Link River and the Falls That Named the Town
Near Klamath Falls, Oregon
You are near the Link River, one of the shortest rivers in the country, running barely a mile and a half between Upper Klamath Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Oregon, and little Lake Ewauna just below. Where the water tumbled down over rocks, it made a run of rapids and falls, and those falls gave this city its name. But that was not the first name.
When George Nurse laid out a townsite here in eighteen sixty seven, he called it Linkville, after the river. For a generation it stayed Linkville, a rough frontier crossroads of ranchers, freighters, and traders. Then in eighteen ninety three the townspeople renamed it Klamath Falls, hoping a grander name would draw the railroad and new settlers.
In nineteen twenty one the California Oregon Power Company built the Link River Dam, a low structure just over twenty feet high, turning Upper Klamath Lake into a managed reservoir for irrigation and power. The dam still stands, controlling the water that flows into the whole Klamath system. The falls themselves are mostly quiet now, tamed by the dam, but the name they gave this place has lasted well over a century.
