Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1905-01-09
FAIRY LAKE HIGH
AMID THE CLOUDS
POND FIVE MILES ACROSS IN Ora
TER OF OLD VOLCANO.
A PICTURESQUE SETTING
Mount Mazuma the Name Given to
the Peak Earth Swallowed Up
Grand Scenery in Cascades Made
National Park by Congress

A miniature volcano rising from out
huge crater of great extinct volcano,
and the whole presenting today the
spectacle of fairylike island in a
fairylike lake-such is the unique
freak of nature to be seen in the
heart of the Cascade mountains in
Oregon. Crater lake, as it is called,
act of congress passed couple of ses-
sions ago, but Notwithstanding it's
marvellous and beautiful scenery and
fascinating study it offers to biologists
little is really known about it on ac-
count of it's situation, which is out of
the way of the lines usually taken by
tourists.
It is owing to certain field experts
of the United States geological survey,
notably Joseph Silas Diller, that Cra-
ter lake, which, in Mr.. OILERS opinion,
is the finest as we'll as the most unique
piece of natural scenery in the United
States, has been properly investigated
and described.
Crater lake marks the site of huge
mountain which, at some time in the
long-buried past, fell victim to self
destruction. Volcanic mountains COM
ways. Some blow their heads off, like
Papandayang, in Java, which reduced
it's height during an eruption in 1772
by 1000 fee; or Bandaisan, in Japan,
which hurled it's head and shoulders
into the air in one great explosion in
1888.
Earth Swallowed 1t Up.
Other mountains collapse into the
interior of the earth, and it is to this
class that the peak which occupied the
site of Crater lake in the Cascades be-
longed. The lake is the deepest mass
of fresh water in the United States,
having depth of 1000 feet, and, a
puzzling fact to those not acquainted
with the nature of it's formation, it has
no visible outlet. The gigantic walls
tower up 1900 feet above the glossy
surface. Great coniferous trees clothe
the precipitous cliffs, which rise out
of the depths beneath.
Chance gave it various names, each
in the belief that no one else had pre-
viously been there: "The Great Sun
ken lake" mysterious" or deep Blue
lake." as we'll as the imposing one of
Lake Majesty" The final designa-
ton, "Crater Lake." was given in 1859
by a party of tourists, who also sup
piled happy title, "The Wizard" for
an island within its waters
Not until the geological survey d.
rected it's attention to the study or
Crater lake was there any satisfactory
solution of its strange formation. Here
was an enormous pit, quite inclosed,
five and a half miles or SO wide, 1000
feet deep and about twelve cubic miles
in volume. The sunken area, or "rim,' .
is half full of water and cliffs rise to
the sky line, where is the sO-called
crest" which may be likened, for
the sake of homely illustration, to the
thick edge of pudding basin.
Water Difficult to Reach.
To make the descent to the water
the government men found was not
easy. as they had no suitable tackle
and no boat to use when they got
there. However, they pluckily made
the attempt to descend. Having tum-
bled logs over the cliffs at suitable
point, they gradually worked their way
down, dashed the timbers into raft
and padded to Wizard island.
The men of science had only to
glance at the formation of Crater lake
to note several significant points which
supplied the key to the entire prob.
lem. They noticed that, though the
outer slopes of the crater rose upward
in gentle gradient, the inner slopes,