Ted Arthur

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Ted E. Arthur Oral History Interview

Interviewer and Date: Stephen R. Mark, Crater Lake National Park Historian, September 1, 1992.

Interview Location: Diamond Lake, Oregon, October 31, 1991

Transcription: Transcribed by Chris Prout, July 1997

Biographical Summary (from the interview introduction)

Seasonal naturalist 1958 to 1970. I first heard of Ted Arthur in September 1988, during an interview with Dick and Ann Brown, but lacked the opportunity to meet him until the summer of 1992. At that point he was serving as an interpreter on the Diamond Lake Ranger District. His final season at Crater Lake had been more than 20 years before, but Mr. Arthur filled the naturalist role so easily that it hardly seemed possible that so much time had elapsed since the last time he worked in the vicinity of Mount Mazama.

Materials Associated with this interview on file at the Dick Brown library at Crater Lake National Park’s Steel Visitor Center

taped interview; Most of this interview was captured on the following transcription. Some explanatory field notes and subsequent correspondence are in the park’s history files; donated several photos and documents subsequently. Slide taken of him when visiting CRLA in 1993; he is in several photos taken of naturalists during the 1960s that are in the photo file.

To the reader:

I first heard of Ted Arthur in September 1988, during an interview with Dick and Ann Brown, but lacked the opportunity to meet him until the summer of 1992. At that point he was serving as an interpreter on the Diamond Lake Ranger District. His final season at Crater Lake had been more than 20 years before, but Mr. Arthur filled the naturalist role so easily that it hardly seemed possible that so much time had elapsed since the last time he worked in the vicinity of Mount Mazama.

Most of this interview was captured on the following transcription. Some explanatory field notes and subsequent correspondence are in the park’s history files.

Stephen R. Mark

August 1997

Crater Lake National Park, National Park Service, Crater Lake, Oregon 97504

 This is an oral history interview with Ted Arthur at Diamond Lake Information Center on September 1, 1992.

How did you come to Crater Lake, and what is your background as a naturalist?

I was born in Seattle, Washington, and my educational background from the time I came to Crater Lake was that I had a degree in sociology from the University of Washington and a teaching credential, and was employed as a junior high teacher. When I applied to the park service, I applied to about five different areas, and I received responses from two of them, one from Yosemite and one from Crater Lake. The Yosemite officer was as a protection ranger, and the Crater Lake was as a naturalist. I couldn’t, for the life of me, make up my mind which way to go, and upon the suggestion of my wife, who said, “Well, you’d probably stand to learn more as a naturalist,” I wrote to them [Crater Lake] and said I would accept that position. That was, I believed, the summer of 1958.

As far as what led to an interest in the national parks, I look upon myself as a frustrated forester. At the end of World War II, when I was discharged, I enrolled at the University of Washington to go to the School of Forestry. When I applied there, I was discouraged from majoring in [that field], as the person I talked with said there were so many veterans being discharged and wanting to go into forestry they were having a difficult time in placing them in positions. I thought about that and began thinking maybe I better look elsewhere. Once I got started into a program, about the third year, this whole conservation area opened up and there was a great demand. But I was so far into the program in sociology that I didn’t feel I could pull out and start all over again.

As far as what made me discontinue my seasonal work at the park, there is quite an emotional thing here. It’s very difficult for me to go back to the park because my wife became terminally ill and passed away in 1975, and I feel that the years that we came up to Crater Lake, each summer probably took a toll on her, as she had very weakened lung condition and the elevation there worked against her.  She was terminally ill for about three years, so coming back to the park, an area where our whole family invested a great deal of time and energy, is real hard for me. Consequently, the further that I can stay away from it the better it is, as far as my own emotional response is concerned.

Have you been back since?

Well, I was up at the park last week and I just went up there for two reasons, Number one, to see if I could borrow some slides. But the second thing was to see if that emotional response was still there. I wanted to see if I was insulated enough and time had healed the wounds.  But the wounds are still there. To go up there, say by myself, is very, very difficult. So consequently, I think Diamond Lake is probably as close as I want to get.  However, I might say that if I went up there maybe with another person, where I could talk, you know, and share experiences, it might be less stressful.

As far as interpretative operations are concerned…. Well, let me say one thing too. When I arrived at the park and about midway through the season, I asked Dick Brown “Why did you guys hire me, what I had in my application that made you feel that I’d be qualified to be a naturalist?” And he said, “Well, you did put down that you taught science.” Well, I did teach science at the junior high level there in Redwood City, but I was not a full-time science teacher. As far as my science background from the University of Washington was concerned, I had three courses, two geology courses and one meteorology course. So, I really was, how should I say, a self-made naturalist. Self-made in this respect. I owe a great debt of gratitude to Dick Brown, who was extremely patient with me, would take me out in the forest and identify trees, plants and birds gave me a lot of material to read,  encouraged me to hear other people’s evening campfire programs, and this sort of thing (1). Basically, in that respect, I am not a book-trained naturalist. I’m more an eclectic type of person who owes a debt of thanks to many, many past naturalists that I borrowed from and incorporated a lot of their material. I did lean toward programs that emphasized a human type activity like the Indian life of Klamath Basin, Indian legends of Crater Lake, human history of Crater Lake- I think I called it “Crater Lake through the Years.” Things of that nature. I did become very comfortable with the geology and the volcanology up there, and I feel very adequate in those areas, and also mammals. I feel less adequate in flowering plants and birds, but I think I can hold my own in other areas.

I saw a reference to you and Dick at the Klamath County Museum, and it had to do with an Indian artifacts exhibit.

