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1907
1907 Will Steel starts movement to secure $250,000 for construction of a road from Medford to Klamath Falls, via Crater Lake.
January 21 1907 In a letter to Supt. W.F. Arant, Will Steel pleads his case for being allowed to place tour boats on Crater Lake. He reminds the superintendent that “there would not now be such a thing as the Crater Lake National Park if it had not been for me…Personally I am not able to pay for the establishment of hotels and boats but feel…the citizens of Oregon will support me…I object seriously to this privilege being let out to some one with no feeling in the matter beyond simply making money out of it. I want to see at least one electro-vapor launch on the lake, capable of carrying from thirty to forty persons, and much smaller boats as may be necessary. (The boat would be a modern-day triumph of design: forty feet long, seven feet eight inches beam, draw 30 inches of water and be filled with a 10-horse power motor. It would run nine miles per hour and, with camp chairs, seat 45 persons. Plans provided that it be sealed with cypress, all copper-fastened, and paneled in solid mahogany.) I also want a hotel established at or near Annie Creek Spring, suitable for visitors who are unable to pay high rates, and another on the rim of the lake capable of carrying on a high-class tourist trade. Fancy buildings are not as necessary as cleanliness, comfort, conveniences, good food, well cooked and properly served. I would not aim to construct all the buildings the first year…I would insist on pure water being brought from an elevation to the this hotel…It would cost $2,000 to $2,500 to place a proper launch on the lake…” A total of $5,000 for hotel building, tents, bedding and support buildings…”If the Department will grant me the privilege of establishing and maintaining hotels and boats in the Park…I will do all that is called for…”
March 4 1907 Congress eliminates the President’s power to add public land to National Forests. However, in the few days before the bill was to become law, Roosevelt, with frantic work by Pinchot and his staff, completed the establishment of an additional 16 million acres of forest reserves, known as the “midnight reserves”. The same piece of legislation changed the designation “forest reserve” to “national forest” because Pinchot wanted to show that the Federal forests were for use, and not just reserved or preserved (Williams, 1991)
March 15 1907 Mail Tribune – The Crater Lake edition of “Steel Points”, published occasionally at Portland by William Gladstone Steel, has found its way to our desk and we must say that it is a thing of beauty as well as one of usefulness, and a credit to the editor. It contains a full description of the famous natural wonder, Crater Lake, from the discovery to the formation of the national park, and is beautifully illustrated with scenes in and around the lake. There is also an account of the touring party, composed of Phil Metachan, Dr. E. P. Hill, Senator Futon, Joanquin Miller and W.G. Steel, which is accompanied by several illustrations, among them being a street scene in Medford and the party ready to start on the journey. The Commercial Club has made arrangements to purchase fifty dollars worth of these little books for distribution and it is worthwhile for everyone in this section to procure a copy for preservation, or to send to friends in the East. There has never been anything like it issued before and probably never will be.
May 1907 Will Steel organizes the The Crater Lake Company in Portland with stock valued at $250,000. Steel is not a good businessman and never has enough capital to develop or operate his concession.
May 1 1907 Will Steel authorized to provide transportation to the Park and camping accommodations and a permit is granted to place a gasoline launch and row boats on the lake.
June 6 & 13 1907 Steel and E.D. Whitney establish The Crater Lake Company and the Klamath Falls Express Co. As the Park’s first concessioner, they provided transportation for tourists, a tent camp at Annie Springs and boat tours on the Lake.
July 14 1907 The first motor launch, the Wocus, is placed on the Lake by William Steel.
July 15 1907 Secretary of the Interior under President T. Roosevelt, James R. Garfield, the third son of President James A. Garfield, proved himself to be a hardy bather during a buggy ride to Crater Lake by swimming both in the Rogue River near Natural Bridge and by dipping in the sapphire-blue waters of the Lake itself. (Medford Daily News)
July 15 1907 William Steel names Garfield Peak for James R. Garfield, Secretary of the Interior. Mr. Garfield was the first cabinet member to visit Crater Lake. The peak is 8060 feet high and is 1883 feet above the lake’ surface. Formerly the peak was known as Castle Mountain.
Summer 1907 Construction begins on the first phase of the new Crater Lake Lodge. Estimated that the cost will be about $5,000 and the construction will be completed in 2 summers.
Summer 1907 Henry E. Momyer becomes the Park’s first park ranger, serving from 1907 until 1920. Henry died in Klamath Falls in 1928.
