Klamath Falls is a city in and the county seat of Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The city was originally called Linkville when George Nurse founded the town in 1867. It was named after the Link River, on whose falls the city was sited. The name was changed to Klamath Falls in 1893. The population was 20,840 at the 2010 census. The city is on the southeastern shore of the Upper Klamath Lake and about 25 miles north of the California–Oregon border.The Klamath Falls area had been inhabited by Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before the first European settlers. The Klamath Basin became part of the Oregon Trail with the opening of the Applegate Trail. Logging was Klamath Falls's first major industry.