That was while I was at Crater Lake. I took a strong interest in the Klamath Reservation, and at that time (in the late 1950’s), it was one of the three major Indian reservations in the nation that were being disbanded under the Eisenhower Administration. I would go down to the Klamath Agency and talk to some of the residents there, and as a result of that became very strongly interested in Native American affairs. I always did have an interest in that area, but it was more meaningful because I was talking with people who were coming to grips with this momentous decision about disbanding that reservation. One man in particular, a gentleman by the name of Seldon Kirk, who at that time, I would guess, was in his early eighties, was very, very kind and gracious in allowing me to come to his home (2). We’d talk at great length about his experiences as a child on the reservation. As a result of this, I became very interested in Klamath Indians and Modoc Indians, and asked Dick Brown what the possibility would be of giving an evening program on the Indians of the area. He thought it would be a great idea. As a result of that, we did make arrangements to go to the museum in Klamath Falls and made arrangements with the curator there to come down and take photos of displays in the museum. They were most gracious. They removed the glass and this sort of thing so we could take photos of the items in the display cases. We did develop a slide collection on Indian artifacts, basketry, and Indian history. So that’s how that comes about. It was a very, very fascination time to be at Crater Lake during those years and see what happened in that area as a result of that policy.

As far as becoming a seasonal supervisor, I really don’t know how that came about. I felt that there were other people on the staff who were much better qualified than myself. I heard about it via mail- I think it was my third season at Crater Lake. When I speak of other people more qualified, I think of Dave Hunsinger.

One of the fondest recollections of being at Crater Lake was the tremendous people that I met. I’d like to mention specifically in the protective staff of my first season up there Jack Broadbent, who was the chief ranger, who was a typical stereotype image of a park ranger. He was rugged. He was very, very positive, very much his own person. I think of Slim Mayberry, who became a very good friend of mine. He was very, very influential in my life and our family. He kind of took upon himself to be the park host. It was he and his wife who set up the Green Guard Program for the kids of the seasonals during the summer, where they had a summer program for the youngsters there. We had square dances and things like hobo picnic, where we’d have to go out and beg a potato or an onion or a carrot. We’d generally have these out in the remote areas of the park.  One was out there by Boundary Springs. We went out one evening and we had two giant garbage cans with stew in them and we sang. It was such a community type of experience, just like something you read about in books. I think of Len Williamson, another ranger who was a very, very fine person. And these, Slim and Len, were both involved in rescue activities. I think it was in my third or fourth year there that I finally was accepted on the rescue team, which was another big experience in my life at Crater Lake.

As far as getting back to seasonal naturalist, I was offered the position, accepted it, and as a result of that one of my responsibilities was to do a lot of auditing nature walks. [This included] evening campfire programs, and of course, the Sinnott [Memorial] talk, meeting with people, and making suggestions. I probably wasn’t as skilled as I could have been, but, be that as it many, I did the level best I could in working and trying to help them fit the park philosophy on interpretation. I also did the scheduling and took care of the Crater Lake Natural History Association inventory and stock and this sort of things.

They didn’t have any of their own employees at that time, so it was simple something that the seasonal person had to do?

Right, in conjunction with the naturalist secretary. We both worked on that.

One of the things that we did experience was quite a turnover in naturalists and of course, I have very, very fond recollections. I’ve mentioned Dick Brown. Bruce Black, in my book, was one of the finest individuals I ever worked with (3). You didn’t work for him, you worked with him. He was extremely conscientious and wanted to have a top-flight interpretive program. He and his wife were just superb in that position. They tried to build a real esprit de corps, and instill pride and performance in the whole group. I just thought he was one of the very fine people that I worked with.

 Have you talked to Bruce lately?

Oh yes. I visited with Bruce earlier this year in Corvallis. I was there for lunch with him and his wife. You know how it is. I’d like to get together with him, but both of us seem to have our agendas, and consequently we don’t get together as often as I’d like.

I see him a couple of times a year. I know him really through my mother because they’re in the same church.

Is that right, the Episcopal Church?

I see him at church several times a year. He is always great to talk to.

He is one of the finest individuals I’ve ever met. One of the high points in my experience at Crater Lake was the visit of Russ Grater to Crater Lake. Russ Grater was from the Washington office and he was the chief of interpretation for the park service. He was a very, very knowledgeable person. I remember Dick Brown saying that he, Russ, could take a bird feather and build a mountain. You know, I’ve often thought about that and thought how in the devil would I go about doing that? But he did, at our staff meeting, talks with us, went out on walks, and this sort of thing. I had the pleasure of his accompanying me on a walk out to Discovery Point. He made suggestions and this sort of thing and I certainly count that as one of the high points of my work experience at Crater Lake. He was a gentleman in every sense of the word and was not overbearing. He was very helpful. At the same time, he was also a very humble person. He was a real credit to the park service.

Was the Discovery Point walk an official program that naturalists gave?

We had two walks when I arrived. As I recall, during the high season we’d have one up Garfield Peak in the morning and a different naturalist on the Discovery Point Trail in the afternoon. That’s my recollection. Now, I could be wrong there, but it seems to me we had two walks a day during the high season, which was probably mid-July and on into August.

Was Rim Village the focus of operations?

Right.

It seems like it’s more dispersed now because of the way things have gone.

That’s my impression. The day [recently] I was up there and seeing all the different facilities available, additional trails for example, it seems to be much more spread over a larger area. But, you are correct; the focus of all the activities was on the Rim Village, with the exception of the Mazama Campground. We also tried to do one or two programs a week at the Pinnacles [Lost Creek] Campground.

