Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1902-08-01
CRATER LAKE.

That the Crater Lake region has
been made National Park by the act
of the Fifty-seventh Congress is a
source of qualification to the Mazamas,
who were the pioneers in the move
ment, and is tribute to the perse-
verance of Will G. Steel, to whom
the success of the movement is largely
due. Among those who are we'll in
formed as to the seven greatest scenic
wonders of the United States, there
is no doubt but that there would be a
substantial agreement upon the fol-
lowing: Niagara Falls, the Natural
Bridge in Virginia, the Mammoth Cave
in Kentucky, the geysers of the Vel
lowstone National Park, the Grand
Canyon of the Colorado, the Yosemite
Valley of California and the Crater
L axe region of Oregon. Many of
these have rivals, but there has not
been discovered anywhere in the
United States lake which even re-
motely suggests comparison with
Crater Lake. The very fact of its re-
markable origin suggests a forcible
reason why such wonderful feature
of natural scenery should be made
accessible to the tourists of the United
States and become the center of one
of the most attractive of the Nation S
parks
To the casual visitor, even, who
makes his pilgrimage thither, the fact
that before the lake existed, snowy
mountain stretched its peak skyward
and We'd in its beauty with its sister
peaks, is a source of interest and
wonder. The moderns who pitch
their tents near the sides of the lake
will have in their minds eyes pic
ture of the terrific eruption of Mount
Pelee, and they will listen in wonder
breaks of Mount Mazama in prehis-
toric times. They will feel a sense
of awe when they realize that subter-
ranean fires melted away that grand
peak until it fell into the cavernous
depths, leaving the deep pit that is
now filled with clear water, to 1000
feet at its greatest depth. The ancient
phenomenon would be paralleled if
the Titanic forces of nature would
truncate the peak of Mount Hood at
Crater Rock, leave the steep sides,
hollow out the surface Of the top of
the cone, and fill this pit with one of
the most beautiful lakes in the world.
The prehistoric observer who climb
ed the summit of Scott Peak, 1922
feet high, a few miles east of Crater
Lake, would have seen snow peak
like Shasta or Hood instead of the
picturesque lake of today. Picture
his surprise if he were to return and
sweep the horizon for view of the
mountain of this day to find that it
had literally dropped out of sight.
Biologists who have climbed about
the slopes of Crater Lake have made
estimates of the height of this peak,
then unnamed, but now dignified by
the name Of Mount Mazama They
have formed these estimates by com
parison. Mount Shasta and the rim
of Crater Lake have been found to be
of equal diameter at an altitude of
800 feet, and being composed of essen
tally the same lavas, and being form
ed in the same way, the conclusion
has been reached that they would rise
to nearly the same elevations. The
gentler slopes about the rim, however,
suggest that Shasta was the higher of
the two peaks.
In discussing the question of the
disappearance of the peak, ]. s. Diller
of the United States Geological sur
vey says;
1.-THE question at once arises, How
was this vast mountain nearly six
miles in diameter, and possibly 5000
feet or more in height above the pres
ent rim of the lake, removed and the
stupendous pit now occupied by Crater
Lake produced? II it were blown out
by an explosion we should find an
enormous rim of fragmental material
commensurate with the basin; but If
it sank by escape Of its molten interi-
or through lower outlet, the rim
would be small and composed Of inn
bricated and overlapping sheets Of lava
and fragmental material In fact, the
rim is small and composed in a large
measure of solid lava sheets. 1t is
evidently the peripheral part Of
the mountains base, and not due to
accumulation at the time the basin
originated. Major c. f. Dutton, who
made a special survey of Crater Lake,
compares it to Kilauea, of Hawaii,
whose origin he attributes to the sub
sidence Of the material in molten
state, owing to its escape from some
| lower level.
After the volcanic peak, Mount Ma
zama had virtually destroyed itself by
the fierce heat of its hidden fires, and
been engulfed in the abyss, the vol.
canic activity continued at the bottom
Of the pit. Wizard Island, which
rises S45 feet above the surface near
the western border Of the lake and
forms picturesque bit Of the scenery,
is small volcano, compared to the
size Of its predecessor. Although the
freshness Of the lava and the absence
Of erosion indicate that the volcano
was active in comparatively recent
geologic times, yet the presence Of so
large a growth of fir trees proves that