Online News for the Klamath River Valley
Something infinite,
Something that makes one feel aware of God,
One need not go far to find it.
I think that I see something deeper,
More infinite, more eternal than the ocean
in the expression of the eyes of a little baby
when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs
because it sees the sun shining on its cradle.
Vincent Van Gogh
Grandbaby joy 2/4/11
Grandbaby joy 2/7/11
Next week will be a bunch of basketball games PLUS homecoming festivities on Saturday Feb. 5th. Monday the freshmen have decided everyone will dress in neon colors! Tuesday the sophomores have decreed everyone will wear a necktie. Wednesday is “generation day” thanks to the seniors. That means the freshmen will be dressing like babies, the sophomores like little children or toddlers, and the juniors like adults and seniors like, well, senior citizens. That should be easy to grey hair, spectacles, canes or walkers. Friday, February 4th will be Blue and Gold day plus a pep rally before the team leaves for another game. Saturday in the gym the homecoming court will be crowned. Prince and Princess for Freshman Class are Justin West and Alexia Peidra. Sophomore Class elected West Timbrook and Cheyenne Moore. Junior Class royalty are Brandon McCartney and Florence Peters. The seniors’ selections are Rony Reed and Shauniece Polmateer.
by Judy Bushy
If you are making craft or artistic items, there will be an opportunity to sell them at the fabulous indoor Yard Sale at the Grange on March 4-5th. Perhaps you could take cookies and goodies, or perhaps your spring cleaning has gotten underway and you have some treasurers that need to find a new home.
This is your great opportunity to set up a table and sell whatever you have. The cost is only $10 per table per day.
There will even be delicious homemade chicken and rice soup available for lunch! They have quite a few people signed up for tables and there is limited space so be sure to call Ruth Bain at 493-2989 to reserve your table. Then start collecting or making things to take to the Grand Happy Camp Indoor Yard Sale at the Grange in March.
Tim Grenvik came to the Family Resource Center (FRC)Thursday to meet with eight or nine veterans. Tim is the Veterans’ representative for Siskiyou County helping them get organized as a group. The objective is to serve the Veterans in Happy Camp.
Since we no longer have American Legion or Veterans of Foreign War we haven’t had programs at the cemetery or Flag Day, honor guard for funerals, and similar patriotic days. It would be wonderful for this group to be able to pick up some of those types of activities.
Veterans are welcome at 3 o’clock on the second Thursday of each month at FRC when Tim Grenvik is here. The other local veterans will meet weekly at 10 am on each Wednesday at the Family Resource Center on 38 Park Way.
by Judy Bushy
Happy Camp is located at the top of California in Siskiyou County deep in the heart of the Klamath National Forest and on the banks of the Klamath River at the confluence of Indian and Elk Creeks.
Karuk woman on Happy Camp mural
The people of the Karuk Tribe, meaning “upriver” people, have lived here since before history. In July 1851 a group of prospectors arrived from downriver, prospecting as they came and made camp here. They named the camp “Happy Camp” and that became the name of the town that grew up here. Many other sites of gold discovery became ghost towns, but Happy Camp endured.
Miner on mural by Diane Hokanson
Miners at Thompson Creek area saw a large, ape-like creature which scared the Chinese miners, so that they wouldn’t go back to work for days. Today modern “Bigfoot” teams camp out and look for the legendary creature with modern technology. If no large apes are found, they’ve at least had a great time camping in the forest.
When mining declined, the lumber industry became the chief occupation. The Klamath National Forest, Happy Camp District, was founded here in 1905. Happy Camp was well known as the Steelhead Capital of the world! Fishing and hunting as well as the natural beauty brought visitors, and when the road was completed in 1928 travel became easier
Happy Camp built theLog High School
State of Jefferson Roadstop 1941
The State of Jefferson Scenic Byway is a memorial to a movement to carve a new state from Oregon and California. Due to the lack of state maintenance of roads and services, a movement to secede from California and Oregon and become the” State of Jefferson” was begun in the 1940’s.This “revolt” was every Thursday but ceased December 7, 1941 with Pearl Harbor when we rejoined our “united” country to help win a war. Mines from the area provided needed resources and the roads were improved to bring them out for the war effort.
When the last large lumber mill, Stone Forest Mill, closed in 1995, the community diversified in small business and recreation opportunities. Visitors and new residents come to escape the congestion of the city for the natural peace of the country life. The government of the Karuk Tribe remains here and provides a great deal of help to all the people of the area. Panning for gold, rafting or kayaking down the Klamath, hiking, biking, backpacking or camping draw many visitors each summer. Viewing wildlife, rock hounding, especially for Happy Camp jade, and a vast array of outdoor family recreation are available. The community is surrounded by wilderness areas: Red Buttes to the east, Siskiyou to the west, Marble Mountains to the south, and Kalmiopsis wilderness by the Oregon Caves to the North in Oregon.
Volunteers from many service and social organizations have a big impact on the community. Hometown festivals, like the Bigfoot Jamboree each Labor Day weekend, provide parades, fun, food and celebrate community values. It’s a friendly little town!
Come and visit, we’d be glad to have you!
Bolan Lake
I have never taught history,
but history has taught me much.
David Starr Jordan
Truly free man will not regard the past as a castle to be defended. . . . for him the past will be a wonderland to be reinhabited by exploring the very places men have adventured in bringing the possible into reality.
Man does not set out on the sea of possibility empty handed and without charts. He brings with him the accumulated riches and wisdom of the ages.
Trust in where there is joy in being alive. Adventure occurs where there is the trust that, “All things work together for good” even in and through and beyond mans darkest hours of despair in the face of stunning natural catastrophe and unspeakable human perseverance
…Adventure is risk…
Without the risk of adventure, men could not act, and the miracle could not happen.
Arnold Come. Reluctant Revolution. How to Live with Change and Like It.