Sort of an evening program?

An evening program, right, without the benefit of slides. We’d take things out. Maybe we’d take out study skins or something of that nature. It was very impromptu. Generally, one person would go out there, and I know my program on Indian Legends and Historical Highlights of Crater Lake was very easy to give out there because it was just like narrating a story.

You’d build a campfire….

Build a campfire, right. It was very, oh, more typical of a traditional campfire type of activity. That came about when Bruce came into the position of chief naturalist.

In regard to the boat trip, when I arrived the boat trip did leave from just below the cafeteria, across from Wizard Island. That trail was somewhat more difficult than the Cleetwood Trail (4). As I recall, it was either 1.7 or 1.9 miles down to the boat landing, and it [the boat trip] took off from there to Wizard Island and then on around.  As I recall, we had two excursions-a morning and afternoon trip, weather permitting.

 Was it sort of a counter-clockwise trip from the island around the lake?

Let’s see. It seems to me we went from the boat landing to Wizard Island, and then we’d head on over to the Phantom Ship and that direction.

I noticed in some of the reports that there would be a morning boat tour and an evening boat tour.

As I recall, they had a shorter trip that went to Wizard Island and around the Phantom Ship and then back. It was a shorter trip. That’s my recollection, but with the understanding that my recall is somewhat fuzzy on that boat trip. I have some slides at home of the boat trip, and one of them indicates the boat was literally full and almost overflowing. So we did have a good response. We thought that having a boat landing out at Cleetwood would have quite an impact that people would be discouraged driving over there. I believe it was 13 miles from the Rim Village, if I remember correctly. But, it didn’t seem to affect the number of visitors who took the boat tours. I was concerned when they put the larger boat on, that they, meaning the concessionaires, might be overestimating [the boat tour’s popularity]. But it seemed to make sense. The trips were pretty well-attended for the most part.

Was there a noticeable change when they took the row boats out?

Not to my knowledge. I don’t think it did. I don’t think that had any impact [on boat tours] whatsoever.

The reason I asked that question about how the boat tour developed was I talked to a man who was literally the first one to give a boat tour, in 1931, and it was sort of an all day event at that point. They went over to the island, climbed to the top, came back down again, and then started around the lake.

I see. Well, that was the days when I guess people were more rugged. I have some problems with climbing up to the top of the island. I think for some people its okay. For others, you know, it might be a little bit strenuous. But if they got down that trail [to the lake] and out again, I suppose they could do the island. It just bothers me to get too many people in a given area, which then receives too much use.

I notice a question here about the North Junction. That was a duty post that, for a lot of people, was really the pits. It was somewhat controversial among the staff. I did quite a bit of it, and didn’t mind it too much. The thing I liked about it is that you were out there and you were working with visitors that were probably getting their first glimpse of the lake. Invariably, they were just awed by what they saw. It was just a natural setting to capitalize on that feeling of awe and surprise and elation where a person if, by using that response, could, really do a good job of imparting information and a greater appreciation for the area. But a lot of people felt, oh, you’re out there by yourself. I guess it’s all attitudinal and how you look at your job. [But] if you realize that, hey, you’re there to serve the visitor and make their park experience more meaningful.

 Was it like the Sinnott Memorial in the sense that you could capitalize on a person’s first view and try to interpret in some of those same ways?

Very much so. It was just a natural. Invariably, questions popped into their minds. It was an excellent opportunity to answer questions, meet their needs. It was a spontaneous kind of thing. You didn’t have to approach them- they approached you. Or just by picking up on their reactions you could go ahead and respond to their responses. It was really, I thought from that aspect, a very valuable place to be. But, as I say, it was controversial and some people just didn’t like it at all.

Were there waysides out there, or were you pretty much just by yourself?

By yourself. There were not restroom facilities or anything of that nature. You were just out there, and some days it would be somewhat cold and you were out there in the elements. You had a car, and that was about the extent of it. But, once again, it’s how you look at it. Seizing the natural opportunity out there to be effective in what you’re doing.

Was there some regret about having that North House ranger station taken away as soon as you started the service?

Well, it did enter my mind. I looked at it this way. The North House was there, but it hadn’t been used in my summers there, so it was no great loss (5). If it had been used by us, or by any other staff, I could say, yeah, gee, that didn’t make much sense. But it was never was used and consequently I didn’t give it a second thought.

As far as Sinnott was concerned, we had five talks a day. As I recall, they were at 9, 10:30, 1, 3 and the last talk was at 4, I believe. Then we secured it and around 4:45 went up to the Exhibit Building and helped the fellow up there secure that building. I liked the Sinnott. When I was there they had, at the parapet, those displays with the monocular in place, and the back area had the lighted paintings and photos. When Bruce arrived, there was some modification of the memorial as far as the back room was concerned. Some additional feature was incorporated. Dave Dame, who was assistant chief naturalist when Bruce was here, did that three-dimensional display at Crater Lake that was brought up to the Exhibit Building (6). We had the model of Mount Mazama with the removable top that we used as an aid in the Sinnott talk. I didn’t mind that duty at all. I really enjoyed giving the geologic story of Crater Lake and answering the questions. It was just a real natural facility to add to the visitor’s understanding of what they were seeing.

Was the workroom downstairs used at all?

No, not to my knowledge, other than storage. That’s about all I can recall.

Was the workroom downstairs used at all?

No, not to my knowledge, other than storage. That’s about all I can recall.

How long were the talks given by the naturalists?

