While there will be, apparently, no necessity for an automobile service from Harriman Lodge or Agency Landing to Crater Lake this season, inasmuch as people at the lodge can easily go to Chiloquin via Klamath Falls by boat and rail, the President of the Crater Lake Company has advised me that, if his company is able to co-operate with the Klamath Development Company, it will run an automobile from Harriman Lodge twice a week provided four passengers at least are assured for each trip, or it will make two round trips a week from Agency Landing.
October 11, 1912, when at San Francisco, I called upon Mr. S.0. Johnson, Vice President of the Klamath Development Company, with whom I conferred regarding automobile passenger service to Crater Lake and the requirement, if any, for a renewal during the season of 1913 of the permit issued to his company during the season of 1912 to operate automobiles in the Crater Lake National Park. Mr. Johnson stated that the Klamath Development Company would make formal application for a renewal of said permit and that it should be granted for the following reasons: That his company had gone to large expense in constructing the White Pelican hotel at Klamath Falls and in fitting up Harriman Lodge situated on Pelican Bay, between which points it maintained a boat service; that many people desired to visit Crater Lake from the lodge, the distance being forty-five miles, and in his opinion the best route; and that those who wished to do so could make the round trip from the lodge in one day. In further conversation with him he was asked if it would not be to the detriment of the concessioner’s hotel business at Crater Lake should he rush visitors up there and back to Harriman Lodge (his company’s hotel) the same day, to which he replied there was no place to the lake for visitors to stop over night and little, if anything, for them to eat. As to the accommodations at the lake, Mr. Johnson evidently had been misinformed, as having at that time just come from there myself, I am able to say visitors were well taken care of at the Crater Lake Company’s temporary hotel which was provided with comfortable beds, and its table supplied with an ample quantity of wholesome food. The reasons advanced by Mr. Johnson for a renewal of said permit would appear to be wholly insufficient, as in fact the road from Harriman Lodge to Crater Lake, while not the shortest route, is by no means the best, and there is no evidence of a desire on the part of park visitors to travel over this route. Furthermore it would seem the Government is not interested in exploiting hotels at Harriman Lodge, Klamath Falls or elsewhere. Inasmuch as the Crater Lake Company, which conducts the hotel business in the park, is in position to furnish such automobile passenger service as will meet the demands of visitors entering the park at either the western or southern entrance, there appears to be no reason why the application of the Klamath Development Company for renewal of its transportation permit should be granted, and it is therefore recommended that it be denied.
Mr. Parkhurst, of the Crater Lake Company, has by the expenditure of a large amount of his individual funds, shown commendable faith in the future of Crater Lake National Park as a tourist resort, and his company, which has entered into the twenty-year lease hereinbefore referred to, would appear to be entitled to liberal consideration. It is therefore recommended that a permit to transport passengers in and through the Crater Lake National Park be issued to the Crater Lake Company for a period of five years, instead of one year, providing there is no objection due to administrative reasons.
Edward W. Dixon, Inspector to Secretary of the Interior, February 15, 1913, RG 79, Central Files, 1907-39, File No. 204.010, Part 1, Crater Lake Inspectors By Field Officers.
