Crater Lake National Park, Oregon (1938)

by United States. National Park Service

REFERENCES

Albright, Horace M., and Taylor, Frank J. Oh, Ranger! A book about the national parks. Illustrated. Diller, J. S. Geological History of Crater Lake. An account of the formation of Crater Lake. Diller, J. S., and Patton, H. B. Geology and Petrography of Crater Lake National Park. Professional Paper No. 3, U. S. Geological Survey. 1902. 167 pp. Eaton, Walter Prichard: Sky-line camps. 1922. 268 pp., illustrated. A record of wanderings in the northwestern mountains, from the Rockies in Glacier National Park to Crater Lake National Park, and to the Cascades in Washington and Oregon. Boy Scouts at Crater Lake. 1922. 320 pp., illustrated. A story of Crater Lake National Park in the high Cascades. Kane, J. F. Picturesque America. 1935. 256 pp., illustrated. Published by Frederick Gumbrecht, Brooklyn, N. Y. Crater Lake on pp. 27-29. Kelley, Edgemond, and Chick. Three Scout Naturalists in the National Parks. A book by three Eagle Scouts who made a 12,000-mile field trip through the western national parks. Brewer, Warren & Putnam, 1931. Lapham, Stanton C. The souvenir book, The Enchanted Lake. Mazama, The. Bulletin published by the “Mazamas.” (Mountaineering Club), of Portland, Oreg. McArthur, Lewis A. Oregon Geographic Names. 450 pp., illustrated, map. Koke-Chapman Co., Eugene, Oreg. 1928. Mills, Enos A. Your National Parks. 532 pp., illustrated. 1917. Crater Lake on pp. 137-147; 470-474. Pernot, J. F. Forests of Crater Lake National Park. 40 pp., 26 illustrations. Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. 20 cents. Rolfe, Mary A. Our National Parks, Book Two. A supplementary reader on the national parks for fifth- and sixth-grade students. Benj. H. Sanborn & Co., Chicago. 1928. Crater Lake on pp. 109-118. Russell, I. C.: Lakes of North America. 1895. 125 pp. Crater Lake on pp. 20-21. Volcanoes of North America. 1897. 346 pp. Crater Lake on pp. 235-236. Steel, W. G. The Mountains of Oregon. 1890. 112 pp. Crater Lake on pp. 12-33. Victor, Frances Fuller. Atlantic Arisen. 1891. 412 pp. Crater Lake on pp. 179-183. Wilbur, Ray Lyman, and Du Puy, William Atherton. Conservation in the Department of the Interior. Chapter on national parks, pp. 96-112. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 1931. Price $1. Yard, Robert Sterling: The Top of the Continent. 1917. 244 pp., illustrated. Crater Lake on pp. 140-160. The Book of the National Parks. 1926. 440 pp., 74 illustrations, 14 maps and diagrams. Crater Lake on pp. 184-201. Panoramic View of Crater Lake National Park. 16½ by 18 inches; scale, 1 mile to the inch, Gives excellent idea of configuration of surface as seen from the air. Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. 25 cents. Map of Crater Lake National Park. About 14 by 19 inches; scale, 1 mile to inch. United States Geological Survey, Washington, D. C. 10 cents.

RULES AND REGULATIONS
[Briefed]

The Park Regulations are designed for the protection of the natural features and scenery as well as for the comfort and convenience of visitors. The following synopsis is for the general guidance of visitors, who are requested to assist the administration by observing the rules. Full regulations may be seen at the office of the superintendent and ranger station.

Fires.—Light carefully and only in designated campgrounds. Extinguish completely before leaving camp, even for temporary absence. Do not guess your fire is out—know it.

Camps.—Use designated campgrounds. Keep the campgrounds clean. Combustible rubbish shall be burned on camp fires, and all other garbage and refuse of all kinds shall be placed in garbage cans or pits provided for the purpose. Firewood is provided free of charge. Camping is restricted to 30 days.

Trash.—Do not throw paper, lunch refuse, film cartons, chewing-gum paper, or other trash over the rim, on walks, trails, roads, or elsewhere. Carry until you can burn in camp or place in receptacle.

Trees, Flowers, and Animals.—The destruction, injury, or disturbance in any way of the trees, flowers, birds, or animals is prohibited.

Noises.—Be quiet in camp after others have gone to bed. Many people come here for rest.

Automobiles.—Careful driving is required at all times for protection of yourself and other visitors. Your car must be equipped with good brakes, horn, and lights. Passing on curves is prohibited. Obey traffic rules. A gasoline and oil station is maintained on the main highway at park headquarters. Gasoline and oil may also be secured at the Rim Village. No other gasoline stations are available in the park. The fee for automobile permit is $1.

Dogs.—Dogs are prohibited in the park overnight and are not permitted in the rim concentration area. When not in an automobile, dogs must be on a leash at all times.

Warning About Bears.—Do not feed the bears from the hand; they will not harm you if not fed at close range. Bears will enter or break into automobiles if food that they can smell is left inside. They will also rob your camp of unprotected food supplies.

Fishing.—A limit of 12 fish per person per day has been set for lake angling. A catch of 20 fish is permitted in park streams. No fishing license is necessary.

