with a crest
length of 324 feet.
Excavation of J Canal by
force account began
June 20,
1921 , on one section, and
August
18, 1921 , on another.
Reclamation suspended both operations during the winter of 1921-22. Work on the
canal continued through 1922. Where bridges crossed J Canal, crews place
corrugated iron culverts in the waste ditch under the canal. The canal received
a three inch concrete lining extending for fifteen feet on either side of the
culverts, to prevent leaking. Reclamation completed 75 percent of the excavation
and 85 percent of the structural work by the beginning of 1923. Final completion
came with the final raising of sixteen miles of fence, parallel to the canal.
Reclamation built Malone
Diversion Dam, on the upper
Lost
River
, by force account. In preparation for
construction in June 1922, Reclamation moved buildings from the C Canal, flume
camp, 45 miles to the dam site. Dam construction started in July, with the
raising of cofferdams to divert the river and dry the foundation. Crews built
the cofferdams out of juniper logs and earth, and they proved remarkably
watertight. Reclamation diverted the light flowing river through a wooden flume
four feet wide and three feet high.
Lava bedrock comprised the
foundation on the south side of the river bed. On the north side lay lava
boulders and gravel mixed with clay, ash, and cinders. A "black mucky material,"
of decomposing vegetation, covered the bed to a depth of about six feet. Workers
removed the material with a stiff leg derrick down to the foundation material.
Slip scrapers and laborers' hands took care of the rest. Reclamation started
placing the earthen embankment
August
17, 1922 , immediately following
excavation. Workers placed 20,000 cubic yards of material using
fresno
scrapers, and rolled it with corrugated rollers.
They finished laying the embankment
October
31, 1922 .
Concrete placement started
October
15, 1922 , and crews laid nearly
80 percent of it by the end of the year. During freezing weather workers heated
the mixing water with steam from a derrick boiler. Fires warmed the concrete
after pouring. Reclamation built a trestle over the spillway structure where
crews wheeled the concrete or delivered it through chutes. Final concrete
placement on the spillway, and riprap placement on the embankment consumed the
first four months of 1923. Crews finished the final work in May of the same
year.
Reclamation experienced labor
shortages in the 1920s, as it had in previous years on the project. The Service
experienced a high turnover rate during construction of Malone Dam. Common labor
received between $3.60 and $4.50 a day. Reclamation paid carpenters $7.00 a day
on the dam construction. Wages in the surrounding area reached $4.00 to $5.00 a
day for common labor. Malone Diversion Dam consists of a concrete gate structure
with a height of 32 feet, and a crest length stretching 515 feet.
Reclamation opened bids for
twelve miles of the
West
Canal
of the Langell Valley Division on
August
31, 1922 . The
West
Canal
would eventually receive water from Miller Creek
and the Miller Diversion Dam. Reclamation considered the bids they received too
high, and decided to use a dragline to excavate the canal by force account.
Excavation began on
April 14,
1923 , and the machine reached
its destination on May 12 after traveling fifty-two miles. Work crews completed
excavation of the
West
Canal
by the end of 1923. At the start of 1924, crews
only needed to install the pipe line across
Lost
River
and the drainage ditch for
Dry
Lake
. Crews completed the canal in May 1924, in time
for the irrigation season. Various contract and force account crews finished all
the structural work on the
West
Canal
by
December
31, 1923 .
W. E. McAboy received a
contract to build the checks and wasteway structures on the
West
Canal
, but in October 1923, he left the job. Apparently
McAboy used his contract payments to pay off old debts, and paid his workers
with checks post-dated thirty to sixty days. McAboy found himself in over his
head by October, from writing checks without sufficient funds to back them, and
decided to leave the country. Reclamation finished the work by force account
after Aetna Casualty and Surety posted the $1,500 bond.
E. L. Bates, a former carpenter foreman on
the Klamath Project, received the contract to build Miller Diversion Dam. He
worked quickly, and completed the dam in 1924. Miller Diversion Dam stands ten
feet high. It consisted of an earth embankment on the south side of Miller Creek
with a concrete spillway in the center of the creek bed. Timber piers and
removable flashboards raised the creek five feet, diverting water into the
North
Canal
.