We were advised very strongly to go no longer than 15 minutes. At first, I thought probably the people would either go less or longer than the 15, but as you gave more and more of them you could get it down to 12 to 15 minutes and cover pretty much the crucial aspects of what we were supposed to cover in the outline.

Then there were generally 10-15 minutes of questions and visitors wanting to talk to you?

Right. It was just a natural place for a lot of visitor interaction with the person on duty there.

Were the telescopes used a lot?

They were. Amazing. They were monoculars. What they would do was taking a binocular and disassembles it and then use monoculars. I think we had about seven or eight focused on the Wineglass, the crater on top of Wizard Island, the Phantom Ship, Sun Notch, Kerr Notch, so people could look through them and it was focused on that particular feature. And there was a lot of use and if I recall, when I was up there the other day, they weren’t there.

Apparently, they fell apart one by one. Were the parapet exhibits tied to what the monocular was focused on?

Right.

We still emphasize the basics of the story, but it’s not as point-centered like it was.

As far as the naturalist staff and what were the facilities that they operated, when I first reported for duty at Crater Lake we were housed on the second floor of the Ad (ministration) Building. And I believe it was Bob Bruce who came and apparently had some problem with being there at the Ad Building and we moved all of our facilities about the fire house (7). Our slides collection, our naturalist library, everything, was there, as I recall. He still had his office, I believe, on the second story of the Ad Building. But as far as the work a day activities, our slides collection, our wet collection, and this sort of thing, were all above the fire hall. I don’t know when that was changed.

How many naturalists would there have been in a typical year?

15.

So it’s a lot like this year?

Right. As permanent staff, we had a chief naturalist, assistant chief naturalist, and a naturalist secretary. They were the permanent positions. I understand now, talking with Gregg [Fauth, the assistant chief] the other day, that there are four [permanent] positions.

 Its still, essentially, the same structure. How would you describe the first programs give at Mazama Campground? Was the addition of an amphitheater a noticeable change?

As far as the Mazama Campground was concerned, that was under construction (8). I think the programs started about the second or third season I was there, and Bruce Black was very eager to get a naturalist program under way there. We had, prior to that, a program at Rim Village which was held at the Community House. We set up a temporary amphitheater there at Mazama which consisted of a plywood screen painted white and lodgepole pines cut at heights of about 18 inches or so that we stood up on end so people could set and that was our fire circle.  Eventually, we had the fire circle that’s down there now, which I assume is still being used, as the campground was enlarged. Personally, I always enjoyed the evening campfire programs, particularly the one at the Community House, which I understand is [no more]. In fact, I understand there’s no Rim Campground now.

Right.

But that was really a neat experience. You had the people in that building and you had good eye contact and we had a member from the ranger staff that would give the “Smoky Bear” talk. It was just, really, what I would call good duty. I certainly enjoyed that.

Our last programs there were held in 1988. It was the last season the lodge was open.

Will they reinstitute that again?

I hope so.

And they’ll reinstitute the Rim Campground?

There are no plans for that. They’ll keep it as a picnic area. After the water crisis of 1975, they shut that campground down and kind of focused everybody on Mazama. I know there’s that old Annie Spring campground across the road. Was that occupied when you came to Crater Lake?

Yes, it was occupied and gradually Annie Springs was phased out as more and more campsites became available at Mazama. We had a real surge of building then. We had the construction of Mazama Campground, and then we had the widening of the road from Annie Springs up to the Rim Village. And that summer we stayed in a mobile home down at Annie Springs, which was quite an interesting summer, to say the least. There was so much construction, and getting to and from the Rim Village, at times, was a real hassle because we had road crews, traffic control, and this sort of thing. But, we survived, and all in all it was a much better road going up to the Rim Village. But there for a period of time it was pretty hectic in terms of getting around to and from Rim Village.

Were there any programs done at Cold Springs Campground?

No, not to my knowledge. It was just kept as a small fairly primitive campground. The only outreaches were the ones at Pinnacles [Lost Creek] that we did when Bruce [Black] was there.

 Were there some off-site programs at forest service or state parks?

No, not to my knowledge. We did do bus tours that would come in. The first couple seasons that I was there we had a regular bus service. If I remember correctly, it came up from Medford. It was always the same driver, and it was almost like clockwork. Then, all of a sudden, that just kind of disappeared. I don’t know if that was through the concessionaire at Crater Lake or what. And then we would get tours where they would write ahead, groups from foreign countries like Japan or Germany. They would come into the Ad Building parking area and then a naturalist would get on there and take the Rim Drive in the bus loaded with people. And that’s how it came about. That seemed to die a natural death. I don’t know how or what happened.

Were there naturalists involved in research?

As far as research is concerned, we had a ground of young naturalists that came for a couple of seasons. I think of Hans Nelson, who did a lot of work on the lake (9). He spent a great deal of time. He was a highly-energetic young man, very competent in his area. He did a lot of lake studies. We had Beth Mueller, who I recall did a study on the Pumice Desert (10). She was a very capable young lady. By and large, we had some real fine seasonal naturalists that were very, very knowledgeable in their given areas of expertise.

Were they recruited?

I don’t know if recruited the proper term is. Let’s say this. I do know that when they applied I’m certain, very certain, that Dick or Bruce got on right away and got a letter off to them saying,  “Hey, we want you.” In that respect, if that’s recruiting, I’m sure that’s what was done. But I think Dick or Bruce would be better able to answer that than myself.

I have a question connected with that. Since Hans Nelson’s thesis is so detailed, was he given project time to his work?

