The Klamath Fish Hatchery is the perfect stopover for families traveling through Klamath County. Most visitors to this area are passing through on their way to Crater Lake National Park, the second deepest lake in North America. This fish hatchery welcomes visitors with numerous fish ponds of trout in various stages of growth and development. There is also a kiosk in the parking area that highlights the trout habitat in the area and the affect man has had on their environments. Visitors can also purchase fish food for 25 cents per small handful and feed the trout in either the fish ponds or in Crooked Creek.
The visitor map in the parking lot gives a brief history of this hatchery and mentions that the main buildings and wooden ponds were built by the Federal Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). I also found a website from the University of California at Berkley titled The Living New Deal that highlights the history of this hatchery. It says the following:
“The fish hatchery we see wasn’t begun until 1929, and from then on it slowly grew in size. The first major improvements were made during the 1930s by men who came up from the Klamath Falls camp of the Civilian Conservation Corps. They constructed the rectangular wooden fish ponds and many of the current residential buildings. Around 1937, the CCC boys built the long hatchery headquarters building, incorporating offices, apartments for senior staff, two garages large enough for any hatchery vehicle, and incubation nurseries for fish eggs and fry. The building still dominates the park-like setting and is the first thing someone notices when they visit. More help came in 1939 when the Public Works Administration allowed workers to construct a concrete dam and begin work on some of the concrete fish ponds. The PWA was a government agency created to get Americans back to work during the Depression. After World War II more structures were built and the hatchery property finally was purchased from the Klamath tribe. Hatchery operations are funded primarily by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service through its Sport Fish Restoration Program. State fishing license fees make up about 25 percent of the facility’s total budget. The hatchery continues to raise legal and trophy-sized trout — rainbows, browns and cutthroats — for release in lakes and streams throughout the Klamath, Deschutes and Umpqua basins.”
If you're ever in the area and passing through, it will be worth your while to spend about half an hour enjoying this nice fish hatchery. Maybe you'll even get lucky and get a personal tour into one of the facilities that house the smallest trout in fish roe stages of growth.
This hatchery is also open for personal tours by calling in advance and scheduling group tours. I visited this hatchery as a young boy with my 4th grade class many years ago and was amazed at how little has changed here after 30+ years.