W. D. Miller received the
contract to build the Gerber Dam, located on Miller Creek; formerly the Horsefly
site, on
November
1, 1923 . The contract made
June 30,
1925 , the deadline for
completion. Miller began construction of Gerber Dam in March 1924, starting
excavation of the foundation. Miller discovered lava of varying hardness
comprised the foundation material. Tests showed the material watertight enough
to suffice. During excavation, Miller's crew discovered the seams and softer
material disintegrated when exposed. Workers excavated deeper into the rock to
combat the problem. Miller employed techniques to protect the concrete work from
freezing, similar to previous dam builders on the project. When not using forms,
crews placed plum rock in the concrete to provide a bond in joints between
pourings. Miller completed the work for his contract on
June 1,
1925 , one month before the
deadline.
Gerber Dam is a concrete
medium thick arch, 460 feet long at its crest. The dam stands eighty four and
one-half feet high with a top width of five feet and a maximum base width of
twenty-four feet. The spillway consists of an uncontrolled overflow section at
the dam's center. Water first spilled in 1958. Gerber Reservoir has a total
capacity of 94,300 acre-feet.
Reclamation built the
North
Canal
of the Langell Valley Division by force account,
and excavation began in 1924. Workers completed 80 percent of the
North
Canal
by the end of the year. Reclamation made
provisions to complete the canal by
June 30,
1925 . During 1925 work crews
successfully completed the laterals and structures, but barely started on the
drainage system. Reclamation finished the
North
Canal
in 1926.
New construction on the Tule
Lake Division began in 1940 with the creation of the Modoc Unit of the division.
Reclamation started excavation on the P and P-1 Canals
September
11, 1940 , and workers finished
excavation in 1941. The Emergency Conservation Works established two Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC) camps on the Klamath Project in 1935; BR-20 and BR-41.
A company of the CCC from Camp BR-41 built structures on the P and P-1 Canals
until the government disbanded the camp in August 1941. Afterwards Reclamation
completed the work by force account, and finished the P-1 Canal in 1942.
Reclamation awarded the
contract for the Tule Lake Tunnel to J. A. Terteling & Sons. The tunnel drained
water from the
Tule
Lake
sump lands into
Lower Klamath
Lake
. Terteling & Sons started operations in December
1940, completing 359 feet of excavation from the east heading by the end of the
year. Terteling commenced excavation from the west heading of the tunnel on
January
25, 1941 . The contractor holed
through on
May 25,
1941 .
Terteling lined the tunnel
with a layer of concrete, measuring a maximum of seven inches and minimum three
inches thick. Workers used a pumpcrete machine to inject the concrete into the
tunnel forms. Terteling's concreting equipment often failed, due to its age, but
the company finished the work on
November
12, 1941 . The Tule Lake Tunnel
is a five foot nine inch diameter horseshoe cross-section, stretching 6,000
feet.
John Gardner of
Klamath Falls
, received the contract to construct the D Pumping
Plant on the Modoc Unit in September 1941.
Gardner
started work immediately after receiving the
notice to proceed. He finished excavating for the pump house and the pipe line
before the end of October.
Gardner
completed the pump house structure to the floor by
the end of December 1941, and found himself waiting for the government to
deliver more material.
Gardner
received the rubber water stops for the discharge
conduit on
January
19, 1942 . The government
delivered the rest of the materials needing placement in the pump house on
February 7 of the same year. After the February shipment,
Gardner
experienced no more delays in receiving material,
but a shortage of adequate labor hindered construction progress.
Gardner
completed the pumping plant on
May 6,
1942 , past the March 13
deadline originally specified in the contract.
In the early 1940s,
Reclamation instituted plans to convert lands reclaimed from the
Tule
Lake
sump for agriculture. Because
Clear
Lake
Dam
captured much of the water which once flooded the
lands, they now needed irrigation facilities. Reclamation started excavating the
M lateral of the Tule Lake Division in 1942. The M lateral, and later the N
lateral, became supply canals for the sump lands. During and after World War II,
Reclamation awarded contracts to build a series of small pumping plants on the
project to supply the
Tule
Lake
sumps. In the late 1950s and early 1960s,
Reclamation excavated two more laterals in the Tule Lake Division, they became
the Q and R Canals.
