Klamath County California

Klamath County. Organized in 1851. Bounded north by Del Norte, east by Siskiyou, south by Trinity and Humboldt, and west by the Pacific Ocean. Area, 2,000 square miles. Assessed valuation of property for 1874, $592,526.

County seat, Orleans Bar. Principal towns: Black Bear, Sawyer's Bar and Trinidad. Resources, principally mineral. The mountainous character of this county renders easy access difficult, which has been a great bar to its development.

The quartz and placer mines of gold, which are found in many localities, are the most available resources of the county. Along the ocean beach, as at Gold Bluff, the sands contain gold in considerable quantities, and its extraction has yielded remunerative returns to those engaged in the business. At Black Bear are extensive and very valuable quartz mines, of which the Black Bear, Klamath and Yellow Jacket are the principal. The first two have powerful mills, of thirty-two stamps each, and are producing largely. The vein upon which these mines are located is encased in talcose slate, is near one hundred feet in thickness, the ore yielding from $12 to $35 per ton, and its general characteristics so much like the "Mother Lode" of Calaveras and Amador, that equally as great results are hoped for.

Throughout the county are extensive forests of pine and redwood, but the want of an accessible harbor to afford an easy communication with the great markets renders this resource almost unavailable. At Trinidad, vessels may anchor in favorable weather; but with this exception, there is no harbor on the coast line of the county. The Klamath, a river of four hundred miles in length, of an immense volume, takes a sinuous course of ninety miles through the county. This great river finds its source in the "Lake Country," east of the .Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges; and after cutting these mountains, it rushes on through deep canons to the sea, with a rapidity which renders navigation unsafe. The Trinity, a large stream, enters from the south, flowing twenty-five miles in this county. Scott's Mountain, a lofty and precipitous range, separates it from Trinity, and extends into Siskiyou.

By Act of the Legislature of 1874, Klamath was annexed to Siskiyou, but until the question is judicially decided the county will retain its organization.

Officers: J. T. Carey, County Judge; B. W. Jenks, Clerk, Recorder and Auditor; H. P. Scott. District Attorney; T. M. Brown, Sheriff and Tax Collector; P. W. Wasmuth, Treasurer; James Nally, Assessor; A. M. Forbes. Surveyor; (vacant) Coroner; (vacant) Public Administrator; A. Hartz. Superintendent Public Schools.

California Gazetteer | AHGP California

Source: Pacific Coast Business Directory for 1876-78, Compiled by Henry G. Langley, San Francisco, 1875