Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980, 1922-03-09

Senator McNary year ago introduced bill to
tend limits of Crater National park to include Diamond lake.
picturesque mountain lake lying at the base of Mt Thie
sen ten miles north of Crater lake. and the
of the North fork of the Umpqua river.
Of itself Diamond lake is an attraction sufficient to
merit the creation of national park but will supplement
the rather limited of Crater park and provide diver
sty of attraction for tourists It's inclusion will make the
park large enough to justify more complete and substan-
tial hotel, road and trail development
At present tourist all there to see at Crater
lake in two or three days. Diamond lake will add camping
and fishing attractions well landscape beauty and hold
the tourist in the summer playground
Opposition to the inclusion of Diamond lake in the park
comes from several sources At is in the forest
reserve and it's transfer to the National Park service
opposed by the Forestry bureau which is Jealous of its
authority and has opposed the creation of all the parks The
Forestry bureau is under the Department of Agriculture
and the Park service under the Department of the Interior
and there exists the usual clash between overlapping de-
partments This friction is of the why the
Forestry bureau should be taken of the Department
Agriculture with which has nothing and placed
where belongs in the Interior department, recommend
ed in the reports made to the president upon elimination
and consultations of bureausa suggestion the Forestry
bureau is vigorously opposing.
Waterpower interests also opposing the inclusion of
the lake in the park general grounds in order to prevent
any curtamen of the Waterower privileges allowed under
the act and not because Diamond lake is of
potential value for power purposes 1t is stated that
future distant date the lake might be valuable storage
reservoir by the construction of dam the outlet
However the character of pumce soil the volcanic
nature of the rocks makes the lake worthless for such pu
poses and every engineer who has investigated the project
has abandoned the plan for the of Diamond lake
reservoir
Other opposition is easily dismissed The Forestry
vice admits that there is but little grazing and the
turns slight and that there but little merchantabe tim
berprincpally black pne-worthess commercial asset
Those who oppose because they to hunt it's wild life
because they expect to have homes along the
lake actuated by selfish motives and the interests of
all the people rather than few should be considered.
Diamond lake be best administered for the public
by the National park service which is organized for the pur
pose and empowered by law to advertise and promote travel
to national parks well develop them for
tona purposes It's beauties should be made accessible to
all the people, not for few of fortunes favoresand only
by making it part of the park system it be made
Tourist traffic of the great of Oregon and
to the state has spent tens of millions of dollars
in highways. No greater attraction exists for the tourist
than Crater lake, which draws people from all over the
globe Anything that be done to enhance the attractions
of the Crater park is in the nature of creating additional
earning tourist assets which in the future will be the
states chief sources of and profit.
The McNary bill should be speedily passed that the
National park service begin at the i'm
provemens necessary to make Diamond lake tourist