We have Caring Folk along the wild Klamath River!
Happy Camps Log High School
Enthusiasm is growing and last minute stuff is coming together Thank you to all those that are sponsoring our kids. There will be fliers coming out for information on how the entire community can help to support our kids and their athletic program. While it is being hosted by the Elementary School it will be held at the high school, 234 Indian Creek Road on February 15th and 16th.
That’s the wonderful thing about Happy Camp, and the communities along the beautiful wild Klamath River! Our Klamath Neighbors really pitch in to help those who have something to tackle that is larger than they can accomplish successfully alone.
Stop and think of anything really positive that has come about in our community and it is likely that it wasn’t one person who did it all. Surely, one person may have had the vision, seen the need, and had a passionate desire to fulfill that need. But alone, we start in a small way and when others catch the vision, great things are accomplished.
If one image portrayed the best in Happy Camp me than any other, it used to be the Log High School. It was Gorham Humphries, with a number of daughters and a son, who had a vision for a Happy Camp High School.
The students traditionally had to go and board at far distances if they wanted to continue their education beyond Elementary. Some when to Riverside, some boarded in Mount Shasta, but high school wasn’t available here. That seems strange today, when even basic college courses can be taken through Internet or Videoconferencing with College of the Siskiyous. And the distance to College of the Siskiyou’s has been shrunk to only a couple of hours, in good weather. Back in the 20’s the road had finally come through to Happy Camp so it wasn’t a few days to get to Yreka or Weed, but it still was quite a drive!
Grants weren’t the answer to all needs back then. The Siskiyou County Educational sources couldn’t help Happy Camp with a high school, and the Elementary School needed the spare room that had been used temporarily for that purpose. So Humphreys began working to enlist assistance on this huge project. The land was donated, the trees were donated, and the labor for almost all of the work was donated by members of the community. When the volunteer labor became scarcer or lapsed, the ladies had a big potluck picnic to get the effort a boost and give the classrooms ready to begin school that fall. I’ve written years ago about all the community effort that went into that great accomplishment, but there’s not room here for all the names and memories at the moment.
The Fire Hall was built by the Grange members. The River Park was the vision of Larry Wright, Tom and Doug Lemon who visualized a beautiful park, where others saw only a dump and blackberries! The Grange and other members of the community got busy and made the beautiful site we have today.
So perhaps it is understandable, when the Klamath –Siskiyou Art Center window is broken. that’s sad. The natural solution is to organize the Neighborhood Watch program–people work together with the goal to stopping burglary, drug and alcohol abuse and other criminal activity in our own home community?
The Happy Camp Neighborhood Watch meets the second Monday of each month. Lately it has been held at the Partner’s Deli and Arcade at 5:30 and next Monday is the day. We are grateful for those who volunteer and there will be election as new officers are needed next Monday.
More than sixty people came to the first meeting of a group to stop drug and alcohol abuse in our community, and we need more ideas and solutions that can only come with input from the community. A meeting with Sheriff Lopey is planned for spring; but in the meantime, please consider what you can do to stem the rising tide of crime in our community.