Park Rangers.—The rangers are here to help and advise you. When in doubt ask a ranger. Rangers at the Information Bureau, park headquarters, and the several stations will be glad to help you plan your activity while in Crater Lake and to explain the regulations.

Complete rules and regulations are available at park headquarters.

EVENTS
OF HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE

1853—John Wesley Hillman and a group of prospectors discovered the lake and named it Deep Blue Lake. 1862—Chauncey Nye and party of prospectors, unaware of the previous discovery, accidentally visited the lake. 1865—Soldiers from Fort Klamath, without knowledge of previous discoveries, visited the lake and named it Lake Majesty. 1869—Jim Sutton, accompanied by David Linn and family, of Jacksonville, visited the lake and named it Crater Lake. 1873—First photograph, a daguerreotype, taken of Crater Lake by Peter Britt, southern Oregon pioneer. 1883—J. S. Diller, geologist, and Everett Hayden, of the United States Geological Survey, visited the lake. 1885—William Gladstone Steel, with Prof. Joseph Le Conte, Capt. Clarence E. Dutton, J. M. Brock, Jr., and others, visited Crater Lake. Mr. Steel suggested that a national park be established and a petition was sent to President Cleveland. 1886—The President issued a proclamation withdrawing 10 townships, including Crater Lake. Lake surveyed and sounded by the United States Geological Survey. 1888—First fish planted in Crater Lake by William Gladstone Steel. 1896—Mazamas visited Crater Lake and christened the ancestral mountain, of which only the caldera and lower slopes remain, Mount Mazama. 1902—Crater Lake National Park, created by congressional action, approved by President Theodore Roosevelt. First superintendent, W. F. Arant, appointed. 1907—First automobile driven to the rim of Crater Lake by Charles True, from Medford, Oreg. The Wocus, the first boat used in rendering a launch service to visitors, placed on the lake. 1912—Crater Lake Lodge, the oldest structure now existing in the rim area, was built. 1927—Crater Lake Ski Club organized. First annual ski races held. 1931—Sinnott Memorial completed and dedicated. 1932—The Watchman Observation Station completed. 1935—Park approach roads and highway to rim open for first time throughout winter.

OREGON CAVES
NATIONAL MONUMENT

Located 160 miles southwest of Crater Lake, the Oregon Caves National Monument in Josephine County, administered by the superintendent and staff of the Crater Lake National Park, is one of the most popular scenic attractions of Oregon. The caves, occurring at an elevation of 4,000 feet in the heart of the Siskiyou Mountains, are easily reached over hard-surfaced highways.

The monument is 20 miles distant from the famous Redwood Highway, between Crescent City, Calif., and Grants Pass, Oreg. Motorists to the monument turn off at Caves Junction, a small settlement at the junction of the Redwood and Caves Highways.

The caverns, also known as the “Marble Halls of Oregon,” were discovered by a pioneer bear hunter, Elijah Davidson, in 1874 when a bruin sought refuge in their darkness. Davidson, intent on a kill, followed close behind, aided by a flickering pitch torch. He made a cursory exploration, followed by others in later years, but he never viewed the many wonders of their interior as seen today by the visiting public. There are several miles of winding passageways, large rooms, and scores of fantastic formations weird in their eerie beauty.

The monument, covering 480 acres, was established by proclamation of President Taft on July 12, 1909. During recent years numerous improvements, such as new trails, steel ladders, illumination, and removal of obstructions, have been completed to make the caves more accessible and visits more enjoyable.

A limestone, long ago altered to marble, is the soluble rock in which the passageways were formed. The caves offer outstanding underground beauty along a route which brings visitors past their most attractive formations, the result of constant water action for many thousands of years. These formations assume odd, grotesque, and fantastic shapes, resembling draperies, flowers, fruits, palaces, and gargoyles.

The rocks of the region are complexly folded, faulted, and metamorphosed shales, sandstones, and minor bodies of limestone, intruded by vast amounts of basic igneous rock, most of which is now serpentine. The whole is crushed and squeezed into intricate and apparently hopeless confusion from the structural and stratigraphic viewpoint.

Here and there in sparkling beauty are exquisite miniatures of Niagaras, Gardens of Eden, cotton blossoms, forests, and castles. A number of the unusual features carry such strange names as Music Room, River Styx, Ghost Room, Dante’s Inferno, Paradise Lost, and Joaquin Miller’s Chapel. Paradise Lost is the most beautiful exhibit of the caves with its flowerlike stalactitic pendants adorning the walls of a room 60 feet high.

Countless stalagmites and stalactites telling the story of the patience of the ages are seen by visitors during the 2-hour guided trips through the caves. Especially is this true of one of the columns, which is a foot in diameter and was formed by the joining of a stalagmite and stalactite.

Monument visitors are offered hotel accommodations at the Oregon Caves Chateau near the cave’s entrance. Lodging and dining-room service is provided. From the floor of a canyon, the bark-covered six stories of the chateau attain complete harmony with the thick forests and moss-covered rock ledges of the surrounding country.

Cottages are available at the caves, as well as a store where novelties and pictures can be procured. Picnic grounds are maintained in the monument.

