Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-07

covery of the lake, and several people
claim to have seen it first The Indians
never went near it, like all such places, as
they believed 1t was the abode of evil spir-
Its; and being afraid of their influence, they
kept away as far as possible. 1t is not
easy to induce them to go there now, al
though they are practically civilized wear
store clothes, live in cal bins, pillow the
ground and sing Moody and Sankey hymns
at church and Sunday school. No amount
of book learning or civilizing influence can
remove the SuperStitionS of the savage
Capt. Nye. a prospector, came across the
country from Idaho during the gold excite
.ment in 1S{9 He steered by Mount Scott
and climbed it. From it's summit he saw
Crater lake. He made casual exploration
and told the story of it's wonders to people
as he passed along, Nye's son is now en-
ployed as a ranger by the custodian
During the early years of the civil war
the LIST Oregon Cavalry was enlisted to fight
the confederates, but owing to the hostile
disposition of the Modoc and klamath In
dams they were kept at home. In Septem-
Der. 1853. they built Fort klamath. now
group of melancholy buildings which have
been abandoned for many years and are in
various stages of dilapidation. The garri-
son was withdrawn and the military reser-
walton sold to settlers nearly twenty years
ago, but nobody wanted the buildings, and
the government did not take the trouble to
tear them down
Named Mystic Lake.
In October. 1873, month after the fort
was located. a scouting party of soldiers,
with Dad" Ross. a famous frontlersman; as
a guide, sent out to find trail from
Klamath lake to Rogue River valley They
hit Crater lake in their explorations. Upon
their return a party from the post, consist
ing Of Col. John e. Ross. Col. John s. Drew,
Capt. Sprague Capt. William Kelly and
other officers, went up to see for themselves
and made quite a thorough exploration.
Department at Washington. and brief de-
scriptions got into the newspapers. They
named It Mystic lake" The first scientific
expedition, which came here in the early
seventies. called it Lake Majesty" but
somehow another the first time 1t ap-
peared on a map 1t was labeled Crater
lake." and that title has stuck to 1t ever
since.
Dr. Diller of the geological survey quotes
w. d. Steel of Portland as authority for
statement that the lake was first discov-
cred by white men in 1852, and he says that
in 1872 Lord Maxwell and Mr.. Bentley,
with Capt. o. c. Applegate, made the first
exploration and gave several of the peaks
the names they bear. The first white wom-
an to see the lake was Mrs. f. F. Victor
who made the journey in 1873 and describes
1t in book called Atlantis Arisen" A
promontory from which one of the best
views can be obtained was named in her
honor. The first scientific exploration was
made in 1889 by DR.. J. s. Diller, mentioned
above, and Lieut.. Everett Hayden of the
United States navy. They cut down trees
in the forest and tumbled the logs over the
rim, dashed them together with ropes to
make raft. and cruised around the entire
crater. In 1886 Maj. Clarence E. Dutton of
the army made his explorations and report