CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK 



591 



of a mile in length and one-half mile in width and its top is 

 approximately eight hundred feet above the surface of the 

 Lake. Geologists and others who read the story of the 

 world's history in stones and formations and things say 

 that Wizard Island is the remains of a secondary cone that 

 was built up in the great crater. It is partially covered 

 with pines and presents a somewhat weird and desolate 

 aspect when viewed from 

 the rim. The lack of trees 

 on the top gives it a bald 

 appearance that suggests 

 the possibility that Llao, the 

 mythological character 

 whose head the Indians 

 supposed the Island to 

 be, might have belonged 

 to some Christian relig- 

 ious order. 



Klamath and Modoc In- 

 dians in the old days be- 

 lieved that Mazama and the 

 surrounding country com- 

 prised the home of the good 

 god Llao. To fight his 

 battles he had a tribe of 

 great crawfish which kei)t 

 the rim of the Lake clear 

 of curious investigators by 

 reaching out of the water 

 with their claws and snuff- 

 ing out their lives much as 

 the Japanese snuf¥ the wicks 

 of their candles with cop- 

 per pinchers. 



Nearby was another 

 god, named Skell, who was 

 lord of the marshes of Kla- 

 math. As is usual, when 

 two gods get close enough 

 to develop any degree of 

 intimacy, war broke out 

 between Llao and Skell. Llao, in a fit of playfulness, 

 carved out the heart of Skell and tossed it to his monster 

 crawfish, who used it to play ball with. Skell, however, 

 had many faithful servants, such as eagles, bears and deer, 

 and one day an eagle secured Skell's heart in flight and 

 passed it on to a deer, who ran away with it. Skell's 

 body then grew around his living heart again until lie be- 

 came whole, and stronger than ever, thus disproving the 

 modern contention that a man can't come back. When 

 he was recoxered from his wounds, if removal of all the 

 body except the heart can be described as wounds, he 

 started the scrap all over again, and this time captured 

 Llao and tore his body into fragments on the top of the 

 clifTs of Crater Lake. When he threw the fragments into 

 the Lake, they were eaten by Llao's own monster craw- 

 fish, who thought, of course, that it was Skell's body, but 

 when the head was thrown in, they recognized their mis- 

 take and refused to eat it, escaping by a narrow margin 



THE SENTINEL IN CRATER LAKE 



The bottom of the Lake in most places pitches off at such a steep angle that it is 

 quite possible for the motor-boat to hug in close to the surrounding rocks and 

 cliffs. This remaining sentinel of a by-gone period is invariably visited by the 

 motor-boat. 



the everlasting stigma of being termed wilful cannibals. 

 Wizard Island is Llao's head, and every Indian who 

 knows the legendry of his tribe will prove it to you, be- 

 cause just to the north of the Island and a little to the east 

 is Llao's rock, which towers almost nineteen hundred feet 

 above the water's surface, and no one could wish for 

 better proof than that, for it was from Llao's rock that 



the head was tossed into 

 the Lake. 



The trips of interest in 

 the Park are not confined 

 to the Lake itself. There 

 are the Anna Creek Can- 

 yon, which is well worth 

 investigating, the climb of 

 Scott Peak for a view, and 

 the Pinnacles in the Sand 

 Creek Canyon. These Pin- 

 nacles are rugged, towering 

 cones that project like sta- 

 lagmites from the floor of 

 the canyon or from the 

 lower slopes to the walls, 

 that remind one somewhat 

 of the formations that are 

 so common in Yellowstone. 

 The Pinnacles are almost 

 at the eastern border of the 

 Park in the uj^per portion 

 of the Sand Creek Canyon. 

 Sand Creek heads in An- 

 derson Spring near the 

 upper end of Kerr Valley 

 and joins Wheeler Creek 

 just outside the Park. It 

 has one tributary just in- 

 side the Park, the head- 

 waters of which are on the 

 south slope of Scott Peak. 

 Here is a wonderful collec- 

 tion of names given to some 

 of the interesting places that cluster around the base of 

 what was once the Great Mount Mazama. In addi- 

 tion to these, we have Button Clifif, Button Ridge, Scott 

 Blufi^s, Anna Creek, Ragged Crest (which is really the 

 name of a portion of the rim) and a great many other 

 similarly inspiring names that testify to the quality of 

 intelligence possessed by those who had the naming of 

 these places. 



Continuing the trip as it was l)egun, namely by entering 

 from the south, that portion of the road lying between 

 the Park Headquarters and lodge must be retraced. From 

 the lodge there is a beautiful stretch of road following 

 down the comparatively gentle slopes of the plateau 

 through a forest of pine, fir and cedar, nearly all the way 

 to Medford, Oregon. There are few motor trips in this 

 country that are equal to the drive down this road to 

 Metlford, which is somewhere in the neighlxirhood of 

 eighty miles from the Lake. The course of the road is 



