Part 1

CRATER LAKE _National Park_ OREGON

CONTENTS

Crater Lake National Park: Discovery and History 2 The Geologic Story of Crater Lake 3 Places of Interest 7 Sinnott Memorial 7 Rim Drive 9 Wizard Island 9 The Phantom Ship 9 Garfield Peak 9 Llao Rock 9 The Watchman 10 Cloud-Cap 10 Mount Scott 10 The Pinnacles 10 Union Peak 11 Mount Thielsen 11 Llao’s Hallway 11 Castle Crest Wild Flower Garden 11 Wild Animals 12 Bird Life 13 Fishing 14 Winter Sports 15 The Forests 16 Wild Flowers 17 How To Reach the Park 19 By Railroad 19 By Automobile 19 By Airplane 20 By Motor Coach 20 Administration 21 Rim Village 21 Camping 21 Accommodations and Expenses 25 References 25 Rules and Regulations 27 Events of Historical Importance 28 Oregon Caves National Monument 29 Lava Beds National Monument 31 National Parks in Brief 34

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR · Harold L. Ickes, Secretary NATIONAL PARK SERVICE · Arno B. Cammerer, Director UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE · 1938

PARK ACCESSIBLE ENTIRE YEAR

Located in southern Oregon, on the crest of the lofty Cascade Range, Crater Lake National Park has a high place among the Nation’s most scenic wonderlands. It is a gem of rare excellence, possessing unity of form and color. At Crater Lake visitors observe beauty in its truest sense and experience a profound inspirational appeal. Pervaded by an air of mystery, tranquillity now prevails where once unfathomable volcanic power was displayed.

The lake rests in the very heart of a mighty mountain whose destruction resulted in the formation of a vast crater in which the waters accumulated. It is 6 miles wide, 2,000 feet deep, covers an area of 20 square miles, and has a circular shore line of 26 miles, with multicolored lava cliffs rising 500 to 2,000 feet above the lake.

Mountain trails lead to the summits of high points about the rim and down a thousand feet to the shores of a sea of silence. At the water’s edge motorboats and rowboats are available for those who wish to see more of the lake or try their hand at trout fishing. Daily boat trips are scheduled around the lake shore line and to Wizard Island, a perfect little crater jutting out of blue depths to a height of 763 feet. A motor drive extends around the crater edge for a distance of 35 miles, presenting scores of enthralling views of the scenic wonder. The constantly changing color and the contrast of lava cliffs and blue water are beautiful beyond description.

Crater Lake National Park embraces an area of 250.52 square miles and was established by act of Congress on May 22, 1902.

DISCOVERY AND HISTORY

Legend says that the Klamath Indians believed Crater Lake was once a weird, ghostly amphitheater where the gods were forever embroiled in conflict, sporting in its blue waters and dwelling on its rocky heights and in its mystic depths.

Pioneers came slowly to southern Oregon, its sparse population in the early fifties living in constant dread of Indian wars. Miles of mountain region had never been explored when a party of California prospectors came to the mining village of Jacksonville. This was the only settlement in the region and owed its existence to the discovery of gold nearby. The Californians while preparing a journey into the mountains remained secretive regarding their mission. The purpose of their trip, however, was betrayed by a member of the party to a group of Oregon miners who learned that the strangers were searching for a “Lost Cabin Mine,” believed to be near the head of the Rogue River. Without delay, the Oregon miners followed the Californians into the wilds, despite persistent efforts of the latter to evade them. Later, when the food supplies of both parties were running low, John Wesley Hillman, leader of the Oregon party, succeeded in uniting the two forces, and the search for the mine was postponed to hunt for game.

Thus it was on June 12, 1853, that Hillman, who had gone on some distance ahead of the hunting group, happened to ride up a deep canyon which, judging from its depth and width, he thought would lead to a higher slope. Letting his mule pick its way upward, he kept peering through the woods for game. Then suddenly the animal stopped, halting at the very rim of a deep blue lake. As the rider looked down he beheld a scene of unsurpassed beauty. Other members of the party soon joined their leader, and they agreed to call the body of water Deep Blue Lake.

In the excitement of gold discoveries and Indian wars, Crater Lake was forgotten for several years. There were no more visits by white men until 1862 when a party of six unsuspecting miners, led by Chauncey Nye, happened upon the place while on a prospecting trip and believed they had made a new discovery, only to learn afterward of Hillman’s visit. A third “discovery” was made in 1865 by a party of soldiers from Fort Klamath. They called the body of water Lake Majesty. This name was changed to Crater Lake in 1869 by visitors from Jacksonville.

