Old Somes Bar, Long Lost and Barely Remembered

Somes Bar had a split personality. There was the Somes Bar along the Salmon River and the Somes Bar on the Klamath River. Karuk villages existed in both places. The photo shows the area where Abraham Somes established a store and boarding house along the Salmon River. It came to be known as Somes  Bar. This place was about three to four miles up the Salmon River from its mouth into the Klamath River. Mary Ellicott Arnold and Mabel Reed described the store and the owners in The Land of the Grasshopper Song.

   The trail from the Klamath River village of Kátim’iin ran along a bluff as it neared the Somes Bar store on the opposite side of the Salmon River. To reach the store, one had to cross a swing bridge about 3 ft wide with a cable on each side for hand holds. It was named a swing bridge because that is what it did. Swing from side to side as you walk across. Sometimes there was an up-and-down motion as well. [Speaking from experience in the late 1950s, having crossed the old swing bridge at Indian Bottom Mine where Myrna and Gil Stafford lived.]

   A long time ago, in April 1905, Imogene Tom, known as Snappy, her husband Johnnie Erskine Tumer, and her son, Swanny, were heading home from the store to Kátim’iin. As the bridge swayed, Swanny fell under the cable and over the edge of the bridge. His stepfather tried to grab him but lost his balance and fell into the river. It was a long drop. Men near the store ran to the river, and some attempted to swim out and grab Johnnie and Swanny. Their efforts were of no avail, the river was running so fast and deep. Johnnie and Swanny, stunned when they hit the river, had disappeared beneath the waters. Snappy, sobbing and screaming, got to the other side and collapsed on the trail. Johnnie’s body was never recovered. It went into the Klamath River and perhaps hung up under a rock. The body of 15-year-old Swanny was found. Imogene buried her youngest child at the little cemetery near their home.

   This story is true! It is an example of stories on the pages of Know Us, Remember Us.