Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-08-04
x 4 y y X x y 4 X x y x 4
FOR SEVENTEEN YEARS
1t took that long to Persuade
Congress to Maize a Ma
tional Park of beautiful
Crater Lake
y !. y = x x x X 4 = = x x


Judge Will G. Steel of Oregon, VIII,
is known locally as the FFFather of thu
Crater Lake National Park, =" told thii
story at the recent National Parks con
ference in Washington.
Forty six years ago / was a farm
er's boy in southern Kansas and at
tended school five miles distant. My
lunch was carried in newspaper. One
warm day in May or June l sat in the
schoolroom eating the contents of that
paper When through I scanned the col
umns, reading the short articles, among
which was descriptive of a sunken
lake that had been discovered in Ore.
gon. 1t was said to be 5000 feet below
the surface of the surrounding coun-
try, with vertical walls, so that no hui
man body could reach the water. In
its center was an island 1900 feet high
with an extinct crater in the top. In
all my life I never read an article that
took the intense hold on me that that
one did and | then and there determin-
ed to go to Oregon and to visit that
lake and to 60 down to the water.
81 had two brothers in Portland at
the time. Two years thereafter 1 went
TO Oregon with my parents and we were
met at the steamer landing by my
brothers. Before getting over the dock
I asked them where that snfllFen lake
was, and found that they had never
heard of it.
1T was seven years before was
able to find anyone who had ever heard
of it. Then | was told that there was
something of that sort in southern Ore
gOn, but my informer was not sure.
Nine years later / found man who
had actually seen it, and gave me a
good description of it, that greatly in
creased my desire to see it. However,
/ was not able to get there until the
summer of 1885, when we made the trip
an company with three friends, arriv-
ing there in July.
"Crater Lake was discovered by a
party of twenty two prospectors, led
by John w. Hillman, then of Jackson
vile, Oregon, June IL, 1858, and named
Deep Blue Lake. Mr.. Hillman was the
last survivor of this party and died in
Hope Villa, Louisiana, March 10, 1915,
in the eighty third year of his age.
"While standing on the rim of the
lake in 1885 with Professor Joseph Le-
Conte, the thought occurred to me that
no point around this wonderful cauld-
ron had the hand of man yet desecrat-
ed with peanut stands or other marks
of desolation, and that something
should be done to save it forever for
the people of this great country.
"How to accomplish this was the
question, so / turned to the professor
FOR counsel We discussed it at length
and finally decided the only way was
to have national park created. Ways
and means were discussed and the work
of preparation commenced then and
there. a petition to the president was
prepared, asking for the withdrawal
from the market of ten townships,
which petition was granted the follow
ing January, when President Cleveland
issued an executive order to that eff
feet.
stThe actual work of interesting con-
press commenced Immediately and con-
finued for seventeen years, when bill
was passed and signed by the president
May %, 1902, the anniversary of the
marriage of my parents.