The following verbiage is taken from the National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form to describe Comfort Point Lodge's significance to Klamath County:
Point Comfort Lodge, overlooking Pelican Bay on Upper Klamath Lake, is significant to Klamath County and the county's major population center 28 miles to the south of Point Comfort as the best preserved of a number of lakeside resorts dating from the early years of the century. Built for Klamath Development Company president S.O. Johnson after plans by San Francisco architect D.F. McDougall, the lodge was opened in 1911 as a place to entertain prospective investors. Last-built of five Klamath Falls area resorts of the period, Point Comfort Lodge was erected half a mile north of the lodge at which railroad magnate Edward Henry Harriman entertained figures of worldwide renown. (The lodge at the Harriman resort is no longer standing.) A commodious shingle-clad building, Point Comfort Lodge epitomizes the early 20th century fashion for resort architecture rustic in spirit, yet comfortably appointed, and it is an important visual link with the glory days of the Southern Pacific Railroad and its corporate entities in the Klamath Basin.
Point Comfort Lodge is situated on a headland in Pelican Bay on the northwest shore of Oregon's largest freshwater lake--Upper Klamath Lake. Pelican Bay, named by Captain O.C. Applegate in 1866, was the hunting grounds of the Klamath Indians before the white man came to Klamath County. Indians crossed Upper Klamath Lake in dugout canoes to gather wocus seeds and to hunt and fish among the marshlands of Pelican Bay.
In the fall of 1863, as the white man's frontiers expanded throughout the West, the first permanent settlement in the Klamath region was made by the military at Ft. Klamath. Then, 40 miles to the south, a settlement called Linkville grew and prospered to become Klamath Falls at the lower end of "Big Klamath Lake." In time, the Indian hunting grounds of Pelican Bay became the sporting ground of the white man. Tourists and sportsmen arrived first by steamboat and then by motor launch, since the lake itself (97,000 acres of water, 40 miles long) offered a faster route to the recreation area than the trails and poor roads of earlier days.
The early 1900s brought resorts with dance pavilions where, typically, oyster stew was served at midnight for weekend visitors at the close of a night of revelry. Places like Pelican Bay Lodge—later Harriman resort--(1899-1942), Odessa Hotel (1902-1928), Rocky Point Resort (1906-1979), and Eagle Ridge Tavern (1909-1926) have been torn down, burned to the ground, or modernized beyond recognition. Of all the original resort structures, the only one remaining in unchanged condition is Port Comfort Lodge (1911).
The years preceding the arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in Klamath Falls, in 1909, were the heyday of land developers and timber claimers who purchased huge tracts of land, opened new businesses, and built sawmills in anticipation of the boom that a railroad was expected to bring to a young frontier town. In fact, many newly formed companies were discreetly financed by the backers of the Oregon Trunk Railway, the line of mixed operation which connected central and southern Oregon to transcontinental lines along the Columbia River and to California points. Also, 1909 marked the beginning of the ascendency of the Pacific Northwest in timber production. In that year, the country's all-time record year, 44.5 billion board feet of timber were produced.
Taking the lead in corporate investment in the Klamath Basin was Edward Henry Harriman (1848-1909), "Wizard of the Pacifics" (ie, Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, and Central Pacific: in addition, he had controlling interest in eight other major railroads across the country). Being a farsighted man with the financial backing to make visions come true, Harriman purchased a resort on Pelican Bay on Upper Klamath Lake known as Pelican Bay Lodge, and he vacationed there in 1907, 1908 and 1909. Recognizing the potential of the area, including the vast timber resources of the Cascade Range, Harriman planned to bring people by rail from all over the world. His two sons, Averell and Roland, enjoyed guided hunting and fishing trips during their visits to Pelican Bay. Telegraph equipment was installed to keep Mr. Harriman current on all business developments. At his resort, which was renamed Harriman Lodge, strategic business decisions were made that later affected the routing of future rail lines in Oregon and Washington. Oregon's Governor George Earle Chamberlin; John Muir, naturalist; J.P. Morgan, financier; and Theodore Roosevelt were among the notables who were guests at the Harriman Lodge on Pelican Bay. With Harriman's death in September, 1909, the greatest of all railroad empires in the United States faded. Shortly thereafter, the US Supreme Court and President Theodore Roosevelt broke up the Harriman empire, forcing the halt of rail construction from the Natron Cutoff above Klamath Falls for a period of 17 years before the north-bound rail link to Eugene, Oregon was finally completed.
One of the Southern Pacific's veiled corporate entities, the Klamath Development Company, had been incorporated in San Francisco, California late in January, 1905. The planning of bold business ventures and use of such slogans as "Klamath Falls, where fortune calls" marked the activities of the Klamath Development Co. The company was a vital link in the economic forces that developed Klamath Falls. It sponsored such projects as the Hot Springs Improvement Company, a 540-acre subdivision; the first city franchise to operate a horse-drawn "Linkville Trolley"; the construction of the 93-room White Pelican Hotel (1911) in Klamath Falls, one of the distinctive showplaces of Southern Oregon until destroyed by fire in 1926; the purchase and development of the 562-acre Harriman resort, and, finally, the building of Point Comfort Lodge, half a mile to the north of the latter, in 1911. The grand opening of the new lodge at Point Comfort was attended by the Bohemian Club of San Francisco, California, and a memorable time was had by all.
Point Comfort Lodge was used as a summer home by the president of the Klamath Development Company, S.O. Johnson, formerly a Minnesota lumberman who had recently built the McCloud River Railroad near Mt. Shasta in California. Being fully aware that Klamath County would be the "Hub of the Lumber Industry" for Southern Oregon, Johnson operated the lodge at Point Comfort as a showplace to entertain investors from all over the country.
Seeking to promote development of resources in addition to timber, the Klamath Development Company expanded the facilities at Harriman Lodge and arranged transportation of guests from the White Pelican Hotel in Klamath Falls to Pelican Bay resorts by way of the exquisite White Pelican, a motor launch. "Auto stage" trips were also arranged for day trips to Crater Lake. It was a magnificent package tour to offer, but the timing was premature and the season too short to make the business profitable. The Fleischhacker Company of San Francisco became interested in Pelican Bay properties, and ownership of Point Comfort passed to Herbert Fleischhacker in 1915. The Pelican Bay headland and its two resorts remained in the family's hands until 1940, when the property was sold in bankruptcy to Fred Fleet and Gus Johnson (no relation to the former owner and builder). Gus and Olive Johnson operated the Harriman resort until the main lodge burned in 1942. Mien the partnership of Fred Fleet and Gus Johnson was dissolved in 1948, Fleet sold the Point Comfort Lodge to Floyd Rogers. Rogers, in turn, sold it to Walter and Irene Klinger in 1949. Mrs. Klinger spent years re-painting and restoring the old lodge that had weathered winter snow storms and spring thaws. With her recent death, the lodge was acquired by its present owners who have resumed the work of rehabilitation. The historic and best preserved resort at Point Comfort was re-opened under the name of White Pelican Inn on March 8, 1979. A special guest at the recent re-opening was the son of the original builder, the Honorable Sam Johnson, former Oregon State Legislator of the 54th District, and current mayor of Redmond, Oregon.
Steamers on Upper Klamath Lake:
1879-1880 -- General Howard
1905-1916 -- Winema (operated by Totten & Hansberry)
1901- ? -- Alma
1905- ? -- Klamath
1909- ? -- Mazama
1909- ? -- Eagle