In former years everyone was impressed by the natural beauties of Crater Lake, but after the first gasp, there was an awkward pause. It was like entering a beautiful residence, expecting to greet an old friend, but finding no one at home. There was no one at home at Crater Lake inside the lodge or out. After a few “Ohs” and “Ahs” and a leaving of cards, as it were, one was eager to get away.
This year there is a decidedry homelike atmosphere at the lake. One feels it immediately upon entering the lodge. You are not greeted as if you were merely an animated five dollar bill, welcome solely as a contributor to household expenses, but as a human being on a pilgrimage of devotion. Will Steel, the father of Crater Lake, puts this over. He is behind the counter to greet you, not as another customer, but as another candidate for initiation into the Mystic Order of Crater Lake enthusiasts.
Moreover the entire hotel staff is on its toes. They are all new and have the enthusiasm of fresh recruits. Not only is the table excellent, but the service combines beauty and efficiency to a remarkable degree.
At night the guests gather around the fire like a large and happy family. There is music furnished by members of the hotel staff, and there is dancing entered into even by those who climbed Garfield Peak in the afternoon.
Then Will Steel usually gives a little talk on Crater Lake, its history and formation, which is just what the visitors are eager to hear, and about ten o’clock everyone trots off to bed.
It may be merely the difference between good hotel management and no hotel management at all. But there seems to be something more–the creation of atmosphere in it. This appears to be the supreme achievement of the Crater Lake management of 1921. [12]
Park visitation increased by more than 40 percent for a total of 28,617 in 1921 despite the late opening of park roads due to late spring snows. The increase was attributed in part to the concessioner arrangements as well as improvements to the three public campgrounds in the park. Water facilities were installed at the Rim Campground, and toilets were constructed in each of the campgrounds. Some 14,000 persons, or 50 percent of park visitors, used the campgrounds. [13]
The Scenic America Company, a Portland-based firm headed by Fred H. Kiser, opened a photographic studio west of the lodge on August 25, 1921. Prior to the erection of the stone building the studio had operated in a tent. Under the terms of its concession contract the company sold photographic souvenirs, post cards, oil enlargements, and camera supplies. According to Mather, the establishment of this studio brought “to the park permanently the genius and artistic influence” of a man “who knows the national park system as well as anybody in the Northwest, and who for many years has aided this bureau by supplying pictures, by lecturing, and by writing on the parks and other western mountain regions”. [14]
In June 1922, just prior to the opening of the tourist season, the Crater Lake National Park Company formally acquired the concession facilities leased to them by the Parkhurst interests the previous year. The lodge was improved, and on July 11 construction was begun on an $80,000 eighty-room addition. Under a two-year subcontract to William T. Lee of Klamath Falls a fleet of six “powerful new seven-passenger [Packard] touring cars” was introduced to provide improved service between the park and Medford and Klamath Falls. A five-year subcontract was let to the Standard Oil Company of California to construct and operate a gasoline service station at Anna Spring, thus filling a long-felt need by the motoring public. [15]
To protect the investment of the new concessioner and to encourage the development of plans for further comprehensive improvements and extensions in accommodations for park visitors a new franchise was granted the Crater Lake National Park Company by the Department of the Interior. The contract, signed on December 7, 1922, but made retroactive to January 1, provided for a twenty-year arrangement to cover hotel, camp, transportation, and other visitor services. While the contract offered “inducements for progressive development of the Crater Lake properties,” it also contained, according to NPS Director Mather, “reciprocal obligations on the part of the owner to keep abreast of the demand for increased facilities, in so far as this can be done with due regard to the short season, reasonable return on the investment, and similar considerations.” [16]
