Klamath was the first and only vessel larger than a launch to operate on Lower Klamath Lake, which straddled the border between the U.S. states of Oregon and California. This vessel is chiefly known for having been hauled overland by rail from Lake Ewauna to Upper Klamath Lake. It was also one of only two licensed merchant vessels ever to operate on lower Klamath Lake. During 1905 to 1909, Klamath was an essential link in a transportation line to Klamath Falls which involved rail, stage coach, and steamer travel. The late arrival of railroads to the Klamath lakes region made riverine and lake transport more important to the area.
Design Although launched in Klamath Falls, Klamath was built in Portland, Oregon. In late 1904, officials of the Klamath Lakes Navigation Company, Capt. George Woodbury and Woodbury’s father-in-law, "Colonel" M.G. (Mathew Greenberry) Wilkins (1844-1921), a Civil War veteran on the Confederate side, hired a noted ship architect from Portland, J.H. Johnson to design a shallow draft propeller-driven steamboat to operate in the Klamath Lakes region. This boat was to be the Klamath.
At that time, the only licensed merchant vessel operating on lower Klamath Lake was the Canby, a small (67-foot long, 48 gross tons) propeller-driven steamboat built in 1904 at Keno, Oregon.
The Klamath'''s hull would have an unusual design. The stern was built with a curved recess to allow the propeller to turn without projecting deeper into the water than the keel of the vessel. This was called a "tunnel stern". The purpose was to allow the steamer to operate in shallow water without damaging the propeller should the boat be grounded or strike an obstacle. This appears to have been the first time this design feature was used on a vessel on waters in the Pacific Northwest.
In operation, the tunnel stern did not always provide sufficient protection for the propeller. On Saturday evening, November 10, 1906, when Klamath was returning to Klamath Falls from Laird’s Landing, the steamer struck a sunken log and every blade was broken off the propeller.
When word of the accident reached the company’s office in Klamath Falls, they dispatched the gasoline launch Ewauna to tow the steamer back to the city. Not long before, a similar accident had broken off two propeller blades, and the company had replaced it with its only spare. No new spare propeller had been ordered, and so the steamer would have to be laid up for about ten days to await delivery of a new propeller.
Construction Work on the steamer began in Portland on March 20, 1905, with the sawing and forming of the 45 frames of the boat’s hull. The frames were made of thick Douglas fir planks.
Once the steamer had been assembled, preliminarily, in Portland, it was then "knocked down" (taken apart) and shipped to Klamath Falls, by way of rail to Pokegama, Oregon, where the rail line ended, west of Keno, Oregon.
At Pokegama the components were loaded onto freight wagons, and hauled overland to Keno, Oregon. Keno was on the Klamath River, downstream from Lake Ewauna. Once at Keno, the steamer’s components were taken by water transport upriver to Lake Ewauna, on which the city of Klamath Falls was located, and where the boat would be assembled.
The assembly of the steamer, which was supervised by John G. Sound, an experienced shipbuilder from Portland, was well underway at Klamath Falls by June 8, 1905. The boiler had been installed into the boat by then.
Launch and trial trip Klamath was launched at 9:07:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 29, 1905, into Lake Ewauna. There was no formal ceremony. However, 300 people turned out to watch the launch from the wharves and the nearby bridge, with about 20 boats in the water as well. This was about the entire population of Klamath Falls at the time.
The steamer was launched stern first from the boat docks, which were near the bridge on Lake Ewauna. After the launch, the boat was hauled over to a wharf for the finishing work to be completed.
On Sunday, July 30, 1905, Captain Woodbury and Colonel Wilkins took the steamer out on a trial trip, making a run to Ady, Oregon.
Owners of the steamer The boat was built for the Klamath County Navigation Company, which was also known as the Pioneer Line. The company had been incorporated in July, 1903, by filing articles of incorporation with the Oregon Secretary of State in Salem, Oregon.
The capital stock of the company was stated to be $10,000. The incorporators were Sherman V. Short (1856-1915), George H. Woodbury (1861-1945), and E.E. Upmeyer.
Woodbury was an experienced steamboat man, having worked for eight years prior to the founding of the company as the purser on the well-known Columbia river steamer T.J. Potter. Short, who came from a steamboating family, was also an experienced steamboat man, who had worked as a captain for the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, and then for the Oregon Pacific Railroad, on their steamers N.S. Bentley, Wm. M. Hoag and Three Sisters. E.E. Upmeyer (d.1912) was a prominent businessman of Linn County, Oregon, who had been in the state legislature during the 1907 session. Short and Woodbury had been captain and purser, respectively, of the Columbia river steamer Dalles City.
M.G. Wilkins, Woodberry’s father-in-law, also had an interest in the company.
The company was preparing to use gasoline launches on the Klamath Lakes. By January 1, 1904, the company had placed two launches in service.
