The projects at Rim Village consisted of grading and surfacing, construction of a promenade, and major work on the Crater Wall Trail. Improvements in the rim area consisted of grading and leveling the site for the cafeteria/general store building, changing the grade and alignment of the Rim Village Road, completion of the loop parking area at the lodge, removal of undesirable knolls, and filling in washes adjacent to the road. A heavy log railing was placed along the edge of the road and parking areas. The promenade consisted of a concrete walk 8 feet wide and 2,525 feet long, running along the rim from the lodge to a point approximately 380 feet north of the head of the new Crater Wall Trail. While the trail clearing and grading had been completed the year before, a crew of twelve men was hired to widen and lengthen each of the twenty switchbacks, build retaining walls and parapets, and place log seats at convenient intervals for resting. [18]
Several structures were completed in the park during 1928. A frame warehouse and garage were constructed in winter headquarters at Medford, thus permitting the off-season conditioning of park equipment. Two small two-story, two-bedroom employees’ cottages were constructed at park headquarters, the structures having stone walls with rustic superstructures. A new ranger station was constructed at Anna Spring, described by Thomson as “an appropriate structure of logs to match all of our other ranger stations.” A new Standard Oil Company service station at the road junction below park headquarters was opened to the public. Near the rim a rustic stone cafeteria/general store, together with twelve rental cabins, were built but not completed in time for use during the season. [19]
In his annual report for 1928 Mather was particularly pleased with the development projects in the rim area. He observed:
This vital Rim Area was opened at its west boundary by the completion of a new road, built on high standards of grade and curvature and emerging at the Crater edge at a point which gives the visitor a first breathless view of the magnificent spectacle. From this point a new road was completed and oiled that distributes traffic in turn to the new cafeteria and cabin group, to the camp ground or finally to the hotel at the opposite end of a half-mile plaza. On each side of this boulevard an eighteen foot parking strip was provided, which will accommodate several hundred cars. Along the very edge of the Crater rim a wide asphalt promenade was constructed for pedestrians, and the intervening area between this dustless trail and the log parapet which limits parking alongside the boulevard there was graded an area of variable width which will be restored to native grasses and wild flowers. The general effect of this development is a diminishing of the dust evil, greatly improved parking and traffic problems, and a bettered landscape.
The simultaneous completion of the new cafeteria and group of rental cabins, together with the new Crater Wall trail taking off from the west end of this area, rounds off this development. The new trail to the lake was constructed on high standards to permit the use of saddle animals, enabling many thousands to enjoy the lake who were heretofore denied that pleasure by physical incapacity. [20]
Construction and development projects at Crater Lake continued to be under the direction of Engineer Webber in 1929. The old ranger station at Anna Springs was torn down and removed. A new checking kiosk was constructed at Anna Spring, and the combination bunk and mess house at Government Camp was completed. The Mess Hall, as the building came to be called, housed kitchen and dining facilities and living quarters for seasonals. The latter building replaced a log structure that was removed, thus contributing to “a vast improvement to the landscape and efficiency of Government camp.” Park day labor crews constructed a new sewage disposal system at the park headquarters, consisting of a sewer line running from the utility area to an underground septic tank. [21]
A large appropriation of $94,400 for roads and trails permitted considerable construction in the park during 1930. Superintendent Solinsky reported that the following projects were undertaken:
Construction of the stone parapet along the lakeside of the rim promenade has been started and the work is progressing satisfactorily. When completed it will add very materially to the appearance of the rim area and will serve as a barrier to confine the people to the promenade.
