As steps were commenced to implement these plans a variety of new construction projects were undertaken in 1927. That year the park received its largest appropriation ($29,100) to date for physical improvements.
The most notable construction project during 1927 was the building of a new trail down the crater wall to the lake, thus replacing the old trail with its narrow bench and grades of up to 28 percent. The new trail had a minimum bench of six feet and a maximum grade of 15 percent with a holding grade of 12 percent. The new trail was safe for the use of mules and burros, thus making the lake accessible to people who had been denied that pleasure previously because of the hardship of walking up the crater wall. The new trail began at a more accessible point on the rim and terminated on the lake shore on a natural bench, affording ample room for docking, sanitation, and visitor movement.
A variety of other structures were also completed in the park during 1927. These included a pumping plant, pump house, and concrete reservoir to serve Rim Village, an employee’s cabin and comfort station at Government Camp, a superintendent’s residence (Queen Anne style) at Medford designed by John B. Wosky, future park superintendent, a rest house at the foot of the new crater trail, and a barn that was convertible into a truck shed for winter storage. Anna Spring Bridge, a heavy peeled hemlock structure, was also completed. All of these structures were built of stone walls with a rustic superstructure, an architecture, according to Thomson, that was “practically permanent and highly appropriate.” [17]
Development work at Crater Lake reached new heights of activity in 1928 under the direction of Ward P. Webber, an assistant engineer from the NPS Engineering Division office in San Francisco. Six principal projects were undertaken: (1) roadside cleanup and landscaping between Anna Spring and the rim; (2) oil processing/surfacing of three roads; (3) grading and surfacing of a new road to Rim Village; (4) construction and paving of the Rim Trail Promenade; and (5) reconstruction/realignment of the Crater Wall Trail.
The roadside cleanup and landscaping project between Anna Spring and the rim was designed “to give a clean and pleasing effect when viewed from the traveled road” and to clear combustible material from the roadside and thus reduce the danger of having a fire start from a carelessly thrown match or cigarette. The average crew consisted of a foreman, one or two teams with drivers, two men blasting stumps, and from four to eight axemen.
Prior to 1928 landscaping in the park had been accomplished primarily in connection with the design and construction of buildings and bridges. In pursuit of the announced objective “of eventually restoring the park landscape to its original state as far as practicable,” landscape improvements were conducted at Cold Spring, Anna Spring Plaza, Anna Spring Dam, and the Rim Village area. According to Webber, the work at Cold Spring “transformed an excellent spring of cold water from a bog hole to an attractive improvement to the park by collecting the ground water in tile drains and bringing it to a central [rock-walled] basin” with “an overflow outlet provided.” The area surrounding the Anna Spring Plaza, formed by the junction of the roads leading to the west and south entrances and rim, was graded in preparation for seeding the ground with native grasses and plants. The work at Anna Spring Dam consisted of constructing a new rubble and masonry dam to replace a plank dam, removal of the rams beneath the highway bridge, and burying the pipes to provide “a more efficient installation as well as greatly improving the appearance of the spring.”
Three park roads received surfacing/oil processing treatment in 1928 under the direction of T.R. Goodwin, a road oiling expert loaned to the National Park Service by the California State Highway Commission. All told, 10.5 miles of oiled surface on the west entrance road to Anna Spring were reprocessed and 7.1 miles of crushed rock surface on the south entrance road to Anna Spring were finished by oil processing. The road grade from Anna Spring to the rim which had been completed in 1927 was surfaced with crushed rock and oil processing.
