Why was the name “Natron Cutoff” for that part of the railroad line?
I lived at Weyerhaeser Camp Two when I first came over here. We had an old Shay there that we used for laying track. My brother lived at Kirk, and he was in the bridge building crew. He was a bridge carpenter. He lived at Kirk in tent. They were building bridges and culverts and whatever for this Natron Cutoff that went to Eugene.
That’s the present route of the Southern Pacific.
Yes.
Why was it called Natron?
I don’t know why they called it that. They should have built Interstate 5 on this side because that’s the best one for the trucks and everything. But it was a political arrangement to place I-5 on the west side.
Do you recall seeing any documentation of John Muir’s visit there [Rocky Point/ Harriman Lodge] in August 1908?
I don’t know anything about John Muir. In this new book, there’s a little section or two on Joaquin Miller, the Poet of the Sierras. There’s a little story on Joaquin Miller, where O.C. Applegate got him to come up and talk at the campfire up at the reservation. An Indian woman [Polly] came out of the brush on her horse and jumped over the fire, and they all disappeared. There’s a picture of “Cap” Applegate and Joaquin Miller in that new book coming out. You should see that I’m trying to sell you one of them.
Do you think the relocation of what is now Highway 97 in 1940 changed the migration patterns of the antelope from Fort Rock to the Pumice Desert?
No. We had an antelope. We saw it three or four different days right out here in the field.
How popular was the Ghost Dance among the Klamath?
I have a book on the Ghost Dance that Ida Odell gave me. So it was practiced somewhat here, but I don’t think it was popular.
