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1933
1934
1935
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The Rogue River Timer Company’s cutting of stand of timber along
a 4.5 mile stretch of the Crater Lake Highway arouses such a
storm of protest from the public, the Forest Service decides to
acquire an 8,000 acre parcel north of Prospect in 1937.
Winter
The Fort Klamath Crater Lake Marathon Ski Race is shortened to
six miles.
April 12
The bodies of Doris Sparks, 27, and Audrea Mardelle, 33,
Hollywood beauty demonstrators are found 150 below the East
Entrance Road in Sand Creek Canyon. The two women had driven
around a road-closed sign and while turning their car around in
the snow, the Chevrolet car plunged through a weakened guard
rail. The two women had been the object of an intense search
covering the Northwest for 6 months. Their bodies and the car
were found by snow plower operators as the East Road was being
opened. The broken guard rail lead to a further investigation
and the discovery of their wrecked car. Fearing the two had
driven into the Columbia River during a heavy fog, the local
sheriff drug the river in several places searching for the car.
An airplane search was also conducted. Apparently the accident
happened on November 12, based on their intended travel plans.
They left Spokane on the 11th of November and drove all night,
planning to meet friends in Klamath Falls the next day. The two
beauty experts had asked a service station operator in Crescent,
Oregon about road conditions to Crater Lake. He warned them to
not attempt to enter the Park because of heavy snows. The Park
Service, based on this information, searched Sand Creek Canyon
in November, but no trace of the car was found at that time.
June 6
Eight cent stamp of Crater Lake is authorized by the U.S. Post
Office.
July 25
Phantom Ship loses a “sail” due to erosion.
August 1
First Lady, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, accompanied only by her
secretary, visits the Park, unannounced. Mrs. Roosevelt,
approached the entrance station and asked the ranger on duty if
she could take a boat ride. While in the Park she hiked the Lake
Trail and was given a personalized tour of Crater Lake.
Ranger Ernest Rostel was assigned to guide Mrs. Roosevelt’s
visit to the Park. Ranger Rostel received his first letter of
thanks written on August 9, 1934, “My dear Mr. Rostel: I want to
thank you for the many services and kind things which were done
for me while I was at the Pilot Butte Inn. It made my stay at
Crater Lake most enjoyable and I am very grateful to you. Very
sincerely yours, Eleanor Roosevelt.”
A second letter of thanks was written on October 26, 1934: “The
White House, Washington, My Dear Mr. Rostel: Indeed I do
remember with great joy my trip on Crater Lake, and I am
delighted to have these pictures as souvenirs of the day and of
that marvelous place. I hope you will carry out your plan to
write a complete description of the park, and that you will not
forget to send me one as I shall be only too glad to have
it. Very Sincerely yours, Eleanor Roosevelt”
During her visit, Mrs. Roosevelt took special notice of a group
of Wineglass Camp CCC boys engaged in Landscaping activities in
the Rim Village area. “A fine piece of work you are doing”, she
said. “Wherever I go, I hear so much of the good work you boys
are accomplishing.”
Miss Henderson’s (Harrison) mother was always on her for not
using proper table manners. When the girl spotted Eleanor
Roosevelt eating in the Rim Cafeteria, she was happy to report
to her mother that Eleanor sat at her table, with elbows firmly
in place.
August 7
Fatal auto accident near Pumice Desert. George Pomeroy of
Albany, California, is instantly killed when a tire blows out on
a car he is driving, on the Diamond Lake Road, approaching
Crater Lake.
Summer
Stone curbing placed around all driveways in Government Camp and
around the Lodge parking area.
The old log administration and dorm buildings are removed. The
present headquarters building in completed in 1935 on the site
of the old roadway that had formerly run in front of the old ad
building.
54,000 Silver Salmon are liberated in the Lake.
Approved roads are surveyed for the Rim Camp (now the Picnic
Area). The roads will consist of an entrance road with two main
circulation loops bearing spurs for individual camping sites,
all of which will be bordered with log barriers. The campground
roads were finally oiled and graveled in 1938.
B.N. Moore publishes an account of the great pumice sheet that
encircles the Lake. Moore is the first to recognize the dual
character of pumice glowing avalanches (NUEE-Ardentes) and
pumice showers carried by the wind.
9,745 trees, shrubs, and plants are moved from the lower
elevations of the Park and planted by CCC landscaping crews in
the Headquarters area, alongside roads and houses and up in Rim
Village.
New Ranger Dorm, facing the new Headquarters Building, is
completed. Oregon Caves National Monument is transferred from
the Forest Service to the National Park Service. A new Wizard
Island Trail is constructed. The former trail that wound around
on Bear Cave on the north side of Island is
removed. Visitation: 118,699 visitors.
Albert Mattson, 333 Howard Street, Medford, tells about the
time, while building the Rim road, that an explosive blast blew
rocks out onto a fellow worker, cutting off his leg. Albert
applied a tourniquet with a shoelace and gave a blood
transfusion at the hospital, but the victim died.
