Klamath Heritage: Ankeney Canal

Klamath County Museum’s Photo of the Week for Sept. 29, 2019, shows the Ankeny Canal running across the hillside behind the Baldwin Hotel building, just below Pine Street. It was this canal that was blamed for bringing water snakes and frogs into town in large numbers at various times in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

It has been often repeated – though never verified – that a city ordinance prohibited a popular entertainment for local youths: kicking the heads off of snakes that poked their heads up through cracks or knotholes in the town’s boardwalks.

The canal seen here represented the first major irrigation system in the Upper Klamath River Basin. The ditch had started in 1882 as a small diversion for the watering of lots in Linkville, and was enlarged at various times until the early 1900s, by which time it stretched for more than 15 miles to the Ankeny Ranch in the Henley area.

Most of the Ankeny Canal was decommissioned when the U.S. Reclamation Service dug the A Canal in 1906, although the ditch continued to serve town lots for several years. The canal can still be seen in the Link River Canyon, but no trace of it remains in the main part of town, as far as we know.

Ewauna Street is seen running across the photo. The two larger homes at far left are still standing on Pine Street.

The old Klamath County High School, which served the community from 1905 to 1928, is seen in the background. Also seen is the steeple of the original Presbyterian Church, which stood at the corner of Third and Pine streets.

It’s likely this photo was taken by Maud Baldwin from the top of the Baldwin Hotel building.

Information provided from the Klamath County Museum.