Specifications
According to one report, Klamath was long, with a beam (width) of , and a draft (the minimum depth of water necessary to float the boat) of 2 2.5 feet. or 3 feet 2 inches, depending on the source consulted. The official dimensions, as recorded in the U.S. merchant vessel registry, were length , beam , and depth of hold . Overall size was 69 gross and 61 registered tons, which were a measure of volume, not weight.Klamath was driven by a steam engine which generated 150 horsepower, turning a single propeller 42 (or 44) inches in diameter. Upon launching, it was reported that the steamer would probably be able to reach a speed of . The engine was a compound double expansion condensing type, with a high-pressure cylinder of 8-inch diameter and a low-pressure cylinder with a 16-inch diameter, with both cylinders having a 9-inch stroke. The engine was designed by the same ship architect J.H. Johnston who had designed the boat. The engine, which was built at the Hicks Machine Shop in Portland, Oregon, was the most up-to-date design of the time.
The boiler was an Almy type water tube boiler, built by the Almy Water Tube Boiler Company, of Providence, Rhode Island. It could be fired by either wood or coal. The boiler was shipped from Providence on March 31, 1905, to Montague, California by rail, and then hauled overland by a wagon and team to Klamath Falls.
The steamer had two decks, freight and passenger, a dining room and four staterooms. It was expected, upon launching, that Klamath would be licensed to carry 75 to 100 passengers on regular trips. Freight capacity was 75 tons, in this usage a measure of weight rather than volume.
The official merchant vessel registry number was 202570. The officially required number of crew was two. The official homeport (the place where the vessel's licensing documentation was kept) was Coos Bay, Oregon.
Operations on lower Klamath Lake
In 1903, no railroad ran to Klamath Falls, Oregon, the principle settlement in the region. Klamath was intended to serve as a link in a transportation line as follows: steamer Klamath from Klamath Falls to Lairds Landing (), stage coach to Bartles, California on the McCloud River Railroad (); thereafter by rail to the junction with the Southern Pacific Railroad at Upton, California (). The whole trip took a day and a half. Arrangements for the stage line were still being made in late August 1905, when Klamath was licensed to enter commercial service.
After the launch on July 29, 1905, Klamath was expected to start its regular run, about each way, between Klamath Falls and Laird’s Landing, California about August 10 or 15.
However, Klamath did not receive its official clearance until August 23, 1905, when the steamer was inspected by U.S. steamboat inspectors E.S. Edwards and George F. Fuller, of Portland, who passed the steamer and issued it a registration certificate. The Klamath Lake Navigation Company also owned two barges which it used with Klamath. These barges measured wide and long, and were built at the same time as Klamath.Klamath was expected to be able to make the run between Klamath Falls and Laird’s Landing in about three hours.
Counting the costs of building the new steamer, the Klamath Lake Navigation Company had spent about $25,000 in capital improvements, including a dock at Klamath Falls measuring and a warehouse.
The stage line from Bartles to Laird's Landing began operations in October, 1905.
By November 1, 1905, Klamath was making three trips a week between Klamath Falls and Laird’s Landing. No commercial vessel could reach Laird’s Landing in the natural state of the lake which was in large part a shallow marsh. Instead a channel had to be dredged from the central part where the water was somewhat deeper, and this was done specifically so that Klamath could reach Laird’s landing. The channel ran about from Laird’s Landing in a northeasterly direction.
In October 1906, Klamath broke its propeller while backing into a submerged ledge of rock about from Klamath Falls. No drydock existed in Klamath Falls to facilitate the repair. Instead, tons of cement were piled on the boat of the steamer, forcing the bow into the water and raising the stern into the air. A raft was then pushed under the stern, which served as a platform for workmen to replace the broken propeller.
Notable passengers On the evening of Thursday, November 2, 1905, a committee of the Klamath Falls Chamber of Commerce met Oregon’s Governor George Earle Chamberlain at Keno, on board Klamath. The occasion for the governor’s visit was the signing of the contract with the government to commence the building of the Klamath Project. Two hundred and fifty people crowded the dock to greet the governor’s arrival on the steamer. Steam whistles sounded and a band played a welcoming tune. Flags and bunting decorated the city.
In August 1907, E.H. Harriman, the extremely wealthy railroad man, visited the Klamath lakes region. Stage line routes changed frequently at that time, and rather than proceed to Laird’s Landing from the California Northeastern rail terminus, Harriman and his party met the steamer at Teeter’s Landing (about south of Keno) and proceeded from there on Klamath into Klamath Falls. Harriman, then an older man, was worn out by the stage ride, but he was reported to have been revived somewhat by the ride on the then-modern steamer, asking questions of Col. Wilkins as to how it was brought to the lake, the demand for its services, and other inquiries about its operation.
Ice problemsKlamath had problems with ice on the lower lake. On November 24, 1906, ice knocked a hole in the side of the steamer. On December 20, 1906, Klamath was forced to suspend operations for the winter because of the amount of ice on the lake.
Route change Starting on May 1, 1908, Klamath was new route that was advertised as offering "ease and comforted In travel", with "only 12 miles of staging and then a delightful boat ride up the Klamath River to Klamath Falls." Travellers departing Klamath Falls would leave on the steamer Klamath at 4:00 a.m. for Teeter's Landing, from whence they would proceed by stage coach to the rail line at Dorris, California.
Heavy traffic in 1908