Nature Notes from Crater Lake National Park are issued during the summer months. These pamphlets contain articles describing the natural features of the Park, Oregon Caves National Monument and Lava Beds National Monument, the two monuments being administered by the staff of Crater Lake National Park. Copies of Nature Notes may be obtained from the Park Superintendent, Crater Lake, Oregon. The reprinting of the articles appearing in Nature Notes is encouraged. Please give credit to the pamphlet and author.

Crater Lake National Park

The park includes an area of 250 square miles on the crest of the Cascade Range in southern Oregon. The area was established as a national park in 1902, preserving the unsurpassed scenic beauty of Crater Lake, a deep lake, the clear fresh water of which reflects and refracts unusual hues of blue. Color is only one of the elements of the inspiring beauty of Crater Lake. Its setting is unique. The lake, having an area of 20 square miles, is cupped within the crater of an extinct volcano. Cliffs 500 to 2000 feet high completely surround the lake. The crater walls are partially mantled with hemlock, fir, and pine trees. On the gentle outer slopes of the mountain which one ascends in approaching Crater Lake there are deep canyons, magnificent forests and open meadows supporting a colorful display of mountain wild flowers. Hiking and fishing are popular outdoor sports during the summer months. Skiing is popular in the winter, and the park being accessible throughout the winter months by the west entrance road from Medford and the south entrance road from Klamath Falls.

Oregon Caves National Monument

This national monument, an area of 480 acres, is located in the Siskiyou Mountains in southwestern Oregon. The caves, named "The Marble Halls of Oregon" by Joaquin Miller, are truly marble halls. Underground water penetrating to great depth along fractures in the marble formation has dissolved out an extensive system of chambers. Water dripping from the ceiling and walls has decorated the halls and passageways with fantastic stalactites and stalagmites which stimulate one's imagination as well as one's appreciation of the beauties of nature in caverns never touched by sunlight. In the magnificent forest around the cave entrance there are trails along which one gets inspiring views of forest-covered mountains and valleys. Along the trails one can observe many species of trees, mammals, and birds.

Lava Beds National Monument

Located in northeastern California, the monument includes an area of 45,000 acres. As the name suggests, volcanic formations, some of quite recent origin, are of greatest importance. There are hundreds of lava tubes which were once the passageways for streams of molten lava. Volcanic cones rise above the general level of the adjacent country. There are excellent examples of "aa" and "pahoehoe" lava flows. Within the monument there are interesting historical features including battlefields of the Modoc War of 1872-73. There are important ethnological and archaeological features. Petroglyphs on cliffs and pictographs in caves are evidence that the region was inhabited by primitive people long before the coming of the white man.

A combination of many features makes Crater Lake an outstanding scenic attraction as well as a most interesting and unique lake. John Wesley Hillman, the discoverer of Crater Lake, recorded in a description of the discovery that he and his companions were impressed with a number of features, among them, that the lake apparently had no inlet and no outlet. That characteristic feature of Crater Lake continues to impress thousands of visitors viewing the lake today from numerous observation points on the rim of the crater in which it is cupped. The realization that there is neither a visible inlet nor outlet, combined with the fact that the water of the lake is fresh, and that its location in the top of a mountain, the structure of which is such as to eliminate the possibility of the lake being fed by appreciable amounts of water from springs, stimulates many questions. Many of the questions concerning the source of water, loss of water, its purity, and changes in lake levels, seasonal as well as changes over a period of years, can be answered. The answers to many of the questions about the unique features of Crater Lake are based on observations which have been made for a number of years.

For this article on Snowfall, Precipitation and Lake Levels of Crater Lake, Ranger W. T. Frost has prepared compiled data for an interesting graph and several charts. Those will be of great value in helping visitors in the park and readers of Nature Notes to gain an appreciation of some of the unique features of Crater Lake.

The observation of snowfall and precipitation at Crater Lake, or, expressed in another manner, observations of inflow of Crater Lake, since the lake receives its water entirely from snow and rain falling within the crater rim, as well as observations of changes in lake levels are not only interesting but of practical value in estimating the supply of spring water in the park, and the inflow of water into streams and lakes beyond the boundaries of the park.

It is interesting to note, from data compiled by the U. S. Reclamation Service, that during the period 1905-1915, when the level of Crater Lake varied less than two feet, the inflow of Upper Klamath Lake - in the valley south of Crater Lake - remained fairly constant. During the period 1915-1934 there has been a constant but gradual lowering of the level of Crater Lake, and a fairly constant decrease in the inflow of Upper Klamath Lake. Since 1934 the level of Crater Lake has varied within 0.89 of a foot and the inflow of Upper Klamath Lake has increased slightly. It is evident that accurate observation of snowfall, precipitation, and lake levels at Crater Lake increase our knowledge of the lake, and certainly such observations are of value to organizations outside the park that are concerned with supply and distribution of water, an appreciable amount of which is no doubt the seepage from Crater Lake.

(click on image for an enlargement in a new window)

(Wed Edition Note: This table contains revisions that were identified in Nature Notes Vol. X, No. 3)

Lake level is falling at an average rate of .51 foot per year.
(Estimated from figures over a 26 year period).

Introduction

Beginning with this number of Nature Notes from Crater Lake National Park, and continuing through Volume X which will be issued during the summer months of 1937, Nature Notes will present an Outline of the Events in the History of the Modoc War. In preparing this outline the authors have described briefly the important events in the development of south central Oregon and northeastern California during the period 1846-1873. That period was one of constant struggle between the white settlers and the Modoc Indians. There were acts of treachery, murders, massacres and numerous councils, culminating in the Modoc War of 1872 - 1873. The most important battles of the war took place in the area of what is now the Lava Beds National Monument in northeastern California. The places where important events of the war took place are among the most interesting features of the Monument. - Editor

Part I
1846 - 1870