Post-Construction History
Squirrels caused major
problems for the Klamath Project early in its history. Squirrel holes in canal
embankments caused eleven of twelve breaks in A and C Canals in 1915.
Fortunately only three breaks proved serious; two in A Canal and one in C Canal.
Reclamation officials deemed the original timber lining in C Canal unsafe in
1919. Reclamation re-lined the canal with concrete starting in fall of 1919, and
continuing into 1920. During freezing weather, workers covered the concrete work
with canvas and heated it with fires to prevent damage. Working from
September
29, 1921 , to
January 1,
1922 , Reclamation crews
replaced the timber flume on C Canal with a new concrete flume.
Once again labor shortages
hindered Reclamation's progress. Regulations limited the maximum wage paid by
Reclamation to $4.50 per day. Elsewhere employers paid laborers $5.00.
Reclamation received the authority to pay $5.00 per day, and by the end of 1920,
workers on C Canal received $5.50-$6.00 per day. Carpenters received $8.00 per
day. Reclamation now deducted $.50 per meal from the workers' pay. Wages
continued to fluctuate in 1921 and 1922. Wages dropped to $3.60 per day in 1921,
and fell to $3.00-$3.20 in early 1922. Common laborers' pay rose to $4.00 per
day on
August 1,
1922 .
Reclamation advanced from
simply lining C Canal to enlarging it. Work crews used an excavator on softer
material, but they encountered a layer of hardpan strata requiring heavy
blasting. The Oregon State Highway Department undermined the
Adams
flume across
Lost
River
while building a crossing underneath. A break in
the flume resulted from the foundation damage. On
May 16,
1923 , work crews started
excavating G Canal to enlarge it. The work proceeded slowly because most of the
excavation took place under water, but crews completed the work
November
12, 1923 .
Reclamation lined two
sections of A Canal with a two inch layer of Gunite in 1927. On the first
schedule, they lined 400 feet of the left bank and 600 feet of the right bank.
The lining stretched 1,600 feet on the second schedule. Reclamation deepened the
Lost
River
channel on the Langell Valley Division in 1927, to
serve as an outlet drain for the division's lower lands. Crews used a dragline
excavator for the river channel. They completed five and one half miles during
1927, and finished the rest in 1928. The machine sat on mats or in water of
depths up to one and one half feet. Reclamation enlarged the channel further
from May 23 to
November
15, 1930 .
CCC recruits on the project
concentrated on maintenance and rodent control. Shortly after moving into the
Klamath region, CCC enlistees excavated a small drain in A Canal to facilitate
the removal of sediment. In 1936, they paved the canal with concrete and rocks.
Reclamation worked on enlargement of J Canal from February 3 to
December
31, 1936 , finishing 80 percent
of the job. In 1937, CCC workers started lining J Canal with concrete. Crews
from BR-41 constructed minor roads and drains, and placed riprap in 1937.
Reclamation added three foot
high flashboard supports to Clear Lake Dam's spillway in 1938, increasing the
reservoir's capacity by about 60,000 acre-feet. The CCC raised
Clear
Lake
Dam
in 1939, and built a ninety-four foot bridge over
the spillway. Reclamation engineers changed the slope of the dam from 3:1 to
2:1, to maintain the dam's structural integrity after its enlargement. The
spillway bridge consisted of a sixty-four foot wood truss span with ten and
twenty-three foot shore spans. Enlargement and lining of J Canal continued
through 1939.
On
April 24,
1939 , the hillside supporting B
Canal became saturated and slid. CCC crews put in four days to repair the
damage. C Canal broke in the same year, and Reclamation's Operation and
Maintenance crews and CCC enlistees repaired the break by working four, 3 shift
days. Water flooded three acres of George Grizzle's potatoes, but caused no
damage. Another break in C Canal in 1939, damaged four acres of Martin Winter's
potatoes because the water drained off the land so slowly. In 1941 C Canal broke
on the Balin farm, washing out 100 cubic yards of embankment, damaging a farm
road, drain crossing, five acres of potatoes, and five tons of baled hay.
