LOWER KLAMATH LAKE 



I went to lower Klamath Lake (June 30- July 7, 1906) 

 primarily to secure material for a group of White Pelicans, 

 which the researches of Messrs. Finley and Bohlman for 

 the National Association of Audubon Societies ("Bird- 

 Lore", VII, 1905, p. 336) had shown to nest there abund- 

 antly. 



This lake, which is twelve miles long by about half as 

 wide, is situated in the arid, northeastern part of Califor- 

 nia, on the Oregon boundary line. Doubtless it may now be 

 reached l)y the railroad which was expected to arrive the 

 year after our visit, when the charm of its isolation will 

 iiave been destroyed. But, as related in the chapter devoted 

 to the White Pelican, the lake itself is doomed and the rail- 

 road will be a fit accompaniment to the farms which will re- 

 place the tules. 



Our way lay up the Sacramento Valley, where twenty- 

 four-horse reapers were harvesting the rye ; through the 

 strikingly picturesque Sacramento Canon ; past Mt. Shasta, 

 whose isolation gives it an individuality shared only with 

 the smaller cone at its side. Shasta reigns; its surround- 

 ings exist merely the better to display the grandeur of its 

 own proportions. Of all the mountains I have seen, Orizaba 

 alone excels Shasta in its power to exact homage. 



At Ager w^e left the railway and drove twenty miles to 

 Beswick, arriving at midnight. There is considerable deci- 

 duous growth here along the shores of the Klamath River 

 and Shovel Creek, and birds were abundant. 



From Beswick, which consists merely of a hotel to 

 accomodate visitors to the Klamath Hot Springs, we drove 

 twenty-five miles to Keno. The road follows the rushing 

 Klamath River through a region of much beauty, and when, 

 by a gradual ascent, we had reached an elevation of about 



