Written by via watereducation.org
Aquapedia background –
1849–1850 Gold discovered in the Lower Klamath Basin. Farms and ranches established in the Scott and Shasta valleys.
1855 Klamath River Reservation established on the Lower Klamath River.
1864 Hoopa Valley Tribe and Klamath Tribes cede most of their lands for settlement but retain large reservations.
1868 Two farmers dig first irrigation ditch in the Upper Klamath Basin.
1888 California state court rules Klamath River Reservation abandoned, opening the lower river to non-Indian commercial fishing overseen by the state of California.
1891 Determination that the Yurok Tribe had abandoned its reservation is reversed and the old Klamath River Reservation is attached to the Hoopa Valley Reservation.
1905 Klamath Project authorized.
1907 First deliveries of water through Klamath Project “A” Canal.
1908 President Theodore Roosevelt creates nation’s first wildlife refuge for waterfowl, the Klamath Lake Reservation – now called Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge.
1917 First opening to homesteaders of land in Klamath Project.
1918 The first dam in the Klamath Hydroelectric Project, Copco 1, becomes operational, ending salmon runs in the Upper Klamath Basin.
1921 Link River Dam completed, allowing control of water releases from Upper Klamath Lake.
1925 Copco 2 Dam becomes operational.
1928 Dwinell Dam constructed on the Shasta River, cutting off most spawning habitat to the largest Klamath Basin salmon run.
1928 Tule Lake Bird Refuge (now Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge) created.
1933 Commercial salmon fishing on Klamath River is banned; tribal gill-net fishing is prohibited.
1954 Congress terminates the Klamath Tribes’ federally recognized tribal status and liquidates its reservation lands.
1956 Klamath Project irrigators’ electricity rate contract is renewed for 50 years at the 1918 rate of 0.6 cents per kilowatt-hour; Oregon “off-Project” irrigators sign a contract for power at 0.72 cents per kilowatt-hour.
1957 Klamath River Basin Compact is approved by California and Oregon legislatures and ratified by Congress…..