VI. Steps Leading Toward
Establishment of Crater Lake National Park
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P. William Steel and the
Preservation of Crater Lake
Without a doubt, William Gladstone
Steel played the most prominent role in the establishment of Crater Lake
National Park. It is to his credit that Steel was farsighted enough to realize
that such an action must be accomplished quickly. An interesting aspect of Will
Steel's conservationist philosophy, however, was that he was not determined to
maintain the primitiveness of wilderness areas, but instead felt that national
parks such as Crater Lake should be developed as quickly as possible by the
federal government in order to attract a multitude of visitors and keep them
happily occupied. To this end he campaigned early for a road system in the park
and for the establishment of tourist accommodations and recreational
opportunities. Steel's indifference to the absolute preservation of natural
scenery is evident in his account of his first visit to Crater Lake. After
eating their lunch in the crater of Wizard Island, Steel and his party
could not resist the temptation to roll a few
large boulders down to the lake before taking our departure. Such sport became
very exciting, indeed, as we watched them bounding from rock to rock, increasing
in speed and violence, until like a tornado, they swept through the branches of
trees a hundred feet high, hurling them to the ground, and dashed on to the
quiet waters, beneath which they plunged never more to rise.
[42]
Illustration 7. Steel party on rim of Crater Lake,
1903.
In August 1903 Will Steel guided a
number of distinguished people to view Crater Lake. Members of the party
included Senator John Mitchell, Senator Charles Fulton and family, Governor
George E. Chamberlain, and Joaquin Miller, who by then was acclaimed by many as
the foremost poet of the Far West. He was on assignment on this trip, having
been commissioned by the editors of Sunset Magazine to report on the lake's
beauty and encourage people to visit it, via the Southern Pacific Railroad. Fred
Kiser, a well-known Portland photographer, went along to record the trip on
film.
The party set off from Medford
amid much publicity and rousing good wishes, heading in wagons over Dead Indian
Road to the Fort Klamath Indian Agency. The company of twenty-seven people
arrived at Crater Lake and camped on the rim. Nearby was a party of about thirty
people guided by Captain O.C. Applegate. A leading feature of the trip was a
climb of Mount Scott. A sixteen-foot boat was launched into the waters of the
lake by means of skids and guy ropes. A most enjoyable time was had by all on
this extremely comfortable outing enriched by appetizing menus and entertaining
campfire talks.
The above photo taken on the rim
of Crater Lake shows, L to R, Phil Metscham, Dr. Edgar P. Hill, Sen. Charles W.
Fulton, Joaquin Miller, Will G. Steel. During this trip Miller wrote "Sea of
Silence." Courtesy Oregon Historical Society.
Steel apparently did not have a
strong commitment to the protection of wildlife around Crater Lake. He once
remarked that to those who enjoy the noble sport of hunting, the vicinity of
Crater Lake is especially attractive. Great numbers of deer, elk, bear, panther
and mountain sheep roam through the timber in fancied security, inviting the
keen eye and steady nerve of the sportsman.
[43]
Illustration 8. Launching Start, Steel
excursion of 1903. Courtesy Oregon Historical Society.
In 1915, while serving as
superintendent of the park, Steel recommended that a tunnel be constructed
through the rim immediately above the level of the lake "in order that visitors
to Crater Lake Park may have ready access to the lake itself, and not be
compelled to make the hazardous trip down the steep trail that leads from the
lodge to the shore below."
[44] His suggestion was supported by ex-Secretary of
State William J. Bryan, who visited the lake in July of that year and stated
that "Mr. Steel has plans for a tunnel, as the precipitous sides, the heavy
snowfall and the character of the rock make an elevator a difficult and unsafe
problem [italics added]."
[45]
Further details of this plan are
even more startling, as unveiled seventeen years later:
Commence construction [of a new road] at the low
point immediately west of Garfield Peak, thence inside the rim to the base of
Kerr Notch, at the water's edge, four miles distant, instead of 13 as at
present, on a four per cent maximum grade instead of ten. Then bore a tunnel on
approximately five per cent grade, to the rim road, about half a mile distant,
using all debris to fill in shallow water for turning places, parking and boat
houses. With such a road in operation, instead of one, percent of visitors going
to the water there will be 100 per cent.
The objection made to this road is that it will
mar the landscape. Well, to whom does the landscape belong?
[46]
Steel's philosophy was a curious
combination of attitudes. Although he felt the lake should be protected from
private greed and exploitation, he felt that it was permissible for it to
undergo government development because at least that way all the people could
share in the profit and enjoyment. His aim seemed to be less in insuring that
the area was impacted as little as possible than in guaranteeing that it would
be "improved" along lines he personally approved of for the good of the people
and the financial betterment of the state of Oregon. Even his well-publicized
venture of introducing rainbow trout into the lake in 1888 was done primarily to
enhance the spot's attraction for fishermen. As a member of the Crater Lake
National Park staff once concluded,
Preservation to Steel and his generation meant
keeping the land out of the hands of private developers, while at the same time
encouraging development of hotels and roads under the direction and financial
leadership of the Government.
[47]
It is interesting to note in
retrospect that so completely did Steel convince people in the 1880s and early
1900s of the inherent dramatic beauty of Crater Lake and the importance of
preserving it for future generations that most of them opposed his later more
ecologically devastating plans for the lake because of their fear of irreparable
damage to the environment.
Illustration 9. Excursion at Crater Lake, 1905.
Courtesy Oregon Historical Society.