He was given project time because we felt that his contribution was so valuable, that the type of research he was doing was much needed (11). So he was given project time, but he also put in a tremendous amount of time on his own. As I recall, Vic Affolter, who was on the ranger staff at that time, helped him a lot with his research, getting the instruments he needed down to the lake and this sort of thing. He had access to the park boat a great deal of the time. Hans was a highly-energetic, highly professional, well-qualified young man. He was very, very impressive and I’m sure he’s gone a long way since his years at Crater Lake, his seasons there.

He came to the symposium along with Charlie Bacon.

Oh, is that right? When was that?

In May.

In May of this year. Oh, I’ll be darned. I’d have liked to have seen him. He was really a neat guy. I feel badly that I wasn’t aware of that being given (12). I’d certainly have made an effort to get down there.

Did you assist any visiting researchers?

As far as assisting the researchers, no I didn’t because my time was so taken up with the duties of being a seasonal supervisor. Checking with them once in a while, asking them how things were going, if there was anything we could do, or if they needed additional time, this sort of thing, was the extent of my involvement in their activities.

 Was Dick Brown as accessible to the seasonal naturalists in his research biologist position from 1966 to 1970?

That’s kind of interesting, looking back on it, No, he wasn’t. I think he was working out of the regional office in San Francisco and there were so many things going on at that time. Somehow, Muir Woods seems to pop into my mind. It seems to me he was pretty heavily involved in that area and he just kind of managed from view, so to speak.  Although I still maintained a correspondence and visited with him on a social basis, but not in terms of park service or anything of that nature. It was just like he managed in the same manner when Bruce [Black] left. There was a void, as far as my speaking personally is concerned, because I had such a strong attachment to both those gentlemen.

When did you first meet Ron Mastrogiuseppe? I know he has had a long association with Dick Brown.

It seems to me as if it was in the late 1960’s, if I remember correctly. Ron was just really a neat guy and was one of the stalwarts that I thought was in the program.

Did you get any time to work with the museum collection and library, or with collectors?

Yes. I worked on the wet collection during what they call project time. Eventually, we worked out a situation where we had two individuals who were responsible. One was responsible for the audio visual, slide collection, and the projectors. That was Ed Payne, who was seasonal from Illinois, from a very fine family, who come out from Decatur for a number of years. Then we had a person who was responsible for the wet collection, [which included] the study skins and the observation file, where people would fill out observations on birds, animals, and that sort of thing that they saw.  Those were GS-5s, as I recall. I can’t remember who that person was, but that was their prime responsibility. When those two positions were authorized, my involvement in that aspect of collections was practically nil. The only thing I did was saw to it that Ed and that other person had project time.

So you were focused on operations?

Right. The auditing and the scheduling and this sort of thing. And then, of course, I did interpretive programs myself a couple nights a week. We tried to distribute those evenly among the staff.

Did you get a chance to meet some of the people who had contributed to the collection such as Don Farner or George Ruhle?

No, I didn’t get to met them. I would have like to have had, but they were in the park before I arrived.

In conjunction with the rescue activities, I was fortunate enough to participate in some intensive three-day training sessions for our rescue teams. We had two teams there as Crater Lake. I didn’t get to see any of the other people that you mentioned.

 Do you recall a number of pictures taken about 1960 at Crater Lake?

It was during that period of time that Ralph Edwards from the National Geographic came out, he and his wife. They were at the park I’d say pretty close to a month and they literally took hundreds and hundreds of pictures. He was all over that park. He would go out on our rescue training sessions and take photos. As I recall, there is one edition of the National Geographic that we were doing an exercise at North Junction with the Stokes Litter and it seems to me he took photos then. I think our sessions were somewhat controversial because I thing there was a feeling that maybe we shouldn’t be doing this, that it wasn’t necessary. I think there was a certain amount of tension there. We did have, it seems to me, two sessions a week.  One was on “park time” and the other one was on our time.  We would start early in the season, early in June. We generally started up on the slope of Hillman Peak, and it’d be cold, oh, intense cold. We’d try and be up there around 6 a.m. and work on ice and snow, ice sacks, and pitons and that sort of thing. It was really above and beyond the call of duty. It would take the rest of the day to thaw out. Then, as the season progressed, we did exercises at Annie Creek Canyon, Sleepy Hollow, Mazama Rock, and various points along the rim. The only real rescue activities I was involved in personally was [when] a visitor’s dog took out after a golden mantled ground squirrel and went over the wall and broke its leg. We went down after it, and that’s about the only thing that I can recall where I was involved on a rescue activity. It was certainly great experience. But that’s the only photographer that I recall.

As far as the search and rescue efforts, how many people from park staff were involved?

Basically, it [the rescue team] was all park staff. I was the only naturalist on that rescue team, and the only reason that I got on was that one season a fellow [on the team] had to leave due to a family emergency and wouldn’t be coming back. I guess I was next on the line, so Slim Mayberry contracted me and asked if I wanted to participate and I said sure. From that point on, I was on it. It was primarily the protective personnel that were on the team and some members from the fire crew. Dick Brown, incidentally, was on it, and I learned a great deal from him. He was superb climber and mountaineer. He was really the ultimate person in that area.

Dick didn’t mention that when I interviewed him.

Well, he’s modest. The thing that got me about Dick was that he’d always climb in tennis shoes, which I would never want to do because of the type of stuff that we worked out on. But he was very agile, very knowledgeable, knew his knots, and knew safety technique. He was a stalwart on that rescue team, and I think any degree of success I’ve had was largely due to his interest and his help. I look upon that experience as being one of the highlights of the seasons I spent at Crater Lake because you really learn teamwork and faith in your fellow man. In that respect, it was certainly a great learning experience.