The outbreak of World War II
brought many changes to the Klamath Project. Reclamation placed armed guards at
major project facilities. Army engineers began inspecting possible sites for a
relocation camp on the Klamath Project March 28, 1942. They located a site at
Tule Lake, near Newell, California, and the War Relocation Authority (WRA)
started construction on April 18 of the same year. Construction of sufficient
housing for 10,000 Japanese finished on May 31, 1942, and the WRA started
increasing camp facilities to house 6,000 more.
The Interior Department
signed an agreement with WRA Director Dillon Myer on June 22, 1942, giving the
WRA 800 acres of Klamath Project land for the relocation camp and another 35,000
acres for agricultural production. An agreement the following December 14, added
683 acres to the camp site and 1,845 acres for agriculture. Construction of the
Tule Lake Relocation Camp affected work on the Klamath Project, because it drew
off all available labor and once again raised wages.
The WRA announced on July 23,
1943, it would segregate and house all "disloyal" Japanese evacuees at the Tule
Lake camp. On November 5, 1943, disturbances at the Tule Lake camp occurred. In
response, the Army took over operation of the camp. The Navy announced the
takeover of the Klamath Falls airport on October 28, 1943. Reclamation employed
about thirty German prisoners of war on the project for removing moss and some
maintenance work. In 1945, Japanese-American evacuees lined .86 miles of the M
canal running through Tule Lake camp.
The N-16 lateral in the Tule
Lake Division received a pre-fabricated asphalt lining in 1949. High winds
during placement operations, damaged the lining in a narrow section of the
lateral. Reclamation suspected the section was the source of excessive seepage
during testing, so the engineers segregated the section. However, in tests, the
wide section lost more water, through seepage, than the narrow section.
Engineers determined lower water levels reduced the amount of seepage.
Gerber Dam began showing
seepage in its horizontal and vertical construction joints in early 1951,
apparently caused by improper cleanup of the joints during construction.
Engineers recommended a liquid neoprene (synthetic rubber) lining to seal the
joints. Reclamation scheduled repairs to start on October 1, 1951, when Gerber
Reservoir reached its lowest point, with 25.4 feet of the dam exposed. Crews
chipped out the disintegrated concrete, wider on the inside than outside, and
put new concrete in. They brushed the neoprene over the seams, extending it six
inches on either side of the joints.
Secretary of the Interior
Stewart L. Udall approved a contract with Pacific Power and Light Company
(California-Oregon Power) for development of the Keno Canal in June 1967. In May
1970, the Tulelake Irrigation District held a public dedication changing the
name of the Lower Lost River Diversion Dam. They renamed it the Anderson-Rose
Dam in honor of the founders of the irrigation district; Sam Anderson and Ivan
Rose.
Settlement of the Project
The Klamath Water Users'
Association (KWUA) ratified the contract with the Department of the Interior on
November 3, 1905. Original estimates placed the cost of the project to water
users at $20 a month. In 1908, Reclamation announced it would charge the water
users $30 per month, but the water users denied liability for the extra $10. On
January 25, 1909, Secretary of the Interior Richard A. Ballinger ordered
construction on the Klamath Project suspended. The KWUA gave in, agreeing to pay
the additional charge, and construction resumed.
The Klamath Project attracted
people of varying national origins to work on farms or the project. The
Project History of 1913, recorded three families each of Russians and Swiss
moved onto project lands. Many farmers found themselves hard pressed to make
payments on their bills. A group of Russian families, living near Lost River
Dam, left after selling in 1916; not able to keep pace with their expenses.
Despite such financial difficulties J. B. Bond; the Project Manager in 1917,
remained optimistic. He wrote, "The procedure of foreclosing mortgaged property
under the project is becoming unknown, and it is a safe prediction that it will
soon be spoken of as `a lost art'."
Potential farmers also
remained optimistic. In a public drawing during the spring of 1917, 175 filed
for 42 tracts of land. Surrounding communities, especially Klamath Falls,
Oregon, grew along with the rural population (see Table I.). Merrill, Malin, and
Midland, the other project towns grew less rapidly, and in some cases decreased.
