CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK 



587 



bniki- tliniiigh and ^ank iiUii a j^reat suljtcrraiiL'aii chasm 

 beneath the niunntain, leaxinti; the cup, which now con- 

 tains Crater Lake, to l)e tilled with the waters of springs 

 and melting snows. As the xolcanic fires of Mount 

 Mazama gradually cooled and finally ceased, the great 

 basin was filled to its depth of two thousand feet with 

 water which has, during the ages, taken on a blue, the 

 hue I if which is deeper and more intense than the blue 

 of the Hay of Naples. 



There is no inlet to the I^ake nor is there an)' surface 

 outlet. It is sujjposed that the waters escape by under- 

 ground channels and contribute their bit to the flow of 



impression is largely due to the way it bursts upon the 

 view. All the way from the railroad station to the Crater's 

 rim the road climbs and climbs with the objective ever 

 far above and out of sight. When the motor stage 

 tinally pulls up at Crater Lake Lodge, tlic entire panorama 

 bin\sts into view with a theatrical suddenness and presents 

 such a striking contrast to anything that has been seen en 

 route that it takes some time to readjust the faculties. 

 The approach to the Lake is almost calculated to bring the 

 mental attitude of the tourist to a condition that is most 

 susceptible to the suddenness of the change of scene. 

 There are two main routes which mav be traveled in 



HERE IS REACHED PERFECTION IN REFLECTIONS 



As Joaquin Miller says, when the surface of the Lake is undisturbed, it is difficult to distinguish the reflection of the cliffs from the cliffs themselves. The 

 perfection of these reflections is due not only to the surface of the water, but to the curious intense blue which seems to give it more of a mirror-like quality. 



the Klamath l\i\ er, but whether this may be so or not, entering and departing from the Lark, one by the southern 



the a\erage annual level of the surface of the Lake re- entrance by the way of Ivlamath Falls and Chiloquin, and 



mains substantially constant. The water level is at an the other by Medford through the western entrance, 



elevation of sixty-one hundred and seventy-seven feet These two routes make it practical to enter the Park, 



above the sea and the mirror-like surface is unbroken ex- traverse it, and depart while en route either north or south 



cept for Wizard Island and a jagged bit of rock called the between San Francisco and Portland or Seattle. In 



" Phantom Ship." The Lake is between five and six this respect, a visit to the Park may be taken, without 



miles in diameter and almost circular in form. The seriously interrupting the travel, much in the same way 



surrounding rim is as near vertical as the soil can stand that one may enter Glacier Park, traverse it, and emerge 



and towers from eight hundred feet to eighteen hundred at another station on the line of the Great Northern, 



ieet above the water surface. Northward bound, the tourist may leave the main line of 



The reason that Crater Lake leaves such a lasting the Southern Pacific at Weed and take the branch road 