 Dick didn’t mention that when I interviewed him.

Well, he’s modest. The thing that got me about Dick was that he’d always climb in tennis shoes, which I would never want to do because of the type of stuff that we worked out on. But he was very agile, very knowledgeable, knew his knots, and knew safety technique. He was a stalwart on that rescue team, and I think any degree of success I’ve had was largely due to his interest and his help. I look upon that experience as being one of the highlights of the seasons I spent at Crater Lake because you really learn teamwork and faith in your fellow man. In that respect, it was certainly a great learning experience.

As far as where people acquired the skills to be on the rescue team, were they from other parks or had they been part of climbing groups like the Mazamas or Sierra Club?

Well, that’s a good question. I must say that the people who were instrumental in determining who got on the team were primarily, I think, Len Williamson and Slim Mayberry. It was under their “watchful eye” that they operated. And I think it was just a feeling that they picked up from the way a person handled himself on the rock. By that I mean free climbing and this sort of thing. Did they have confidence, did they show a certain degree of, affinity to the rock face and this sort of thing. I think it was just something that they had within them that said, “Hey, this guy can make it and this guy, I don’t know about him.” Most of the fellows that were on it were North westerners, I think, as I look back on the people that I work with. Dick of course, was from California, and as far as I know his total park experience was Crater Lake. I could be wrong there…

Yes, he said he’d been at Crater Lake a total of three times.

It that right? Throughout his park career?

Did people who had a lot of these skills enjoy going over to places outside of the park and doing some climbing?

I’m sure that some of the guys that were more into that type of thing would go out. In fact, interestingly enough, one of my sons really took to climbing on the basis of the limited experience I had. I taught him repelling and this sort of thing. After I left the parks, I would at a boy’s ranch in Morgan Hill, which is a place for kids that are delinquent and this sort of thing. During my time there I would take them to one of the park areas on Skyline Drive where they had rocks and I would have them do free climbing and repelling and this sort of thing. So I think a lot of us took that experience out to other areas and other entities. I think the rock climbing gives you a certain degree of confidence within yourself, and once again faith in your fellow man because it’s really something you gotta take seriously. You can’t play around with it. I recall vividly when those fellows came out for the climbing school and our last session at the community building. They showed a film, “The Mountains Don’t Care.” That was some years ago and I tell you, that message stays with me even to this day, that the mountains don’t care. The crux of the film is you gotta be prepared, that you can’t take the wilderness lightly. So it was a good object lesson.

 Do you know approximately what year the climbing school was held?

The years that it was really active I think were the years that Slim Mayberry was there. He was a very interesting fellow. During World War II, he was a mountaineer and ski instructor for the army. He was extremely knowledgeable. He was, as I recall, from Kentucky. He had a very southern drawl and his favorite expression was the dad gum thing.” He’d say “The dad gum thing this, the dad gum thing that.” He was just really a remarkable person. It was under his impetus and leadership that we had that rescue activity at the park. I don’t even know if it’s still in place now or not.

Our backcountry rangers teach an annual workshop on search and rescue.

As I say, we had two teams and had just scads of equipment- carabineers, ropes, hardhats. You name it, we had it. Although I did go to an activity that was conducted by REI and there has been so much more technical equipment developed over and above what we had at that time. Looking back on what we had, it was like Model T vintage type of equipment. I remember one of the neatest things we did one evening was set up a Tyrolean Traverse there at Annie Creek Canyon and that was really something to set up and then go across that thing. But those are the types of things that we did, and once again it was under Slim Mayberry and Len Williamson’s tutelage and expertise that we were able to do the type of things that we experienced.

That traverse was set up near the campground?

We set it up just to the south of the bridge there that goes just before you get to the entrance station, across that canyon. That was just [one of] a number of things that were done with the rescue team.

Where did you live while you worked at Crater Lake?

I came up there my first season with the understanding that there was no housing. I lived in the barracks, the second floor, and ate at the Messhall (13). I lived with the fire crew, which was too much like being in the service. I really didn’t enjoy it all that great. Warren Fairbanks was the chief naturalist, and there was a certain amount of tension between naturalist and the protective division. But I did strike up a good friendship with Jack Broadbent, who was the chief ranger. I attribute that to being able, about the third week that I was there, getting a cabin in Sleepy Hollow. It was the first one on the right after you passed the equipment area (14). It was a small, one room with a little kitchen and bath. I went home and got my wife and family-at that time we had three children- and came up there and lived in that cabin about a week. Unbeknownst to me, just further down the Sleepy Hollow, there was a larger cabin available. One morning, there was a knock at the door and there was a couple, Dexter Kinnard (???) was his name and he had just come up from Medford and he was going to be on the protective staff. He wanted to look at the cabin. And he says, “You know, we have this cabin down the way and it’s larger than this one. You know, you people should have that and we’ll take this.”  And they had two children and I thought, boy that was really very magnanimous of him to do that. Consequently, we moved to a larger cabin, the one that was next to the wash house (15). It was just beyond, toward the bluffs from the wash house. Then the following year we got to stay in the stone house, one of the stone houses. One year we were back at Annie Springs and our “assigned cabin” for most of the season I was there was the last one on the right, almost at the base of the bluffs there next to a little creek (16). Then across from us was Ed Payne. They were great friends of ours. Each of us had four children. In fact, my fourth one was born in Klamath Falls. I remember my wife and I would have to take trial runs to see what was the quickest way to get to Klamath Falls going out the old east entrance or the south entrance. He was born August 21, 1961, an Oregon baby.

