The following text is taken from the town of Chiloquin website to describe its history:
The first white men to arrive in the area were envoys of the Hudson’s Bay Fur Company, who reached the confluence of the Sprague and Williamson rivers in the fall of 1826. Led by Finan McDonald and Thomas McKay, the group traveled south from the Columbia River in search of fur trapping locales. Later that fall, Peter Skene Ogden arrived near Chiloquin and traded with the Indians, securing foodstuffs to keep his party alive until spring. They camped near the present site of Collier Memorial State Park.
A campsite for a group of Klamath Indians became known as Camp Chiloquin, the white settler version of Chay-lo-quin, the name of a respected war chief who was alive at the time of the treaty of 1864. Camp Chiloquin was a few shacks and tents scattered over a wide field at the confluence of the Sprague and Williamson rivers. Since Chiloquin was on the reservation, in order for white settlers to obtain land, they purchased Indian allotments. The first allotments were sold in 1918. Before allotments became available an Indian Trading Post, consisting of store, hotel and livery stable, was begun by the firm of Clepper and Moore, the location leased from the Indians.
The Klamath Indian Agency was established in 1868 and served as reservation headquarters until termination in 1954. It is located on Hwy 62, about 6 miles south of Ft, Klamath. It was built at that location because it was near Council Groves, the site of the 1864 treaty signing. Located on 80 acres, the Agency was a self-sufficient community with its own water, electricity and telephone systems. It originally had 100 buildings, including hospital, fire station, police force, school and gas station.
Chiloquin began to develop as a town in about 1910, when the railroad was built north from Klamath Falls to Kirk, a few miles north of Chiloquin, and now a ghost town. Chiloquin Mercantile and Chiloquin Warehouse were the pioneer businesses of the town. The first Post Office was established in 1912. The first movies were shown in the warehouse, where the audience sat on bales of hay and the picture machine was powered by an automobile engine. The daily trip of the train from Klamath Falls to Kirk and back was a leisurely affair with the engineer stopping anywhere along the route with usually several stops along Upper Klamath Lake to pick up fishermen. The train was even known to wait for the last catch to be bagged.
A one room school took care of the children’s educational needs until 1918, when the school expanded to two teachers. In the 1920’s Chiloquin’s elementary and high school districts were formed, and construction began on a school to house both the grade and the high schools. Finished in 1926, the last 2 years of high school were offered for the first time.
The first electricity was brought in by Copco in 1920 and the water works company begun by A. C. Geinger in 1924 was sold to the City after it incorporated. The town was plotted by Henry Stowbridge, L.B. Robinson and Mary Jackson to the east of the Williamson River. By 1928 the City of Chiloquin included a townsite originally plotted from Indian lands and known as the Juda Jim Allotment, all of which lay east of the Williamson River. The west side, known as West Chiloquin, was developed and sold by R. C. and Alice Spink. Clyde’s Market, still in operation today, was originally Spink’s Market.
The city was incorporated on March 9th, 1926, the only city to be incorporated on an Indian reservation. On election day the town went wild. Everyone came to vote, some even carried in on stretchers. Two hundred more votes were cast than there were adult citizens in the community, and around $10,000 changed hands as election bets were lost or won. A.C. Geinger was elected mayor, and a new city council set up. Although none on the council had ever before been connected with municipal works they drafted the laws for the new city. At that time there were 2,000 inhabitants, 3 big lumber mills, box factories, restaurants, barber shops grocery stores, doctors, dentists, a lawyer, drug store, pool hall, movie theatre, dress shop, shoe store, roller rink, taxi service, dance and pool halls, and in 1927, a bank. Unlike today, residents rarely had to make the trip to Klamath Falls.
Chiloquin became a boom town, known as “Little Chicago” because of its rough reputation. Made up of loggers, mill workers, ranchers and Indians, most nationalities were represented, including the Chinese. One of the main problems was the keeping of law and order.
Between 1923 and 1929 a building boom hit Chiloquin. One of the first acts of the new city administrators had been to create a fire zone in the business district and after fire destroyed many of the unsightly wooden frame buildings in town in 1926, property owners were forced to build fire-proof structures. A.C. Geinger and his son Roy constructed a 2 story brick General Store, which is still the family-owned Kircher’s Hardware store of today, although the top story has gone – burned in 1958, when a young boy, feeling cold, lit a fire on the upstairs wooden floor. Henry and Josephine Wolff built a brick building across from Geinger’s to house their bakery. Three more blocks of brick buildings were completed, ending with the Markwardt Bros. Garage, which opened in the summer of 1929, replacing their first garage, built in 1922.
Many of the streets were named after Klamath and Modoc Tribal names – Chiloquin, Chocktoot, Lalo, Schonchin, Wasco and Winema were all prominent tribal families. Yahooskin Street was named after the Paiute tribe Yahooskin, Band of Snakes. Lalakes was named after Klamath Lake. Blockinger street was named for the Blockinger Lumber Mill and Box Factory.
The actual city limits of Chiloquin have grown since its incorporation in 1926. At first, due to a surveying error, Chiloquin consisted of just the downtown area. The northeast section was annexed on 1929, the southernmost section annexed in 1947, the westernmost section annexed in 1954, and finally, the northwestern section annexed in 1958.
The closures of the lumber mills, the Great Depression and a series of disastrous fires had a major effect on Chiloquin. The industry of the area was badly impacted by the demise of the timber mills. When the mill in town closed in 1988, it left widespread unemployment. Aside from ranching in the outlying areas, there is no major industry at the present time. The 3 major employers in the area are Jeld-Wen (windows, door frames), Klamath Tribes (management, health services), and Klamath County Schools.
Now, within the city you will find two small food markets, two eating establishments, a medical center, hardware store, book store, library, Post Office, beauty shop, art gallery and a large non-profit Community Center. Schools within the city limits are an elementary and high school. There are several different denominations of churches and it is also the home of the Klamath Tribes Administration, and the Klamath Tribal Health Center. A volunteer fire department and a volunteer ambulance service are based in the city. For everything else, residents make the 30 mile trip to Klamath Falls.