Why was the Applegate Trail constructed?

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Klamath Falls (/ˈklæməθ/ KLAM-əth) is a city in, and the county seat of, Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The city was originally called Linkville when George Nurse founded the town in 1867. It was named after the Link River, on whose falls the city was sited. The name was changed to Klamath Falls in 1893.[5] The population was 21,813 at the 2020 census. The city is on the southeastern shore of the Upper Klamath Lake located about 246 miles (396 km) northwest of Reno, Nevada, and approximately 17 miles (27 km) north of the California–Oregon border.

Logging was Klamath Falls's first major industry.

At its founding in 1867, Klamath Falls was named Linkville.[6] The name was changed to Klamath Falls in 1892–93.[7] The name Klamath /ˈklæməθ/,[8] may be a variation of the descriptive native for "people" [in Chinookan] used by the indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau to refer to the region.[9] Several locatives derived from the Modoc or Achomawi: lutuami, lit: "lake dwellers", móatakni, "tule lake dwellers", respectively, could have also led to spelling variations that ultimately made the word what it is today. No evidence suggests that the name is of Klamath origin. The Klamath themselves called the region Yulalona or Iwauna, which referred to the phenomenon of the Link River flowing upstream when the south wind blew hard.

The Klamath name for the Link River white water falls was Tiwishkeni, or "where the falling waters rush".[10] From this Link River white water phenomenon "Falls" was added to Klamath in its name. In reality it is best described as rapids rather than falls. The rapids are visible a short distance below the Link River Dam, where the water flow is generally insufficient to provide water flow over the river rocks.

The Klamath and Modoc peoples were the first known inhabitants of the area. The Modocs' homeland is about 20 miles (32 km) south of Klamath Falls, but when they were forced onto a reservation with their adversaries, the Klamath, a rebellion ensued and they hid out in nearby lava beds.[11] This led to the Modoc War of 1872–1873, which was a hugely expensive campaign for the US Cavalry, costing an estimated $500,000, the equivalent of over $8 million in 2000. 17 Indigenous people and 83 whites were killed.[12]

The Applegate Trail, which passes through the lower Klamath area, was blazed in 1846 from west to east in an attempt to provide a safer route for emigrants on the Oregon Trail.[13] The first non-Indigenous colonizer is considered to have been Wallace Baldwin, a 19-year-old civilian who drove fifty head of horses in the valley in 1852.[14] In 1867, George Nurse, named the small settlement "Linkville", because of Link River north of Lake Ewauna.

The Klamath Reclamation Project began in 1906 to drain marshland and move water to allow for agriculture. With the building of the main "A" Canal, water was first made available on May 22, 1907. Veterans of World War I and World War II were given homesteading opportunities on the reclaimed land.[15]
The Applegate Trail was blazed in 1846 in an attempt to provide a safer route for emigrants on the Oregon Trail.