Chauncey Nye
Chauncey Nye "re-discovered" Crater Lake while leading a
mining party in 1862. The party was crossing the
Cascades on its way to the Rogue River Valley from the
Granite Creek mines on the North Fork of the John Day River.
While searching for a camping place for the night and a high
summit from which to view the surrounding countryside, they
came upon the lake. The importance of the Nye party's
discovery lay in the fact that the men not only
authenticated the lake's existence and provided a
description of its approximate location but published the
first printed account of the lake in the Oregon Sentinel
(Jacksonville)
[Administrative
History of Crater Lake NP]
