Meetings were conducted in 1927 to implement the development plan for Crater Lake. The discussions were attended by NPS Assistant Director Horace M. Albright, Superintendent Thomson, representatives of the Bureau of Public Roads, and various officials of the National Park Service. As a result of the meetings Thomson observed in his annual report that this
year Crater Lake stood just at the cross roads between the old and the new; the removal of the last “teams have right-of-way” road sign was a symbol of the progress that is gradually bringing this Park nearer the standards imposed by modern conditions. When plans, now underway, are completed this Park will possess a well-rounded layout.
During the summer of 1927 Thomson approved plans for the development of the rim area and for “reclaiming the Rim Area from its present oppressive dustiness to a semblance of nature.” The plans provided that the park concessioner would construct and operate a badly-needed cafeteria and general store. A small group of rental cabins would be built, the structures to be extended as needs developed. These structures would occupy “a small desert in the campground, not otherwise useable, in line with our firm policy to protect the Rim from additional structures.”
The plan for “naturalizing” the rim area provided for an asphalt trail to be laid “along the edge of the Rim the full length of the Village.” Between this promenade and a park revetment the soil was to “be restored to natural grasses and wild flowers.” A wide parking area alongside a thirty-foot dustless road was “designed to distribute visitors perfectly.” As most park visitors spent virtually all of their stay at the rim, the “bringing of this area into orderliness” was, according to Thomson, “probably the most desirable single improvement possible at this park.”
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.
