The Sinnott Memorial was dedicated with special ceremonies on July 16, 1931. Donald B. Colton, a representative from Utah and chairman of the House Committee on Public Lands, gave the dedicatory speech. Colton had succeeded Sinnott as the chairman of the committee. Colton stressed the untiring efforts of Sinnott in interesting the national authorities in Crater Lake and obtaining for Oregon’s national park funds with which improvements had been made. Among those attending the ceremonies were NPS Director Horace M. Albright, William G. Steel, and nine members of the Committee on Public Lands. [14]
During the summer of 1931 exhibits, emphasizing the beauty and scientific aspects of the Crater Lake story, were placed in the Sinnott Memorial. Nine exhibit boxes were sunk in the masonry of the parapet to interpret the park’s principal themes:
1. Volcanoes of the Northwest
2. Why We Believe a Great Volcano Existed Here
3. Building Up of the Mountain
4. Glaciation
5. Destruction of the Mountain
6. Latest Volcanic Activity
7. Crater Lake
8. Beauty of Color
9. Beauty of Form
Between and outside of these boxes ten pairs of field glasses and two binocular telescopes (battery commander) were mounted in fixed position in order to tell the story of Crater Lake in a consecutive manner. Other installations placed in the memorial included a cast relief model of Crater Lake and vicinity which had been presented to the park earlier by the Crater Lake Company, exhibits related to experiments to determine the color of the lake’s water and the color of light transmitted through the water, a small stand to be used by visitors to identify color, color harmony, and landscape composition, and a charred cross-section of a three-foot log of Western yellow pine which had been found buried beneath some 60 feet of ash at a road excavation some ten miles southwest of the rim.
During 1931 new educational activities were integrated with the observation, information, and lecture services at the Sinnott Memorial. The expanded activities were developed under the direction of the new park naturalist, Donald S. Libbey, and Ansel F. Hall, NPS Senior Naturalist and Forester. [15] A Naturalist Guided Automobile Tour was inaugurated. The tour consisted of a twenty-minute lecture on the geological history of Crater Lake followed by a directed 16-stop, three-hour circuit around the rim of the lake. Beginning on July 17 a program of four alternative lake boat rides was offered, ranging from a full day to approximately three hours under the title “Trips on Crater Lake with the Ranger-Naturalists.” Plans were developed for the printing of three leaflets to serve as guides for the parapet views at the memorial and the auto and lake trips. [16]
Park educational activities were placed under what was referred to as the Research and Educational Department in 1932. Libbey expanded the program with the assistance of three seasonal ranger-naturalists. It was necessary to assign individuals from the regular ranger personnel to assist in the work since there was an increase of more than 100 percent in educational contacts compared to 1931. Total contacts were reported to be 49,206 or 44.8 percent of the total visitors. Some 342 lectures with 6,971 persons in attendance were given along the parapet of the Sinnott Memorial. Park personnel participated in 22 radio broadcasts on the lone Medford radio station and gave two lectures outside the park, thus increasing public awareness of park activities.
Nightly lectures and daily field trips continued to be the mainstays of the park educational program. Chalk talks were introduced as an added feature of the lectures. The most popular field trip, according to Superintendent Solinsky, was the “conducted rim caravan tour.” Some 82 auto tours were conducted with a total of 365 cars and 1,276 persons participating. A new field trip was added to the program schedule, consisting of a 3-1/2-hour hike around the rim to the foot of Watchman Peak with a climb up the new Watchman Trail to the Watchman Lookout, a new structure housing forest protection exhibits.
