CRATER LAKE. 



*9 



lake and our stay on the brink of the 

 mighty wall which hems it in. 



On the summit of the Cascade range and 

 in the top of one of its most interesting 

 peaks lies Crater lake. The top of this 

 mountain — recently christened Mount Ma- 

 zama — is 8,228 feet above the sea, and in it 

 rests the strange lake whose surface is 

 nearly 2,000 feet below the wall which sur- 

 rounds it. Thus the lake lies in a great pit 

 in the mountain's top, and can be reached 

 only by scrambling nearly 2,000 feet down- 



level and forms Wizard island. The others 

 lie completely buried in the lake. 



To understand the unique character of 

 this lake it is necessary to consider, briefly, 

 its geologic history. In the first place the 

 region is a volcanic one. All the moun- 

 tain peaks of the Cascade range, from 

 Shasta to Tacoma, and beyond, are vol- 

 canoes but recently extinct. All the 

 mountain slopes and table-lands are made 

 up of immense lava flows. Shasta's sum- 

 mit is 14.444 feet above the sea. and Ta- 



COASTING IN THE CRATER OF WIZARD ISLAND. CRATER LAKE. ORE. 



ward, on a trail which is not far from ver- 

 tical. 



The average diameter of the top of the 

 pit is nearly 6 miles and that of the lake is 

 but little less. The depth of the great pit is 

 4.000 feet and the depth of the lake is 2.000 

 feet. From this it is seen that the pit is 

 filled with water just half way to the top. 

 The bottom of the pit is 100 feet lower than 

 the level of the Klamath marshes, at the 

 Eastern foot of the Cascade range. Thus 

 if there were a subterranean opening con- 

 necting them, the Klamath lakes would not 

 completely drain Crater lake. 



In the deepest part of Crater lake the bot- 

 tom was found to be a nearly level plain, 

 several miles in extent. As described by 

 Professor Diller. of the U. S. Geological 

 Survey, to the Westward this plain rises 

 irregularly, culminating in 2 or more peaks, 

 one of which reaches above the water's 



coma is scarcely less. Between them are 

 several great mountains, such as the Three 

 Sisters, Jefferson, and Hood; but none so 

 high as they. 



When the fires were still glowing in this 

 volcanic chain, there stood, where Crater 

 lake now lies, a great, fiery volcano the 

 peer, in size, of any of those now left. The 

 evidence is almost, if not entirely, conclu- 

 sive that this mountain must have been 

 more than 14,000 feet high. It was an ac- 

 tive volcano during glacial times. 



Then a great change was wrought in this 

 mountain. Instead of flowing out at the 

 crater or breaking through the sides, as it 

 had long done, the lava finally found an 

 exit at some lower level. So great was the 

 outflow, through this new channel, that the 

 mountain became hollowed to a shell. The 

 top of the mountain, being left compara- 

 tively without support, fell in and became 