Wildlife Census for the Park (estimated)
Black Tail deer- 150 Mule deer- 25 Elk- 15 Bears-60
Coyote-60 Cougars-4 (actual
count) Fox-10 Beaver-18 Martins-300 Badgers-35 Racoons-2
(actual count)
September 1
Superintendent Solinsky is removed from Office. Dave H. Canfield
appointed acting superintendent. (oral story from former park
employee Doug Roach of Medford, Oregon) “ A Government boat had
been destroyed while attempting to slide it down the Rim into
the Lake. Funds were then shifted from other accounts to recover
the loss. Soon funds from numerous accounts were being shifted
for unauthorized living and travel expenses, including limo
service. Two stone houses, using park material and labor, were
built in Medford during Solinsky’s administration.
September 9
The M.T. reports that “Jumping Joe” Savoldi, famous wrestler,
fails in an attempt to hurl stones into Crater Lake from the
Rim.
September 26
The Lodge dining room is closed and used for auto storage.
November 21
Judge William Gladstone Steel, The Father of Crater Lake
National Park, dies in Medford, Oregon and is buried in his NPS
uniform. Jean Steel, the Judge’s daughter, is appointed Park
Commissioner. Will Steel and daughter Jean, had lived out Will’s
final two years at Cargill Court, 6th & Ivy Streets in
Medford. His final days, at least the last few months, were
spent at the Medford Hotel.
The epitaph on Will Steel’s grave marker, in Siskiyou Memorial
Park in Medford, reads, “The Father of Crater Lake National
Park”, while the epitaph on Mrs. Steel’s graver marker reads,
“The wife of William Gladstone Steel.”
In the Mazama yearly report, C.H. Sholes writes of Steel, “If I
am to write about my friend of forty-seven years, I must write
as I knew him. Steel was more than an enthusiastic dreamer. He
had vision; he walked among the stars. And he had indomitable
will...an unyielding and tenacious as gravitation. Integrity of
soul he had, and plain old-fashioned honesty, as immaculate as
the skirts of God. To have known Will Steel intimately...to have
received into the sanctuary of his confidence and love...was a
greater honor than to receive a patent of nobility from the
highest potentate on earth.
“There are literally hundreds in Oregon and Washington and a
scattering all over the United States who owe the unforgettable
glory of their first ascent of Mt. Hood to Will Stell. Of that
fortunate company who will ever forget his rapt smile when at
last the slowest climber in the lot...with palpitating heart,
eyes glowing with triumph, gazed spellbound upon the
scene? Never impatient, tactful and smiling, he measured his
footsteps to the weakest; and if one dropped painting in the
snow he halted the line to cheer and encourage. ‘Getting on
fine,’ he’d say; ‘soon to be on top!’
“In private life Steel served as faithful public servant for
some years, and he engaged in various business enterprises, some
of which were moderately successful. One was financially
catastrophic...With two partners the firm was conducting a
prosperous real estate business in Portland. They had a large
deal on...which had been delicately nursed for weeks...success
was at the apex...there would be a million dollars honest
profit...the deal would be closed tomorrow...today the cable
from London announced the fall of the great house of Baring
Brothers!”
“With the tragic sequel that a few days before the option on the
coal land would expire, Steel, borrowed $25,000. Steel told us
the story in January ‘33...with smiles and tears...but they were
tears of triumph! Just two weeks before, in December ‘32 he made
the last payment of principal and interest...after a thirty-two
year struggle!...And he had two dollars left, but owed not a
nickel. January First came his monthly salary...and immediately
he made his long-contemplated visit to Southern California.”
“No words...certainly no words of mine...can add to or exalt
such integrity and simplicity as Will Steel exemplified in his
eighty years of struggle. He left no perishable fortune, but he
did leave an imperishable monument in Crater Lake National Park,
for which he labored incessantly seventeen years. Still another
gigantic work, completed just before his death, is a collection
of 58,000 place-names, giving their origin and significance as
gleaned from authentic sources, covering every country in the
forty-eight States. To this Herculean task he dedicated sixty
years of his life. Concurrently he complied forty-nine
scrap-books of 200 pages each, covering every phase of current
history.”
“And so, instead of weeping, or regretting his passing, let us
be grateful that he was our friend, and that he has left the
stamp of his unswerving honesty, his devotion to truth, and his
fealty to his friends...Let us cheer our departed comrade on his
way. Climb on, Will Steel, climb on...and on...and on!”
Winter 1933 - 1934
Least accumulative snowfall to date, 382.0 inches or 36.8 feet.
Mid-1930’s
Ann Strong, Box 25, Lions Bay, B.C. (Vonzeo) recalls reading a
newspaper article about a Mafia murder at Crater Lake. The
article stated that four men had been arrested for stabbing to
death another man, and dumping his body somewhere on the Rim,
above the Lake. (related, July, 1982)
December 15
David H. Canfield promoted to the office of Park Superintendent
from Chief Ranger.
Season Visitation: 116,699
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1933
1934
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