Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Barry Swackhamer
Taken: August 7, 2020
Caption: A Sordid Wild West Story Marker
Additional Description: Captions: (middle left) "Camp Day," shown here, was a temporary encampment in the Klamath Basin used by the Army over the summer and fall of 1860. Troops came in response to ongoing problems between Indian groups and Euro-American settlers along the southern emigrant trail. At the time, the Klamath Basin was home to the Klamath in the north and the Modoc in the south.; (map; top center) When company surveyors reached the Cascade summit, they deliberately swept south into the Klamath Reservation in order to acquire the rich land resources found there, rather than going east into Boise. More than 110,000 acres of Tribal lands were deeded to the company, including lush meadows along the Williamson and Sprague Rivers and tens of thousands of acres of prime grazing land. -- In spite of all the backroom dealing, Oregon did end up with decent roads. Willamette Pass (HWY 59) and Santiam Pass (HWY 20) began as pack trails. Improved for wagon use in the mid-1860s, these roads continue today as vital crossings over the Cascade Mountains.; (oval portrait on right) Private road companies made little effort to build bridges, prevent erosion, or even construct permanent surfaces; the object was to get title to the adjacent lands. Many of the roads consisted only of blaze marks on trees. -- The 1860s road building fraud extended into the highest levels of state politics and was investigated by Congress in the 1880s. An 1888 New York Times article reporter that Oregon Governor George L. Woods (shown here) certified the land grants in spite of the fact that he hadn't even seen over 150 miles of the "pretended roads." All the road companies sold the lands they took in payment for road projects. Over the years some lands were returned to the federal government and some were involved in legal wrangles. Other lands remain as private holdings. Many are now held by large timber companies.
Submitted: October 7, 2020, by Barry Swackhamer of Brentwood, California.
Database Locator Identification Number: p542350
File Size: 3.559 Megabytes

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