Upper Klamath Lake

The board that stood here before this one gave John C. Frémont a line: exploring the lake in 1846, he got word of war with Mexico and hurried back to California. It left out what he did first. After a night attack on his camp on May 9 killed three of his men, he sent Kit Carson against Dokdokwas, a Klamath fishing village at the Williamson River's mouth. Carson's party burned its houses and drying racks and killed at least fourteen people; most historians now think the village had nothing to do with the attack.

What the plaque says

Oregon History Upper Klamath Lake Ews (Upper Klamath Lake) is Oregon's largest body of water. ?ewksiknii c'oy modokni (Klamath and Modoc) peoples have lived here for thousands of years. During the creation of giwas (Crater Lake) their ancestors sought refuge in Ews while the world around them burned. From that time on, populations of native peoples grew and built villages around Ews. They lived off the bounty of the water. In 1825, Hudson Bay Company trappers were the first non-native visitors. Settlers begin arriving around 1843. Ews provides water to all the tribes, settlers, and farmers in the region, and has been a resource for fishing, hunting, and gathering. Over the years, demands on the lake have grown dramatically, resulting in the decline of both water quality and quantity. Fish and other indigenous foods that sustained the tribes from time immemorial are in danger of extinction.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Upper Klamath Lake — 10 mi
  Oregon's largest lake, wide and shallow, where farms, endangered suckers and, since 2024, returning salmon all need the same water.

More markers nearby

• Applegate Trail — 13 mi
• Bloody Point — 30 mi
• Tule Lake Relocation Center — 33 mi