“Steel was replaced as superintendent by H. E. Momyer who had been the first park ranger to be hired at Crater Lake some years before. Apparently, Mather named Momyer to serve as acting superintendent until a permanent superintendent could be found. Momyer served in this capacity for less than a year, covering the period from November 22, 1916, to August 1, 1917. [<http://www.nps.gov/archive/crla/adhi/adhie.htm#1001> In 1924, several years after leaving the park staff to establish a Klamath Falls branch office of the World Fire and Marine Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, Momyer described his experiences:
I was appointed as Ranger in August 1907, I think, was the first Ranger, resinging [sic] in 1920, was appointed as Acting Supt when Mr. Steel was apointed [sic] Commissinor [sic] Nov 24 1916, and served until Mr Sparrow was appointed July 25 1917.
During that time I was notified to send reports to Mr G.E. Goodwin, and think I sent one report to him but as he never was in the Park, and I never recieved [sic] any orders from him, never considered that he was Supt in any thing only name, as all mail came to me, part of the time addressed as Acting Supt, and part as Ranger in Charge, there was nothing particular happened during my administration, just regular routine business, so do not suppose I will figure very high in the Roll of Fame” <http://www.nps.gov/archive/crla/adhi/adhie.htm#1002> ]”
Summer 1907 Barns and stables built at Anna Spring.
August 2 1907 Medford Mail – City Happenings – A gasoline launch and two government row boats now navigate the waters of Crater Lake, so that tourists can visit all portions of the great natural wonder without discomfort. Time was, however, in the memory of one who isn’t a long way from where this is being written, when one clung with hands, toes, teeth and even his eyelids to the rocks and brush in making the trip from the rim of the crater to the water and then paddled across to the island on a raft made of the logs along the shore, and, in one particular instance, the nails pulling out of the partially decayed logs, the travelers were obligated to lash the raft together with their suspenders in getting back. There was as much work as there was fun in going to Crater Lake in those days.
August 15 1907 Charles True claims to have driven the first car to the Rim of Crater Lake under its own power.
The True Road to Crater Lake by Bill Miller
Charlie True stood at the front of his brand new REO automobile and spun the crank on its two-cylinder engine. It was August 1907 and he was about to make Crater Lake history.
Visitors to the Lake began arriving almost as soon a Mt. Mazama blew its top, forming a caldera filled with deep blue water.
Charlie True drove south out of Medford early on August 11, 1907. When he reached Ashland, he turned east and began to climb. Even though the REO could cruise at 15 miles per hour, the ascent, on a dirt road that was rutted and marred with potholes, was just too steep. Traveling only 30 miles the first day, True stopped to set up camp at the summit of the Greensprings Road.
Day 2 was an uneventful trip to Klamath Falls; still just a village huddled around the Link River. When he told people he was driving to Crater Lake, they laughed, and then warned him not to try.
The trip north to Fort Klamath was blocked by boulders poking out of the roadway. Wagons, with their higher clearance, passed over them easily, but True’s auto was built too low. When he couldn’t get around them, he took his trusty shovel, dug out the boulders, and pushed them aside.
Charlie left Fort Klamath the next morning, August 14th, and plowed his machine through deep pumice dust and rocks. Not far from the current Park Headquarters, he began the final and steepest climb. Grades exceeded 20 per cent and his auto bucked and kicked, jumping forward only five or six feet at a time. He worked the throttle from outside the REO so he could block the rear wheels after each jump.
Although it took two hours, and he hadn’t been in the driver’s seat for that last mile, he had delivered the first automobile to the rim of the caldera.
Charlie True continued to drive to and from the Lake. In 1913, he brought tourists on the brand new Crater Lake Highway. By the 1930s, he drove truck for the Park Service.
What had taken Charlie nearly four days to drive in 1907, he now covered in just over two hours. Best of all – he sat in comfort all the way. Writer Bill Miller lives in Shady Cove. Reach him at newsmiller@yahoo.com.
August 23 1907 Medford Mail – City Happenings – A couple of tourists returning from Crater Lake a few days ago, were the first to carry fish from there. They had a dozen large rainbow and steehead trout, which they caught in the Lake, and they were taking them to San Francisco, to show their friends the size and quality of Oregon grown trout.
October 6 1907 William Steel is quoted in the Oregonian, as he is sliding down the caldera wall a new boat in a a record time of 2 and a half hours, that 7 previous boats have been crushed by heavy winter snows. Steel hopes to hang this newest addition to the Crater Lake fleet by hooks from a tree thus saving it for next summer.
Season 1907 Visitation: 2,600
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