Some years later, in 1872, William Gladstone Steel came to Oregon. The story is told that when Steel was a schoolboy in Kansas he had heard of the discovery of Crater Lake and had made a resolution that he would sometime see the western wonder. He spent 7 years in Oregon before he could find anyone who had heard of Crater Lake; two more passed before he found a person who had actually seen it. It was not until 1885 that he was able to visit the place which he found to be even more beautiful than he had anticipated. The result was that Judge Steel conceived the idea of setting aside the lake and the region thereabout as a national park. He began an immediate agitation for this. Though the task was not an easy one and there was much opposition from certain quarters, Steel was undaunted by the rebuffs and continued his efforts unselfishly and with personal sacrifice over a period of 17 years. Success crowned his work when the park was established by an act of Congress, approved May 22, 1902. Judge Steel thereafter devoted his life to the development of the park and became one of its first superintendents. Later he became park commissioner, holding this office until his death in 1934.

Soon after Steel’s first visit, soundings were taken on the lake under the direction of Capt. C. E. Dutton of the United States Geological Survey. Over a month was spent in the work, with the deepest sounding recorded at 1,996 feet.

The first survey for a road system within the park was made in 1910 and 1911; 2 years later the entrance roads from Medford and Klamath Falls were built. Though these roads were very primitive when compared with those now developed, they served the needs of that time when travel was yet dependent principally on horses and wagons.

THE GEOLOGIC STORY OF CRATER LAKE

_Origin of the Mountain._—Visitors to Crater Lake find they must ascend extensive slopes of volcanic ash or pumice to view the lake resting in a crater approximately 5 miles in diameter, with walls from 500 to 2,000 feet high. Geologists tell us this rim is the remnant of an ancient mountain which stood more than 14,000 feet high.

In 1896 the Mazama Club, a mountain-climbing group of Portland, Oreg., visited the lake and with fitting ceremonies gave to the ancient mountain, never viewed by man, the name Mount Mazama.

In comparatively recent geologic time enormous flows of molten rock poured out over an area of more than 100,000 square miles, extending into Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, and California. These masses of lava came to the surface largely through great cracks or fissures in the earth’s surface. A typical example of such extensive flows may be seen in the lava beds forming the Columbia River Gorge.

Numerous volcanoes were formed in this lava region during the relatively late outpourings of molten rock through small openings. The mass of these volcanoes represents only an extremely small volume in proportion to the total mass of lava. Mount Mazama at Crater Lake is one of these volcanoes, likewise are the volcanic cones of the Cascade Range. The more noted of these are Mount Rainier (14,408 feet), Mount Shasta (14,161 feet), Mount Adams (12,326 feet), Mount Hood (11,225 feet), Mount Baker (10,750 feet), Mount Lassen (10,453 feet), and Mount St. Helena (9,697 feet).

The mountain in which Crater Lake rests was built principally by lava flows, poured out layer upon layer, and to a lesser degree by the piling up of volcanic ash, soil, and the deposits of streams and glaciers as they flowed down the mountain. At Dutton Cliff we see an example of successive layers of lava and volcanic ash. Near Discovery Point, in addition to layers of lava and volcanic ash, one may also see examples of glacial deposits and glacial striae or scratches.

One can understand Crater Lake in its relation to the volcano only when the mountain is considered as the result of a building process extending over long periods in which many changes took place. The following is an explanation of some of the processes.

_Lava outpourings through splitting of the mountain._—In addition to spilling out as broad flows of melted rock, it is common for the tremendous mass of molten lava in a volcano to break through the mountain side. The lava filling of such a crack or fissure is known as a dike. After it cools the material filling these fissures is often harder than the surrounding rock. Subsequent wash of water may cut away the softer bordering material, leaving the hard filling of the fissure as a sharp ridge. Devils Backbone, on the west side of Crater Lake, is an illustration of such a lava dike.

_Action of streams and glaciers on the mountain in the course of its building._—In the section of layers forming the rim of the mountain we find evidences of wash by water. In some places this is shown by the cutting of valleys; at others, by the accumulation of water-carried ash, gravel, and boulders.

Glacier ice carrying sand, pebbles, and boulders scratches or polishes the rock surface as it moves slowly over it. Glacial polish and thick beds of material carried by glaciers are common around the mountain. They are present on the surface rock and seem also to appear between earlier layers, showing that glaciers were present at various stages in the history of the mountain.