Construction of Malone Dam allowed the irrigation of 6,040 acres of the Langell
Valley Division's west side, and 4,532 near Bonanza, Oregon, making that town of
300 part of the project. The Horsefly and Langell Valley Irrigation Districts
formed by 1925, and the Sunnyside Irrigation District in 1926. The Malin and
Shasta View Pumping Districts formed about the same time, and 8,000 acres of
their land received water from the enlargement of the Adams Canal. Klamath Falls
reached a population of 10,000 people in 1926.
Reclamation opened land
entries in the Klamath Project, to World War I veterans, between November 1922
and January 27, 1923. Afterward, Reclamation opened the entries to any
applicants. Secretary of the Interior Hubert Work issued Public Order no. 19 in
1927, opening 145 farm units in the Tule Lake Division. Klamath Falls had a
population of 15,000 by the end of the decade. The project's farm population
grew to 2,833 by 1934.
Table I.
Klamath Project Populations, 1918, 1922, and 1946.
|
City
|
Year
|
Population
|
|
|
Klamath Falls
|
1918
|
5,000
|
|
|
1922
|
7,000
|
|
|
1946
|
30,951
|
|
Bonanza
|
1946
|
262
|
|
Malin
|
1918
|
100
|
|
|
1922
|
200
|
|
|
1946
|
570
|
|
Merrill
|
1918
|
600
|
|
|
1922
|
500
|
|
|
1946
|
--
|
|
Tulelake
|
1946
|
915
|
|
Project Farms
|
1918
|
1,480
|
|
|
1922
|
1,300
|
|
|
1946
|
860
|
Source: Reclamation, Project History, Klamath Project, 1918, 141;
Reclamation, Project History, Klamath Project, 1922, 199; Reclamation,
Project History, Klamath Project, 1946, 140
Klamath Falls boomed with the
advent of World War II, reaching 25,968 people in 1945, but the farm population
dropped 2,812 people from 1934. Klamath Falls started declining by 1950, though
the other project towns continued to increase. The farm population reached 4,255
in 1951. The Klamath Project's population declined more heavily in the late
twentieth century. The farm population fell to 1,825 by 1979. Klamath Falls
retained only 17,737 of its boom population by 1990. Merrill, Malin, Bonanza,
and Tulelake had a combined population of 2,862 in the 1990 census. Midland did
not even appear.
Reclamation regained control
of relocation center lands in 1946, including Tulelake. During the same year the
Bureau opened land entries to veterans returning from World War II. Surplus farm
equipment and abandoned barracks buildings greatly aided in the veterans'
settlement. Reclamation separated the barracks into smaller structures, and the
buildings provided temporary housing for the new settlers. The veteran settlers
on Klamath included Eleanor Jane Bolesta, a former WAVE who became the first
woman homesteader on a Reclamation project. Bolesta's husband, Charles, a Marine
during the war; received debilitating wounds while fighting on Guam.
Uses of Project Water
The Klamath Project primarily
supplied irrigation water for local agriculture. The project irrigates over
200,000 acres on about 1,400 farms. Farms on the project grow a wide variety of
crops (see Table II.). Forage crops for livestock comprised the majority grown
in the early years of the project. Early reports showed alfalfa lands valued at
twenty to thirty dollars an acre at the time of Klamath's authorization. By
1910, the value increased to $50 an acre, rising to $100 by 1912.
Potatoes moved up in value on
the Main Division during the 1920s. Acreage devoted to potatoes increased by
almost 600 from 1925-26. The monetary return increased from $127,254 to $266,850
during the same year. At the same time alfalfa yields on the Tule Lake Division
increased by 20 percent. The project further supports a large livestock
business. Cattle, sheep, and hogs comprise most of the project's livestock.
The Klamath Project provides
many activities for people interested in water sports and outdoor recreation.
The area is ripe for swimming, boating, water skiing, camping, and hunting. The
Fish and Wildlife Service operates recreational facilities at Lower and Upper
Klamath, and Tule Lakes. The Fish and Wildlife Service manages the Clear Lake
National Wildlife Refuge which includes Clear Lake Reservoir. The Bureau of Land
Management administrates the facilities at Gerber Reservoir. Reclamation
operates facilities at Malone Dam.
