The park electrical department kept the telephone system in repair, and the mechanical department under the direction of a master mechanic (with the aid of several seasonals) had charge of the overhaul and repair of park vehicles and equipment. While the vehicles and equipment had been overhauled during the fall and winter, the park vehicles were a continuing source of trouble and expense. With the exception of two trucks, all of the park vehicles “came from war surplus stock” and had “long since outlived their usefulness.” [8]
Road maintenance and snow removal operations in the park were facilitated by the acquisition of new equipment in 1930. According to Superintendent Solinsky marked improvement was made in the condition of Rim Road and the north and east entrance roads with the “new road equipment and funds that allowed extensive work in grading and smoothing up the road surfaces.” Because of the heavy increase in travel, considerable maintenance was necessary on the oiled roads. Several sections, ranging in length from 1/2 to 1-1/2 miles, had to be torn up, reprocessed, and relaid. The type of pavement used on these roads was such, according to Solinsky, that “with the increasing use each year the annual maintenance costs will increase until such time as a more permanent pavement can be laid.”
In 1930 snow removal from roads was aided by the acquisition of a new “mechanical snow remover”–a Bates 80 tractor with rotary snow plow and Hall backfiller attached. With its use the road to the rim from both the south and west entrances was open to traffic on May 24, the earliest opening date in the history of the park. The north entrance and Rim roads were open to travel on June 26, the earliest that either road had been opened.
Solinsky noted that considerable expense was necessary in opening and clearing the slides from the Crater Wall Trail. The trail was “so located with the number of switchbacks on the loose sliding sides of the crater wall that it necessitates handling of the slide material several times before it can be disposed of.” This in turn made the “annual maintenance costs exceedingly high and out of proportion to its original cost.”
Roadside cleanup continued to be a major concern of park maintenance in 1930. Using an allotment of $4,000 some five miles were cleared of debris and trash. [9]
In May 1931 Superintendent Solinsky reported on the park snow removal operations to NPS Director Horace Albright. He observed that the park’s snow plan
has proven the theory that it is much easier and more economical to remove the snow while it is still soft or following each of the winter storms rather than to wait until spring when the snow becomes packed and almost solid ice.
Snow plow operations had started on November 15, and two operators were employed at a salary of $100 per month each plus board.
Solinsky went on to describe the advantages of snow removal operations and its impact on park operations and visitation. Among other things he noted:
Another fact to be considered is that we are able to set a definite date for the opening of our park roads with assurance that the park will be opened on the date set. Last fall we set April 1 as the date on which we would open the park and permit visitors to travel to the Rim. On March 31 I drove from Medford through the West Entrance to the Rim without the use of chains on my car. Visitors entered the park from both the South and West Entrances and drove to the Rim on April 1 and the roads have been maintained and kept in good travelable condition ever since. We have received many congratulatory expressions from all who have visited the lake during the past month and I am sure that the early opening of the park has met with much favorable enthusiasm from everyone.
Notwithstanding the fact that April proved a rather stormy month and provided very few good days for travel, over 6,000 people in about 2,000 cars visited Carter Lake during the month. We registered cars from twenty-four states and two Canadian provinces. I feel that it is well worthwhile to open the park early for the reason that we have many eastern visitors traveling up and down the Pacific Coast during April and May who have never had the opportunity of visiting Crater Lake while passing through this locality. I believe it quite important that these people, particularly the easterners, be given the opportunity of visiting the park and think the advertising we receive through this contact is well worthwhile.
I am quite sure that you will agree that we have received a lot of very favorable publicity throughout the important papers on this coast in connection with the early opening of Crater Lake. We have taken a number of pictures and have broadcast them through the press and we have also taken a number of reels of moving picture film which show the Snogo plow in operation and some splendid winter scenes about the park including a reel or two taken from a boat on Crater Lake early in March on a day when the reflections were perfect. We plan to use these reels in our lectures during the coming season and I am sure they will prove most interesting to the visitors. [10]