Broad U-shaped valleys cut at various points around the crater are also characteristic of glacial action. Kerr Notch is such an evidence of glacial erosion. It was through a similar ancient glacial notch that the lava forming Llao Rock flowed.

_Forming of the crater._—The broken edges of rock layers seen on the crater slopes indicate widening of the crater in all directions. The edges of these rock layers inside the crater wall are clearly exposed because they have been sharply broken around the entire inner rim region. This fracturing occurred in the course of widening the crater. Increase in size of the opening at the summit of the mountain, which eventually formed the present crater, may have been caused by tremendous explosions, or by collapse of the peak, or by a combination of such activities.

If the activity of a volcano diminishes slowly, growth of the mountain may end in forming a symmetrical cone. If activity continues by spasmodic outbursts, explosions may blow away a considerable part of the peak. Other conditions may bring about undermining of the walls in such manner as to produce a wide cauldronlike crater, but without tremendous explosions.

Recent investigations by Howel Williams, under a grant from the National Academy of Sciences, have led to the conclusion that the crater owes its origin principally to collapse or engulfment of the mountain peak.

Formation of the crater by collapse was first proposed by J. S. Diller of the United States Geological Survey. Diller’s explanation differs from that of Williams principally in the method by which the void beneath the crest of Mount Mazama was formed. Diller thought that great quantities of molten rock were drained away through subterranean passages, thus weakening the support of the mountain peak and causing ultimate collapse.

In a report to be published by Williams, he describes great quantities of volcanic ash or pumice extending for a distance of more than 80 miles northeast of Mount Mazama. This ash is equivalent to more than 20 cubic miles of material and is thought to have been blown from the mountain in a catastrophic event, and carried northeastward by the prevailing winds. Analysis of this ash shows that it is new material derived from the magma within the volcano and not finely divided fragments of the original mountain walls.

Following this explosion the mountain is thought to have literally boiled over, pouring out great quantities of frothy magma which flowed down the sides of the mountain and overflowed the lowlands below. The greater quantity extended to the south and southwest for distances up to 35 miles. This material poured out from the crater as a series of avalanches which must have flowed at a terrific speed for those on the south and west sides of the mountain did not begin to deposit their load until they reached a distance of 4 or 5 miles from the crater.

Accompanying these explosions and the outpouring of this lava material, cracks developed in the flanks of the mountain and eventually the top collapsed and was engulfed within the void produced by the outpourings of ash and molten rock, thus forming the crater as we see it today.

By projecting the present slopes of the crater rim upward and making adjustments to conform to the slopes of similar volcanoes, it has been estimated that approximately 17 cubic miles of old lava has been removed, which formed the upper part of ancient Mount Mazama.

_Toward the close of the activity forming the crater, minor eruptions produced Wizard Island and possibly other cones._—If the lake were removed, the crater would be seen as a relatively flat-floored cavity extending as a maximum about 2,000 feet below the present lake surface. In this great depression Wizard Island would appear as one of perhaps several volcanic cones produced by pouring out of lava and cinders in the last period of volcanic activity. Forming of the present floor probably involved many stages, during some of which the cauldronlike crater may have been occupied by wide stretches of molten lava, as in the “lake of fire,” at Kilauea, in Hawaii.

_Origin of the lake._—The water of Crater Lake is derived from rainfall and snowfall over this crater region, together with snow blown into the depression. The lake is not known to have an outlet except by seepage. The conditions of evaporation, seepage, and precipitation are in a state of balance which makes possible this accumulation of water and maintenance of approximately this water level. If the region were at a different altitude, or in a different location, the lake might not have been formed.

It is conceivable that in the course of late stages in its history, and under climatic conditions different from those of the present, the crater may at times have been filled in part with ice.

The existence of Crater Lake was made possible by the building of a mountain, in the elevated summit of which there could be formed a wide and deep cavity having no outlet, except by seepage, and no inlet. The conditions required for the accumulation of a body of water with the peculiar beauty of this lake are furnished in a crater produced by a combination of those tremendous forces found in the power and heat of a volcano.

_Color an outstanding character of Crater Lake._—The color of Crater Lake is generally recognized as the most attractive feature of this region. Among spectacular lakes of the world there are none in which the depth of color and brilliance of blue are more striking. The blue of the deeper water is brought out in contrast with the brilliant green of shallow areas along the margin.

The deep blue of the lake is believed to be caused chiefly by the scattering of light in water of exceptional depth and clearness. The color is thought to be due to the same cause that produces the blue of the sky where light passes through deep atmosphere.

The extraordinary beauty of the lake arises in part from its great depth, the clearness of the water, and of the atmosphere above it, and from favorable conditions presented in viewing it from the high crater rim.

PLACES OF INTEREST

SINNOTT MEMORIAL

In recognition of great service to Crater Lake National Park and to the State of Oregon, Congress authorized by an act approved May 14, 1930, the construction of a memorial to Representative Nicholas J. Sinnott of Oregon. Following this recommendation an attractive stone building was constructed on Victor Rock, just inside the rim of Crater Lake. The structure, with its broad parapet looking over the lake, serves as an orientation point for all park visitors. High-powered field glasses are trained on the important features, helping the visitor to understand the geologic history of the lake and to appreciate the relationship between the scenic and scientific. Displays in the exhibit room, maintained in connection with the observation station, further aid the visitor to appreciate the beauties of the park and to interpret the moods of Crater Lake. A large relief map of the Crater Lake region is located on the parapet. This particular feature of the Sinnott Memorial display is extremely popular in that it helps visitors to locate places of interest. All those who come to Crater Lake should visit the Sinnott Memorial as soon as possible after their arrival in the park. It is located close to the lodge and campground and may be reached in a 2-minute walk from the highway.

RIM DRIVE

An interesting highway encircles the lake. Visitors are invited to use this highway and enjoy the many views of the lake from numerous observation points along the road. A daily auto caravan is conducted by the naturalist staff along a portion of the rim road. Visitors taking the caravan have an opportunity to see a number of scenic points as well as to become familiar with certain phases of the botany, geology, and history of the park. The objective of the caravan is the Watchman observation and lookout station on the summit of the Watchman Peak on the west rim of the crater. Arriving at that station, the visitors have an opportunity to become familiar with the very important work of forest protection from the standpoint of a fire lookout. All caravan trips start from the Sinnott Memorial. The time of departure is announced on the bulletin boards and at lectures.

WIZARD ISLAND

This is a symmetrical cinder cone rising 763 feet above the surface of the lake. The island may be reached by boat. A trail leads from the shore to the crater, which is approximately 90 feet deep and 300 feet in diameter.

THE PHANTOM SHIP

Not far from Wizard Island is a formation called the Phantom Ship. It rises from the waters of the lake, a twisted and strangely formed mass of lava. Its shape strongly suggests a ship under sail. The illusion at dusk or in the moonlight is impressive. In certain lights the phantom ship seems suddenly to disappear.

GARFIELD PEAK

With an altitude of 8,060 feet, this peak is easily reached by trail from the lodge. From the summit there is a magnificent view of the lake and of the range to the eastward.

LLAO ROCK

Llao Rock rises nearly 2,000 feet above the lake level. As mentioned in the geologic story of the lake, this rock was formed by a lava flow which descended the slopes of Mount Mazama and filled one of the large U-shaped valleys once occupied by a glacier.

According to a legend of the Klamath and Modoc Indians the mystic land of the Gaywas was the home of the great god Llao. His throne in the infinite depths of the blue waters was surrounded by giant crawfish, his warriors, who were able to lift great claws out of the water and seize too venturesome enemies on the cliff tops.

War broke out with Skell, the god of the neighboring Klamath marshes. Skell was captured and his heart used for a ball by Llao’s monsters. But an eagle, one of Skell’s servants, captured it in flight, and a coyote, another of Skell’s servants, escaped with it; and Skell’s body grew again around his living heart. Once more he was powerful and once more he waged war against the god of the lake. Then Llao was captured; but he was not so fortunate. Upon the highest cliff his body was quartered and cast into the lake and eaten by his own monsters under the belief that it was Skell’s body. But when Llao’s head was thrown in the monsters recognized it and would not eat it.

Llao’s head still lies in the lake, and white men call it Wizard Island. The cliff where Llao was quartered is named Llao Rock.

THE WATCHMAN

On the rim, directly west of Wizard Island, is The Watchman. This peak, deriving its name from its use as one of the observation points during the sounding of the lake in 1886, is of interest not only because of its height, but because of the fire lookout and observation station on its summit. They may be reached after a 15-minute walk over a new trail from the rim road. A rare panorama of the park and surrounding country may be viewed from this point, which is 8,025 feet above the level of the sea and 2,000 feet above the lake.

CLOUD-CAP