CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK 



587 



broke through and sank into a great subterranean chasm 

 beneath the mountain, leaving the cup, which now con- 

 tains Crater Lake, to be filled with the waters of springs 

 and melting snows. As the volcanic 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 of which is deeper and more intense than the blue 

 of the Bay of Naples. 



There is no inlet to the Lake nor is there any surface 

 outlet. It is supposed 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 

 finally pulls up at Crater Lake Lodge, the entire panorama 

 bursts 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 may 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 River, but whether this may be so or not, 

 the average annual level of the surface of the Lake re- 

 mains substantially constant. The water level is at an 

 elevation of sixty-one hundred and seventy-seven feet 

 above the sea and the mirror-like surface is unbroken ex- 

 cept for Wizard Island and a jagged bit of rock called the 

 " Phantom Ship." The Lake is between five and six 

 miles in diameter and almost circular in form. The 

 surrounding rim is as near vertical as the soil can stand 

 and towers from eight hundred feet to eighteen hundred 

 feet above the water surface. 



The reason that Crater Lake leaves such a lasting 



entering and departing from the Park, one by the southern 

 entrance by the way of Klamath Falls and Chiloquin, and 

 the other by Medford through the western entrance. 

 These two routes make it practical to enter the Park, 

 traverse it, and depart while en route either north or south 

 between San Francisco and Portland or Seattle. In 

 this respect, a visit to the Park may be taken, without 

 seriously interrupting the travel, much in the same way 

 that one may enter Glacier Park, traverse it, and emerge 

 at another station on the line of the Great Northern. 

 Northward bound, the tourist may leave the main line of 

 the Southern Pacific at Weed and take the branch road 



