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.
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]