 Was the idea to construct a tramway down to the water taken seriously by the park staff? Did seasonal naturalists have to deal with questions about it?

That was quite an event. We had a lot of questions, particularly at Sinnott. There was a media blitz, I think, primarily through the newspapers in this area, about the possibility of constructing a tramway (17). To me, that was an abomination. I spoke out very strongly against it. But invariably, in the Sinnott, after the talk was given and you would open it up to questions someone would always ask, “When’s the tramway going down?” I was very opposed to it and probably had a much stronger view on it than others. But it was a matter of some concern during the early 1960s.

The superintendent and a lot of the park staff were very strongly opposed to it?

Speaking of superintendents, I did want to interject a couple of things. I remember my first superintendent was Tom Williams. He certainly was a great person and wasn’t a desk-bound superintendent. He was everywhere. He would appear at Sinnott, he’d be up at the Exhibit Building, and he might be at a campfire program. I remember the year he left we had this tremendous picnic just below Cold Springs. He was certainly a great guy. There are some people that just really stick out in your mind, and he was one of them. I felt the same way about Ward Yeager. He was a fine person. It seemed that they brought in superintendents to Crater Lake that were close to retirement, maybe to give them a higher GS rating or something of that nature. One of the sorriest times was a gentleman that came in from Montana, I believe from Glacier, and he died of a heart attack.

Dick Nelson

Yes, Dick Nelson. He was just a very, very fine, superb individual. Both my wife and I thought highly of him and felt real badly when that occurred.

Did you start seeing a lot less of superintendents as we got into the latter part of the 1960’s?

Yes, they seemed to be more tied to the desk and this sort of thing. I think Williams, Nelson, and Yeager were more the “old type rangers” (18). They were the people that you think of being in the out of doors and active and this sort of thing. Maybe we had more of an administrative type of individuals coming in that were more keyed to that type of work.

I know there was a tremendous expansion in the park service by the late 1960s…

Right, more areas coming in…

 I know Don Spalding talks about that, about how he didn’t see much of the park because he was out of the park as key man on the Redwood project (19).

And it seems to me too, Steve, wasn’t there a period when the NPS moved administration to Klamath Falls?

Yes, in 1969.

Right. Although I didn’t get to share in the full impact, there was a change. It was more decentralized. It was really neat when everybody was there together. I think of the maintenance people, Rex Trulove and Jeff Adams, and Tom Fisher and George Crooksey. It was just really a bunch of neat people. When I reflect back on my summers at Crater Lake, the thing that impressed me most was the real feeling of community. I just met so many neat people in the maintenance and the protective division, and the naturalist staff. Both my wife and I felt very fortunate in having the knowledge that during the year we could come to Crater Lake and we would know people and we would be received and there was hospitality there. It is something that’s almost Norman Rockwell. Really neat. We stayed with the Blacks during winter season and also with the Browns. We had some good friendships developed.

I saw a reference in the file, and this goes back to that first section where apparently, at least in the 1950s, Warren Fairbanks had an office in Medford. By talking to Bruce, I sort of figured out that by the time he got there the park naturalists stayed in the park all year round.

That’s right. That’s my recollection that Warren did work out of Medford. As I recall, Warren’s family lived in Medford. I guess there were some internal changes there. Then, when Bruce came, from Glacier Bay in Alaska and being used to a more remote type of environment, he saw no problem with Crater Lake. That was a great step forward, probably, for him. And then, of course, the housing, too.  Steel Circle was built, and the permanents were moved from the stone houses over to the new housing. The new housing was a considerable improvement over the stone houses. In fact, I recall staying a while in the superintendent’s house (20). I can’t recall the ranger’s name-Floyd-he was a teacher at Klamath Falls. He and I stayed together in that facility for a couple of weeks one season. It was toward the end of the season. And that was really nice, nice living. But like the stone houses, and I also like Sleepy Hollow. I was tremendously surprised the other day when I went through Sleepy Hollow and, like I said, there’s no going back, but I saw that fabulous housing facility (21). I understand that this is the first season.

 Second season.

Oh, second season.

But it’s been very recent.

What did they do with the old houses, just burn them down?

Burn them. They took some salvage lumber out.

Are the new units furnished and all that?

Yes. The Community House is serving as storage for all the excess furniture that isn’t in all the Sleepy Hollow houses.

That’s interesting.

What was your role in fire protection?

We went to fire school my first season. I helped with one fire in Steel Circle and I’m still unsure as to how that came about. It was very quickly put out.

Was that a structural fire?

No, it was in the forest and it just covered a very “small area”. A bulldozer was brought over right away and a fire truck. But it was something to behold, the crowing of fire going from tree to tree. Crowing I guess they call that. But that’s the only fire I was involved in. I do remember an incident where we were out on fire practice and we set a little practice fire. Jack Broadbent was our instructor and he was really a take hold, take change kind of a guy. If he didn’t like the way things were done, he’d get in and show how it’s to be done. This one time, he got into something and it was just a fury of activity. It was highly energetic and by the time he’d finished he was just streaked with dirt and sweat and looked like Pig Pen and he says, “Now that’s the way you guys are supposed to do it.” But he did it all, and the rest of us are standing in there watching him. I’ll remember that as long as I live. He was the ranger of rangers I can’t say enough about him.

 Was the Watchman Museum largely devoted to the [fire protection] topic?