During the summer months from June 15 to September 1, frequent guided trips are offered. Guide service on more flexible schedules is available throughout the year. This service is furnished by the operator.

During the summer season, evening campfire programs are offered in the open air near the chateau, presenting talent from the Oregon colleges employed in the monument. Park rangers give short talks on the monument in conjunction with the musical programs.

THE OREGON CAVES CHATEAU

LAVA BEDS
NATIONAL MONUMENT

Located in northern California, 105 miles south of Crater Lake, the Lava Beds National Monument, administered by the Crater Lake National Park staff since 1933, covers an area of 45,967 acres, noteworthy for volcanic, historical, and archeological features of distinctive importance.

The monument is usually open to travel the entire year, although winter storms are liable to make dirt roads in and approaching the area difficult to travel. The Lava Beds are 70 miles from Alturas, Calif., and 45 miles from Klamath Falls, Oreg., with the last few miles of each route served by passable dirt roads. It can also be reached over unimproved roads from Bieber, Calif., on the Redding-Alturas Highway, and Bartle via Medicine Lake.

A vast field for geologic study is included in this area where at intervals over a period of thousands of years volcanic activity seethed in lava rivers issuing forth from fissures scattered over the entire section. Geologically, the region is considered young, the age of the last lava flows and the last cinder cones being estimated at 500 years or slightly less.

Viewed from a distance, the monument appears as a fairly level terrain, with a northeasterly slope interspersed with symmetrical cinder cones. The lava rocks of the area are so porous and broken with shrinkage cracks that water from scant rainfall passes immediately underground, hence causing no erosion and leaving the monument features in the same condition as they were when first constructed. While volcanic activity has continued until modern times, the oldest formations are believed to date back some 20,000 to 60,000 years.

Except in the southern third of the monument where cindery pumice covers the surface, the visitor walks on solid lava. The small recent flows of billowy lava, or the pahoehoe type, have spread out like thick molasses or tar. It is in this type of lava that the caves and tunnels of the monument are found. These were formed by the hardening of the surface and sides of lava flows, becoming tubes when the molten lava core drained out. They range from a few feet to several miles in length and from 10 to 75 feet in height. Collapsed portions form long serpentlike trenches of broken rock 20 to 100 feet deep and from 50 to 250 feet wide, while narrow unbroken roof strips serve as natural bridges.

The caves being of volcanic origin, lava stalactites are in evidence in some of them. Ice formations, the result of constantly freezing temperatures and presence of moisture, are found in others. Over 300 caves have been located in the monument, but of this number only 130 have been explored. A small number of the more interesting caves are open to the public. In exploring these caverns, visitors are given the services of guides without cost during the summer months.

Two types of symbolic Indian writings add a touch of mystery to the monument, suggesting the presence of ancient aborigines many centuries ago. One type is made up of paintings (pictographs) on the walls of a number of the caves and sides of natural bridges. The other type is composed of carvings (petroglyphs) confined entirely to rocky bluffs where the material was sufficiently soft to be cut out by stone tools. The petroglyphs, located in an isolated portion of the monument, are deeply carved and have successfully withstood the ravages of time.

Historical features of the monument recall the only major Indian war ever fought on California soil and one of the most costly of its kind in United States history. In 1872-73 a small band of Modoc Indians under the leadership of Keintpoos, commonly known as Captain Jack, clashed with a body of United States cavalry just north of the California line following a rampage during which several settlers were killed. A short time later, the Modocs established themselves in a natural lava fortress in the northern part of the monument where they withstood a superior force of soldiers for 5 months.

During this time several peace negotiations were attempted, reaching their climax in an ill-fated peace parley a short distance from the Indian stronghold. A number of Indians, including Captain Jack, gathered with a peace commission, headed by General R. E. S. Canby, commander of the besieging soldiers. During the truce parley, the Indians without warning killed General Canby and one other member of the commission, after which the Modocs fled to their stronghold. A cross, erected by Canby’s soldiers on the spot, still stands.

It was not long after the killings that the Indians were subdued, marking the end of Indian warfare in this section. The stronghold today is much as it was over 60 years ago. Points of interest are plainly marked; bleaching bones and rotting bits of leather are reminiscent of the last stand of the Modocs.

Interesting to monument visitors also is the presence of wildlife. During winter and spring seasons, mule deer can be seen in large numbers, with 20 to 30 individual herds remaining in the area until the arrival of warmer summer weather. Hundreds of birds are observed, particularly valley quail and an abundance of raptores. Large numbers of small mammals are seen throughout the year. Lava Reds bighorn formerly roamed the monument but were exterminated by unrestricted hunting and competition for the range by sheep and cattle 20 years ago. However, their trails are still visible.

Administrative headquarters of the monument are maintained at Indian Well, where a park ranger is in charge. A small museum of old war relics and volcanic specimens is maintained here. A campground is nearby. No gasoline, food, or other accommodations are available in the monument but these can be procured within 20 miles of the area at Merrill, Oreg. or Tide Lake, Calif.

NATURAL LAVA FORTRESSES WERE CAPTAIN JACK’S STRONGHOLD