Algoma is an unincorporated community on the east shore of Upper Klamath Lake

Upper Klamath Lake

Upper Klamath Lake is a large, shallow freshwater lake east of the Cascade Range in south central Oregon in the United States. The largest freshwater body in Oregon, it is approximately 20 mi long and 8 mi wide and extends northwest from the city of Klamath Falls...

, in Klamath County

Klamath County, Oregon

-National protected areas:* Bear Valley National Wildlife Refuge* Crater Lake National Park * Deschutes National Forest * Fremont National Forest * Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuge* Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge...

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is about 8 miles (12.9 km) north of the city of Klamath Falls

Klamath Falls, Oregon

Klamath Falls is a city in Klamath County, Oregon, United States. Originally called Linkville when George Nurse founded the town in 1867, after the Link River on whose falls this city sat, although no falls currently exist; the name was changed to Klamath Falls in 1892...

 on U.S. Route 97

U.S. Route 97 in Oregon

In the U.S. state of Oregon, U.S. Route 97 is a major north–south United States highway which runs through the state of Oregon . In Oregon, it runs from the Oregon-California border, south of Klamath Falls, to the Oregon-Washington border on the Columbia River, between Biggs Junction, Oregon and...

. Algoma was named for the Algoma

Algoma (word)

Algoma is a placename given to many different places throughout the United States and Canada. Examples include Algoma District, Ontario, Algoma, Oregon, Algoma, Wisconsin, and Algoma Township, Michigan...

 Lumber Company.

History

In 1909, R. H. Hovey bought 10000 acres (40.5 km²) of timberland on the east shore of Upper Klamath Lake in Klamath County, Oregon. That was the beginning of the Algoma Lumber Company. In 1912, Hovey built a large sawmill

Sawmill

A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

 with a capacity to mill 100,000 board-feet

Board foot

The board-foot is a specialized unit of measure for the volume of lumber in the United States and Canada. It is the volume of a one-foot length of a board one foot wide and one inch thick....

 (236 m³) of lumber per shift. Since the mill ran two shifts per day, the mill's daily production capacity was 200,000 board-feet (472 m³). The company grew rapidly. By the end of its first year, the mill and its logging operations employed about 200 workers. To accommodate the workforce, the company plat

Plat

A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....

ted the Algoma townsite

Townsite

A townsite is a legal subdivision of land for the development of a town or community. In the historical development of the United States, Canada, and other former British colonial nations, the filing of a townsite plat or plan was often the first legal act in the establishment of a new town or...

.

Algoma post office opened in 1912. The town of Algoma had a population of 400 in 1919 and grew to 600 by 1931. In 1943, the post office closed. Today, Algoma is no longer recognized as a specific census data collection area so there is no current census information on the community.

Company town

The Algoma townsite is located approximately 8 miles (12.9 km) north of Klamath Falls on the shores of Upper Klamath Lake. It was established in 1912 to support the employees of the Algoma Lumber Company. The Algoma lumber mill was built on a 26 acre (0.10521836 km²) site near the southwest corner of Algoma Marsh, a 1300 acres (5.3 km²) meadowland between Barkley Springs to the north and Algoma Point to the south. The area is cut off from Upper Klamath Lake by a Southern Pacific

Southern Pacific Railroad

The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....

 railroad embankment.

The Algoma Lumber Company logged

Logging

Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...

 all around Upper Klamath Lake. The company used a diesel-powered tugboat

Tugboat

A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...

 to tow log rafts to the mill site. The Algoma lumber mill's log pond

Timber rafting

Timber rafting is a log transportation method in which logs are tied together into rafts and drifted or pulled across a water body or down a flatter river. It is arguably the second cheapest method of transportation of timber, next after log driving...

 was connected to the lake by a 20 feet (6.1 m) culvert

Culvert

A culvert is a device used to channel water. It may be used to allow water to pass underneath a road, railway, or embankment. Culverts can be made of many different materials; steel, polyvinyl chloride and concrete are the most common...

 that ran under the railroad embankment. Because of the shallow depth of the channel that connected the lake with the log pond, the company insisted that Upper Klamath Lake be maintained at a high level. The tugboat used by the Algoma Lumber Company was retired in 1943. Today, it is on display at the logging museum at Collier Memorial State Park

Collier Memorial State Park

Collier Memorial State Park is a state park in southern Oregon. The park is operated and maintained by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. It is located on U.S. Highway 97, approximately north of Klamath Falls and south of Bend...

, which is located 30 miles (48.3 km) north of Klamath Falls on U.S. Route 97.

External links

• Historic Photos of Algoma from Salem Public Library Collection
• Historic Postcard of Algoma Lumber Company
• View of Algoma Mill and wigwam burner from Louisiana Digital Library
• Photo of stacks of lumber at Algoma Lumber Co. in 1939