Albright believed that Solinsky was the best qualified candidate for the position. On February 7, 1929, the director congratulated the new superintendent on his appointment:
This position comes to you because it was believed by the Washington Officers of the Service and by the Secretary that it would be in the interest of the Service to promote you from your present position to the grade of Superintendent. Your work at Yosemite Park as a forester, and later as Assistant to the Superintendent, has demonstrated that you have executive ability of a very high order and I have no doubt of your success at Crater Lake.
You understand, of course, that the responsibilities of the position are heavy. In the State of Oregon you will be the representative of the National Park Service and the personal spokesman of the Director. It will be necessary for you to exercise at all times the utmost tact and good judgment and every official act must be in harmony with National Park Service policies.
We shall expect you to make public contacts throughout the State. We shall expect you to identify yourself with such organizations in Medford as are open to you, and we hope that as a personal matter you will want to use your official position and your home to make friends for the National Park Service and for the Department of the Interior. We know that in Yosemite it was the disposition of Mrs. Solinsky and yourself to work along these lines and you did so with consummate success. I have no doubt that your personality and the hospitality of your home were taken into consideration, with your executive ability, in judging your qualifications for the Crater Lake superintendency. [7]
Solinsky was dismissed as superintendent on August 30, 1934, after an investigation by the Division of Investigation created by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes disclosed misappropriation of funds and irregularities in park accounts. After Solinsky’s dismissal David H. Canfield, who had been the chief ranger at Crater Lake since May 1931, became acting park superintendent on September 1, 1934. A native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a graduate of the University of Minnesota, he had joined the National Park Service as a park ranger at Mesa Verde National Park in 1929, later becoming acting chief ranger. On December 15, 1934, Canfield was appointed superintendent at Crater Lake, thus becoming the youngest park superintendent in the United States. As a result of his talents he was recognized in the America’s Young Men’s Who’s Who. Canfield served as superintendent until August 1, 1937, when he left to become superintendent of Rocky Mountain National Park, a position he held until April 16, 1943. [8]
From August 1, 1937 to March 14, 1952, Ernest P. Leavitt served as park superintendent, the longest tenure of any person in that position. Born in San Francisco, California, in 1885 he worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad from 1907 to 1910. In the latter year he began his Park Service career as a clerk at Yosemite National Park, later becoming an administrative assistant to the superintendent and ultimately assistant superintendent from 1918 to 1930. Thereafter, he served in successive superintendencies at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (1931-33), Mesa Verde National Park (1933-35), and Lassen Volcanic National Park (1935-37). While at Lassen a gas explosion destroyed the superintendent’s residence, severely injuring Leavitt and killing his wife. After his recovery Leavitt was transferred to Crater Lake. He retired from the Park Service in 1952 and Leavitt lived in the Medford area until his death in 1961. [9]
