That the tract of land bounded north by the parallel forty-three degrees four minutes north latitude, south by forty-two degrees forty-eight minutes north latitude, east by the meridian one hundred and twenty-two degrees west longitude, and west by the meridian one hundred and twenty-two degrees sixteen minutes west longitude, having an area of two hundred and forty-nine square miles, in the State of Oregon, and including Crater Lake, is hereby reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale under the laws of the United States, and dedicated and set apart forever as a public park or pleasure ground for the benefit of the people of the United States, to be known as “Crater Lake National Park.”
Section 2 provided that the reservation would be under the custody of the Secretary of the Interior. He was authorized to establish “regulations and cause adequate measures to be taken” for the
preservation of the natural objects within said park, and also for the protection of the timber from wanton depredation, the preservation of all kinds of game and fish, the punishment of trespassers, the removal of unlawful occupants and intruders, and the prevention and extinguishment of forest fires.
Section 3 contained prohibitions and penalties for infractions in the park as well as provisions for the admission of visitors, location and working of mining claims, and establishment of visitor accommodations. The section stated:
That it shall be unlawful for any person to establish any settlement or residence within said reserve, or to engage in any lumbering, or other enterprise or business occupation therein, or to enter therein for any speculative purpose whatever, and any person violating the provisions of this act, or the rules and regulations established there under, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for not more than one year, and shall further be liable for all destruction of timber or other property of the United States in consequence of any such unlawful act: Provided, That said reservation shall be open, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe, to all scientists, excursionists, and pleasure seekers and to the location of mining claims and the working of the same: And provided further, That restaurant and hotel keepers, upon application to the Secretary of the Interior, may be permitted by him to establish places of entertainment within the Crater Lake National Park for the accommodation of visitors, at places and under regulations fixed by the Secretary of the Interior, and not otherwise. [19]
The issue of mining in the park bothered officials in the Department of the Interior, although it was considered to be of negligible impact on the operation of the reservation. In his annual report in 1902 Secretary of the Interior Ethan A. Hitchcock noted that Crater Lake’s establishing act differed from that of other national parks in that it provided that the reservation should be open “to the location of mining claims and the working of the same.” It was not believed, however, to be the purpose of that provision to extend the mining laws to the reservation without limitation. Rather the provision was intended “only to authorize the location and working of mining claims thereon in such manner as not to interfere with, or prejudicially affect, the general purpose for which the reservation was established.” [20]
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