The Applegate Trail crossed the present boundary of Oregon approximately three miles southeast of here and went around the northern end of the lake which covered much of the basin, passing close to where you are now standing. The route was opened in 1846 by a group of trailblazers from the northern part of Willamette Valley, including Jesse and Lindsay Applegate, Levi Scott, and others, and was first used by pioneers coming from the States in the fall of that year. It was developed as an alternative way to reach the western valleys of Oregon while avoiding the perils of the Columbia River route.
A portion of the trail was used in the fall of 1848 by Perter H. Burnett, who led a group of more than 150 men and fifty heavily loaded wagons from the area of Oregon City, Oregon, to the goldfields of California. They left the Applegate Trail about eight miles south of here and established a new route into the Sacramento Valley. This was the first wheel route connecting the western valleys of Oregon and California.
In 1852 pioneers from the East opened a route off the Applegate Trail from the southern end of Lower Klamath Lake to the Yreka area of northern California.
Research and Signing by the Oregon-California Trails Association
1991
This is part of your American heritage. Honor it, protect it, preserve it for your children.