52 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERIsT UNITED STATES. 



mil 



MEDFORD TO WEED VIA CRATER LAKE, 



listance from Medford to Crater Lake by automobile stage is 

 IS. The first 20 niiles lies tlirough orchards, mainly of apples 

 and pears, over gravel plains spread out by the streams as they issue 

 from the mountains, and through foothills where the sandstones and 

 shales (Eocene to Miocene) of the valley dip eastward under the lava 

 flows of the Cascade Range. 



At 3 1 niiles from Medford the road crosses Rogue River, and thence 

 for 16 miles, to the mouth of Mdl Creek, it follows the north bank of 

 the river through a deep canyon. From the roadway may be had 

 good views both of the canyon and the uplands bordering the wider 

 valley to the west. 



Near Prospect (elevation 2,780 feet) Rogue River is again crossed 

 at the head of its canyon. Here the river in a quarter of a mile fails 

 325 feet in a series of casnadps af. fh^ fr.r,+. nf wiiir^v. Arm n,.^..i^ ,., « 



lall ot great beauty, 150 feet m height, Joms Rogue River. Netir 

 Prospect the primeval forest begins, and for miles the smooth road 

 built on terraces of lava affords fine forest views. 



At Union Creek, 58 miles from Medford (elevation about 3,500 feet), 

 there is a delightful camping place near Natural Bridge and Union 

 Falls. The Union Falls are really cascades over some black lava 

 (basalt), and there are similar cascades at Natural Bridge, a little 

 farther downstream. These cascades came into existence m the 



foUo^vi 

 down the be 

 rights, Wh 



time (Q 



contains 



as alt still show^ the ropy forms in which 

 avities or vesicles formed bv the steam 



tiffened sufficiently 



first 



came 



The river now reoccupied 



ITS Dea as weU as it could and at first cascaded 

 lava flows. In course of time it wore back gorges, 6 o' f ee tleep , V 

 the basalt, and it is stUl busy at the same task. At Natural Bridge 

 the stream has discovered and doubtless enlarged an old tnmipl such 



as is otten formed m lava streams by the continued flowincr of the 

 deeper molten material after a solid crust has formed above ft 



Ten miles beyond Union Falls is the entrance to Crater Lake National 

 I'ark. The lake is deeply set in the crest of the Cascade Range, the 

 surface of the water bemg at an altitude of 6,177 feet. It is ench-cled 

 bya cliff from 500 to nearly 2,000 feet high. From the top of this 

 the ground slopes away gently on all sides, so that the lake partly 



^ a great cup or pit in the summit of a broad conical mountain. 

 liiis comparatively low mountain is aU that remains of a once mighty 

 volcano, Mount Mazama (PI. XVII, A). In aU probabilitv no human 



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