Beginning of a Trail

Beginning of a Trail. The OC&E Line. "To know the Oregon, California and Eastern Railway, one must imagine conditions in Oregon in the early 1900's." , David F. Myrick, "Oregon, California and Eastern", A century ago, the Klamath Basin held an inventory of nearly 35 billion board feet of timber. Between 1865 and 1900 small sawmills had cut some lumber for local use. Railroads were the key to a thriving forest products economy. The Southern Pacific line arrived in 1909 in Klamath Falls. In 1916, Robert E. Strahorn persuaded local investors to launch the Klamath Falls Municipal Railway to penetrate the pine forests for the eastern Klamath Basin. Strahorn bought out the line three years later and absorbed it into the OC&E. He announced plans to link the railroad north to Bend and east to Lakeview and Burns., With fits, starts, and changes of ownership, the OC&E became a major log-hauling railroad. Although it never left Klamath County, its locomotives for eight decades hauled raw materials and finished products to mills and markets. By 1900, the railroad had been phased out. The line has been restored as the OC&E Woods Line State Trail, thanks to the national Rails to Trails project.