Course of the Klamath River

The Klamath River is a river in southern Oregon and northern California in the United States. This article describes its course.

Oregon

The Klamath River's drainage basin above Upper Klamath Lake is fed primarily by the Williamson River and the Sprague River, which stretch into south-central Oregon east of the Cascades.

The official beginning of the 263-mile (423 km) long river is at the outlet of Upper Klamath Lake, a large and artificially expanded lake east of the Cascade Range. Above Upper Klamath Lake, several streams drain south and southeast from the Cascades to form Agency Lake, which is connected to Upper Klamath Lake. After flowing out of the Bureau of Reclamation-built dam, the river flows into a 1-mile (1.6 km) stretch known as the Link River, past the city of Klamath Falls and into Lake Ewauna, a 20-mile (32 km)-long reservoir. The Lost River enters from the left via a series of agricultural ditches and canals (formerly, all of its water emptied into Tule Lake). It crosses under Oregon State Route 97 twice, once upstream of and once downstream of Oregon Route 140, and continues west through an agricultural valley to Keno. At Keno the river veers sharply south and passes through the Keno Dam, which forms Lake Ewauna, 240 miles (390 km) from the mouth,

passing the now-drained Lower Klamath Lake.

The Klamath enters a narrow gorge and runs northeast, then enters the area formerly holding the J.C. Boyle Reservoir, before the John C. Boyle Dam was removed, 231 miles (372 km) from the mouth.