There was a time when motorists driving dirt roads to Klamath Falls, Ore., could go trout fishing and shake the dust by a swim in Lake Ewauna.
An Evening Herald newspaper account dated June 21, 1916, said volunteers had answered Mayor C.B. Crisler’s call for “an attractive free camp ground for the benefit of autoists (sic) and others passing through the city.”
In the article’s words, “City water is to be piped to the grounds, and a few other improvements will be made in a few days. The workers yesterday neatly fenced the camp ground. They also cleared away the underbrush and cleaned up the site, while others … constructed tables and benches from (donated) lumber …”
The campground was located behind the old Lakeside Inn, a little south of the still-standing Baldwin Hotel building, and about 50 feet from Lake Ewauna.
Times change. One of today’s longtime residents comments, “The lake water is pretty nasty (today). The warmer it gets, the nastier it is. I can’t imagine it was ever a popular swimming hole … and … “no one fishes the lake.”
Source: “History Snapshot: Campground ready for use.” The Midge: Cultural Newsletter for the Klamath Basin. June 15, 2016. Reprinted from Evening Herald [Klamath Falls, Ore.): June 21, 1916. Print.
