WILD ANIMALS
It is dangerous for you to get near wild animals though they may appear tame. Some have become accustomed to humans, but they still are wild and may seriously injure you if you approach them. Regulations prohibiting feeding, teasing, touching, or molesting wild animals are enforced for your safety.
Discovery and History
The Klamath Indians knew of, but seldom visited Crater Lake. They regarded the lake and the mountain as the battleground of the gods. The lake was discovered on June 12, 1853, by John Wesley Hillman, a young prospector leading a party in search of a rumored “Lost Cabin Mine.” Having failed in their efforts, Hillman and his party returned to Jacksonville, a mining camp in the Rogue River Valley, and reported their discovery which they had named Deep Blue Lake.
On October 21, 1862, Chauncey Nye, leading a party of prospectors from eastern Oregon to Jacksonville, happened upon the lake. Thinking that they had made a discovery, they named it Blue Lake. A third “discovery” was made on August 1, 1865, by two soldiers stationed at Fort Klamath, who called it Lake Majesty. In 1869 this name was changed to Crater Lake by visitors from Jacksonville.
Before 1885 Crater Lake had few visitors and was not widely known. On August 15 of that year William Gladstone Steel, after 15 years of effort to get to the lake, stood for the first time on its rim. Inspired by its beauty, Steel conceived the idea of preserving it as a National Park. For 17 years, with much personal sacrifice, he devoted time and energy to this end. Success was realized when the park was established on May 22, 1902, with W. F. Arant as its first superintendent. Steel continued to devote his life to development of the park, serving as its second superintendent and later as park commissioner, which office he held until his death in 1934.