The Watchman Museum, as I recall, the displays were devoted to fire protection. Is that still in operation?

No, a lot of the exhibits were taken out by the 1970s.

Is that right?

There is one sitting in the Fire Hall now that I hope will find its place (22).

Were there any major controversies involving seasonals during the year you worked in the park?

If there were, I was certainly not aware of it. I do know there were the usual complaints when they had the Messhall going. A lot of the guys would complain about the food.  But being a product of the Depression and having served in the Marine Corps during World War II and Korea, you know, the food was great to my way of thinking. I didn’t have any complaints, but it’s relative to a person’s experience and background.

What was the general feeling toward further development by the concession? Was there opposition among the seasonal employees to the idea of moving park headquarters to the south boundary?

I remember that thrust by the concessionaire, [Jim] Griffin and [Ralph] Peyton (23). In all honesty, speaking for myself, I was very anti-concessionaire, probably to the point of being rabid on the subject. I remember the talk of moving the facilities to the south, to the panhandle of the park. I recall Peyton, primarily, wanting to make further incursions on the lake. Bigger boats. I’m sure he was an advocate of that tramway, wanting to manage Mazama Campground, different things of that nature. The trip around the lake. That was it. The bus from Medford no longer took that. He acquired a limousine or something of that nature and had one of his own employees do the interpretive service, as I recall. So there was that continual looking at possibilities of creating more revenue. Of course, that’s what he was there for, is to make money.

Just a word or two about concessionaire when I first came to the park. There were the Smiths, father and son [Harry], Pop Smith and his son, and they were just the greatest individuals (24). Pop Smith, particularly as I understand it, his expertise was in restaurant management. He would go into a city or something, and take a run-down restaurant and build it up and then sell it. Basically, that’s what he did at Crater Lake. But he was a very approachable person. I remember one time I was up there at the lodge just talking with him and for some reason, we got around to talking about projectors. And I just mentioned that I was in the market for getting a projector and he says, “Well, come on down to my office.” And I got down there and the throws out a catalog and he says, “Look through this and find one that you want to order, and I’ll order it out for you at my cost.” And I thought that was pretty decent of him. At the cafeteria, the uniformed staff got free coffee and we got discounts for our foods and this sort of thing. He was very, very cooperative and not pushy. He wasn’t out to further commercialize the area, but out to present a good facility, good food, and this sort of thing. And when it was purchased by Griffin and Peyton, I really felt that we lost a good concessionaire in Pop Smith.

Did some of those discounts, or the kind of friendly feeling that the concessionaire was trying to build with the park staff, disappear?

Yes it did, but maybe that was my interpretation. Once again, once Griffin/Peyton came in, seeing their attitude and their way of operation, really kind of turned me off.  The degree of confidence I had in them disappeared greatly. They did bring their children up and I’m sure you’re aware that one of their sons and a seasonal employee’s daughter were both murdered one winter there in the Portland area. I certainly felt badly for the Peyton family because they certainly had their grief to work out.

A lot of people said that this grief was really the beginning of a lot of Ralph Peyton’s problems.

Right. It was really sad.

How do you feel about further development in the park?

Personally, on the feeling of further development, I was very opposed to that.

That pretty much sums up my recollections. I will say this; Crater Lake will always have a special place in my heart as long as I live. The individuals that I mentioned, and there are many more, and I don’t mean to slight anyone that I came in contact with, but there were just so many and I just feel that they were really great, great people to work with. I feel very fortunate in having had that experience. 

Footnotes:

  1. R.M. “Dick” Brown was Crater Lake’s assistant chief park naturalist from 1952 to 1960, chief park naturalist from 1963 to 1966, and research biologist from 1968 to 1970.
  2. Chairman of the Tribal Executive Committee for many years.
  3. Chief Park Naturalist at Crater Lake from 1959 to 1963.
  4. The Crater Wall Trail, used from 1929 to 1959.
  5. Building 147, which along with a checking kiosk (building 146) were burned by park crews in 1959.
  6. Vernon “Dave” Dame later became NPS Chief Naturalist in the Washington office. Building 66 also called the Kizer Studio or Rim Visitor Center.
  7. Robert “Bob” Bruce was Chief Park Naturalist at Crater Lake from 1968 to 1969.  The “Firehouse” is building 5, the machine shop, sometimes called “Rat” Hall.
  8. Construction started in 1957 and lasted to 1966. Several loops were added or expanded subsequently.
  9. Presently with the U.S. Geological Survey and author of many geological papers on Crater Lake.
  10. Beth Mueller Horn is currently Public Information Officer, Region 1, and U.S. Forest  Service. Her master’s thesis on the ecology of the Pumice Desert was completed in 1966.
  11. Nelson completed his master’s thesis on the geological limnology of Crater Lake in 1961.
  12. “Crater Lake: Still Beautiful at 90” was held May 15-17, 1992 at Southern Oregon State College in Ashland and at Crater Lake National Park.
  13. Building 3 now called the Canfield Building.
  14. Building 41, demolished in 1987.
  15. Building 48, demolished in1987.
  16. Building 129, demolished in 1987.
  17. Proposed by Oregon Congressman Charles Porter in 1959-60.
  18. Williams served as superintendent from 1954 to 1959. Yeager from 1961 to 1964, And Nelson from 1964 to 1965.
  19. Superintendent from 1967 to 1970.
  20. House 19, now a national historic landmark.
  21. Building 83-90, completed in 1991.
  22. Building 5.
  23. Concessionaries from 1959 to 1976.
  24. Concessionaries from 1954 to 1959.
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