Reclamation established
experimental farms in the marsh lands near Lower Klamath Lake in 1912. They
drained water from the marsh and attempted to reclaim the land. The tule in the
marsh became difficult to till after it dried, limiting Reclamation to one acre
of land on the farm. Reclamation tried to grow a variety of crops on the farms,
but many died. Grains and grasses survived, but did not reach normal growth. The
Army Board of Engineers, of 1910, reported the experimental farms were not
self-supporting, and operated at the expense of project farmers. The Army
recommended the Department of Agriculture assume control. Reclamation turned the
farms over to the Klamath County Agriculturalist in 1914.
Conclusion
Events on the
Klamath Project mirrored events in the western United States. The project
witnessed labor fluctuations and home front activities during war. The agreement
between Reclamation and California-Oregon Power, leading to construction of the
Link River Dam, created an unusual circumstance in Reclamation projects. A power
company building and operating a dam on a project, did not often occur. Most
important the Klamath Project participated in the ongoing quest for water,
indigenous to the American west, and answered the increasing demand for
irrigation. Facilities on the Klamath Project continue to provide a large
population with a variety of services.
About the Author
Eric A. Stene was born in
Denver, Colorado, July 17, 1965. He received his Bachelor of Science in History
from Weber State College in Ogden, Utah, in 1988. Stene received his Master of
Arts in History from Utah State University in Logan, in 1994, with an emphasis
in Western U.S. History. Stene's thesis is entitled The African American
Community of Ogden, Utah: 1910-1950.
Bibliography
Manuscripts
and Archival Collections
Record Group 115. Department of the Interior. Bureau of
Reclamation Records. National Archives and Records Administration, Denver
office.
Annual Project History, Klamath Project: 1912-15,
1917-30, 1934-43, 1945-46, 1950-51, 1959-60, 1979.
Operation and Maintenance Report, Klamath Project, 1916.
Project Reports.
"Report on the Seepage Test of the Experimental Buried
Prefabricated Asphalt Membrane Lining Test Section in the N-16 Lateral of the
Klamath Project." Compiled by Brooks O. Custer. Edited by Mark D. Taylor, Jr.,
January 1951. Box 473.
"Report on Repair of Gerber Dam with Neoprene Membrane."
Box 473.
Government
Documents
Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census.
Twenty-First Census of the United States, 1990: Population and Housing.
Bureau of the Census, 1990, on CD-ROM.
Water and Power Resources Service. Project Data.
Denver: Government Printing Office, 1981.
Books
Conrat, Marie and Richard. Executive Order 9066: The
Internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans. California Historical Society:
Sacramento/Los Angeles, 1972.
Gray, Edward. An Illustrated History of Early Northern
Klamath County, Oregon. Bend, Oregon: Maverick, 1989.
Palmberg, Walter J. Copper Paladin: A Modoc Tragedy; A
Story of the Two Principal Role-Players of the Modoc Indian War of 1872-73.
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania: Dorrance & Co., 1982.
Stone, Buena Cobb. Fort Klamath: Frontier Post in
Oregon; 1863-1890. Dallas: Royal Publishing, 1964.
Articles
Darr, A. L.. "Gerber Dam Construction, Klamath Project,
Oregon." New Reclamation Era. December 1925, 182-84.
"Malone Diversion Dam Built." The Reclamation Record.
August 1923, 285-86.
"Oregon-California Farms Open to Entry." The Reclamation
Record. November 1922, 285.
Thomas, E. H.. " Livestock at the Klamath County Fair."
The Reclamation Record. December 1921, 548-49.
Thye, Carl J. " The Bureau Reclaims Its Own." The
Reclamation Era. April 1947, 90-92.
"Tule Lake Lands Opened to Veterans." The Reclamation
Era. September 1946, 202.
"War Relocation Centers Acquired." The Reclamation Era.
September 1946, 195.
Other
Parker, Sybil B., ed. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of
Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1989