Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-06
Lake Approximately Circular.


The lake is approximately circular, aver
aging five miles in diameter and about
twenty miles in circumference. The sur
face of the water measures 21.30 square
miles, and you can imagine how nearly
perpendicular are the walls when the geolo-
gists state that sheet stretched across
from rim to rim would cover 21.39 square
miles. The surface of the water is 6,229
feet above the level of the sea and it is re-
puted to be the deepest body of water IN
North America, measuring all the way
down to 1900 feet. Its colors vary with
the altitude of the and the shadows
cast by the clouds. AT MONDAY the center
of the lake has deep rich turquoise tint.
gradually blending into Nile green as the
eye moves toward the shore, where 1t Is
more shallow. The water is perfectly pure.
1t is easy to distinguish small objects upon
the bottom at a depth of more than a hum
dred feet, and in the deeper parts you look
down, down into the very heart of the
jewel Comparatively few people have ever
been here. Those who have come will re-
tain the impression for life. An artist Will
admire the water most: geologtst Will
stand awe-stricken by the stupendous basin,
or caldera, as he would call 1t. DR.. Diller
of the geological survey has said:
Although there are thousands of craters
in this country there is but one great CAL
dera and that contains Crater lake"
He calculates that seventeen cubic miles
of material were blown out of this cavity
and fell upon the outer slopes of the RIM
The average diameter of the caldera, meas
uring from the surface of the water TO the
summit of the rim. DR.. Diller says, is 81
miles and its depth is 1900 feet Nearly
one-third of it's bottom is 100 feet below the
level of klamath marsh, at the eastern
foot of the Cascade range, and where the
water is deepest the soundings show the
bottom to be approximately plain several
square miles in extent.
uTo1Jod II, br praci ricas
1.-THE rim of the lake" continues DR.. Dill
Ter, lis the base of a truncated, conical
mountain, followed to shell. Upon the
outside it slopes away at comparatively
small angle in all directions, but inside the
descent toward the water is precipitous.
The lake Is completely girdled by a bold
escarpment, ranging from 500 TO 200 feet
in height forming picture which in beauty
and grandeur is rarely equaled. There are
but a few points where the lake may be
approa ched and sandy beaches upon its
shores are few and small. That this con-
ical mountain was once complete is dem
onstrated by the attitude of the sheets of
lava and elected volcanic material which
form the rim. They all incline away from
the lake, indicating a common source from
a crater that surmounted huge volcano
that stood high in the air over the place now
occupied by the lake. The real Mt. Mazama
once rose far into the region of eternal
snow and to obtain a basis for recon-
structing the original ii is necessary to
study in detail the structure and compost
ton of it's foundation. AS to the height
of this mountain we may get a suggestion
by comparison. Mt. Shasta and the rim
of Crater lake of equal diameter at an
altitude of 5000 feet and, being composed
of essentially the same lavas and formed
in the same way, 1t is probable that they
would rise TO nearly equal elevation. Some