The First Sawmill Historical Marker - Fort Klamath, OR
N 42° 41.475 W 121° 58.422
10T E 584070 N 4727040
This historical 'T' marker is located within the Fort Klamath Museum Park (only open from June to September) in Fort Klamath, OR.
Waymark Code: WMFW9Q
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 12/07/2012
Views: 3
This historical marker is part of a series of historical markers located all around Klamath County and commissioned by the Klamath County Historical Society.
I did some online research regarding this sawmill and found an online document that discusses this government-owned sawmill:
The United States Army brought the first sawmill into the county from Jacksonville, OR in 1863, that being the year "Old Fort Klamath" was established. It was a steam driven circular mill erected on the east side of Fort Creek opposite the site of the fort and probably had a capacity of two or three thousand feet per day. It is reported that the machinery was privately owned and that it was operated, either under lease or contract, until 1870. The mill was built to furnish lumber to the Indians and for various buildings in connection with the fort, which itself was constructed of logs. In 1870 the army brought in from Vancouver a fire box boiler and upright engine which had been taken out of one of their boats on the Columbia river and, with this equipment for power, built a new circular mill on the west side of Fort Creek at a point approximately east of the present Fort Klamath Junction. The mill did not operate very much at that location, probably because the one built at Klamath Agency the same year was more efficient and supplied the requirements of the Indians.
The mill was moved to Yainax in 1893, where it operated until 1899, when it burned. The treaty establishing the Klamath Indian Reservation was concluded October 14, 1864. One of the considerations of the treaty was that the Government would provide a sawmill for the use of the Indians and for a period of twenty years would keep it in repair and furnish all tools and supplies as well as a sawyer. The Reservation being under the supervision of the army in those early years and the fort area being included within the Reservation, it seems certain that the first mill at the fort was used to comply with the treaty terms, especially since records at Klamath Agency show that Peter W. Cans of Applegate, Oregon, (born in France) was hired as a sawyer by the Indian Service on October 1st 1868. An official at the Agency has stated that other sawyers may have been hired before that time.
Directions to historical marker: If you're traveling on Hwy 62, you'll see Fort Klamath County Park Museum on your left. The park is only open to the public from the months of June through September. The T marker is located next to Fort Creek within the park.
The marker text reads:
THE FIRST SAWMILL
THE FIRST SAWMILL PRESENT IN KLAMATH COUNTY WAS ERECTED
NEAR THIS SITE ON FORT CREEK IN 1863 BY THE U.S. ARMY.
KLAMATH COUNTY HISTORICAL LANDMARK COMMISSION
KLAMATH COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY -- 1992 - R.H.C.T.
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