. . . As usual, visitors got caught in the early storms and had to be helped out when their cars became stalled or skidded off the road. It was necessary to widen and improve the detour around the Annie Spring section to provide room for the operation of the big, heavy snow plows. Snow poles had to be erected all along the roads from the southwest and to the Rim of Crater Lake. Snow sheds had to be installed at Park headquarters and to the entrance-way of every building that is used or occupied during the winter. These include not only quarters, mess hall, dormitories, etc., but also comfort stations at the Rim and at Park headquarters. The temporary ranger station used on the Rim during the winter months in pre-war time and which was moved to a point about midway between the South Entrance and Annie Spring for an emergency ski patrol cabin, was moved back to the Rim and placed in readiness for service during the winter. . . .
The extended and heavy storm from the 16th through the 29th required the services of all personnel to keep the highways open and utilities operating. The 1936 3-auger Sno-Go broke down early in the storm and this threw an added burden on the old 2-auger 1929 model Sno-Go, as well as the operators. In spite of the extraordinarily heavy snow fall, part of the time with an admixture of rain which created slush out of the packed snow on the highways, the roads were never closed, although travel was discouraged. The 3-auger Sno-Go was still in the shop awaiting parts for repairs at the end of the month.
The heavy snow fall throughout the Park, coupled with a “silver thaw” in the lower elevation, snapped power and telephone lines promiscuously. Electric power service was off for three days with breaks from one end of the transmission line to the other, while both the Chiloquin and Ft. Klamath telephone lines were still out at the end of the month, due to numerous breaks. Telephone service between Park headquarters and Annie Spring, however, was restored, so employees in that area could keep in touch with Park headquarters. [20]
During the postwar years maintenance standards, personnel, and park appropriations were gradually restored to their prewar levels. Because little maintenance or repair had been accomplished during the war, the condition of park roads, buildings, and facilities were greatly in need of rehabilitation during the postwar period while funding and personnel levels were slowly increasing. Thus park management was confronted with a backlog of maintenance and repair needs that it could not meet for several years. In July 1948, for instance, Superintendent Leavitt reported:
Loss through decay of the Goodbye Creek Bridge, Annie Creek Bridge, and closing of Rim Road at Anderson Bluff through slide, seriously handicaps safe and satisfactory travel; detours at these points are dangerous and at the Goodbye Bridge detour many accidents have occurred, especially during the winter time. The main, public campground at the Rim is in deplorable condition; too small, no room for trailers, inefficiently laid out, covered by snow till middle of July; Annie Spring campground development never completed; comfort station only modern feature; existing campground should be improved and new ones developed; South and West Entrance roads badly need seal coating job; should be rebuilt; buildings, constructed for summer use only, used on year-round basis; are unsatisfactory and inefficient, expensive to maintain and operate; utilities generally need rehabilitation.
Good results have been obtained in every park activity within the funds that have been made available for personnel, supplies, and equipment, which, in general, are too limited. Economy-minded Congress, whose purpose is to reduce and close out war-born expansion or new bureaus, works hardship on the National Park Service, which reached an all-time low during the war and now must expand to give proper protection to areas and provide for tremendous increase in travel. There has been no new construction in the park since before the war. [21]
Snow removal continued to be a major expenditure of the park’s operating budget during the early 1950s. In 1952 NPS Director Conrad L. Wirth pointed out that snow removal placed “abnormal demands for maintenance and abnormal maintenance costs” on the park’s operating budget. He observed, “about $400,000, or 10 percent of maintenance funds, is spent annually to remove snow, with no permanent benefit to road conditions. Less than 4 percent is spent for professional services.” [22]
As park management rebuilt its staff and organizational structure in the postwar years maintenance operations were placed under the engineering division for administrative purposes. An organization chart prepared in June 1955 indicated that maintenance activities were assigned to the engineering division headed by Park Engineer William N. Loftis, Jr. The functions of the division were:
