The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1920-05-28

country that contain miniature lakes; but there
only really great calderl of this kind IN the
wor'ld-only immense basin apparently FORMED
through the complete melting by intense neat vi
the entire of a great volcano, and the railing
in and utter disappearance through subterraheah
caverns of its massive bulk.
The titanic CONFUSION that formed this remark
able beauty-spot no human eye witnessed. Geolo-
gists have concluded that ages ago, in the great
chain of volcanic mountain peaks which today ex-
tends from Washington to California-among them
Mt. Rainier, Mt Hood, Mt Adams, Mt Jefferson,
Three Sisters, Mt Mclaughlin. Mt Shasta and Las
Peak-there lowered which has been
called Mount MaZana, that may have topped the
tallest of its fellows. Judging from the pitch
of it's outer slopes. scientists con-
clude with reasonable certainty that, if recon
structed, its snow-clad peak would rise from
seven to eight thousand feet above its broken
rim. Mazama stands today an uncrowned king,
shorn of its diadem of burning gold and gttering
silver yet holding within its heart treasure the
rarest in the world-a beautiful lake, the deepest
of all lakes. with waters the bluest of all blue
waters. And this is Crater lake.
Crater lake is almost circular, varying from five
to six miles in diameter It's known depth is 1000
feet and it is believed to be the deepest body of
fresh water In the world Its surface is 6,lfa
feet above the sea. 1t has inlet or outlet being
fed by springs and winter SHOWS; its water es-
capes by underground channels, reappearng as
springs in the Klamath reegiops few miles away
1t is completely grdied by pfecipitous eli ifs and
from its rim 1000 to GOO feet to the waters edge
Closely encirclng it rise many high peaks notably
LAO Rock. The Waterman, and Cloud Cap: also
Glacier, Garfield and vidae Peaks
StlrrOgiriej by canyons, ravines and pinnacled
rocks. and beited by wilderness of boulder
sble, and UNEMPLOYED except by the mere ven
turesome who attracted by stories of the
Indians of this mystery lake iii its fantaAtic set
ting Yet its discovery was accidental It oc-
~y0rfv1.r
searching in the Cascade mountains for the fam
Lost Cabin mine.
A dispute over the choice of name, the
party dividing between Mysterious lake and Deep
Blue lake. The advocates of Deep Blue lake won
the vote, but in 1869 visiting party renamed IT
Crater lake, and this by natural right became its
title.
The first sight of Crater lake is well-nieh be-
wildering. Unless looked into from ffie rim it is
invisible Wonderment at the height and steep
of its encircling cliffs succeeds the first as
constituent; admiration of the loneliness of its
coloring next enthralls the beholder in the Sc
quence of impressions. It's unique beauty lies in
small measure in its coloring the briiance
of which if reproduced in painting print would
seem exaggerated and impossible to those who
have the reality. Nowhere else is there
such One feels that glass of il
ter would show blue as if stained with cobalt, but
it is clear crystal and as pure. The .deeper
parts brilliant ultramarine. shadr to
turquoise in the sha1ower reaches and to light
jade green in the few indented coves around the
shore A hundred feet down the glaze of plate
is plainly discernible. The surroundings help the
brilIfance of the blue; the rocks of taIiic
hueS; the peaks of the rim often covered
the lava gray of the steep SCARED walls is mtttled
and spotched with bright yellows and reds. mark
ings left by volcanic action long ago. and always
there is the dark green of the pines and frs and
shrubs that grow on these declivities wherever |
they find root hold. The waters usually plac |
i'd. cleaning as>though glazed by the sun. and in /
this mirror of Nature the reflections stand out I
with astounding dstinctness.