Steel recommended that a building be constructed to provide dining, sleeping, and living quarters for seasonal park workers. Since the park was far removed from population centers it was difficult at best to attract summer labor. In view of the fact that the Klamath region was stock country and haying operations reached their peak in July and August, laborers were in demand at good wages during the summer. The lack of adequate housing and sanitary facilities made it even more difficult to attract park labor.
Steel became enamored with the idea of government ownership of all concessions and private development in the park. His goal became that of making Crater Lake a self-sustaining entity. In 1914, for instance, he stated:
The frequent changes of administration in this Government, together with the unsatisfactory condition in which the national park service is left by Congress, are so pronounced that capitalists are unwilling to advance funds on park concessions in amounts adequate to their needs, in consequence of which rapid development is seriously impaired, and the impression is gaining ground among men of large means that such investments are extra hazardous. Under such conditions it seems to me imperative that the General government acquire possession of all hotels and other permanent improvements of a private nature within the parks, and that they then be leased to desirable parties for a reasonable consideration. This would be an important step toward making the parks self-sustaining, which they should be. With the road system completed, this revenue, together with that received from automobiles, would make the Crater Lake Park self-sustaining from the start, providing a comprehensive plan of management were developed to meet new conditions. Construction of private improvements at Crater Lake is yet in is infancy, for which reason I would recommend that the experiment be tried here, where the initial outlay would be comparatively light.
In 1914 and 1915 Steel renewed earlier recommendations to expand the park boundaries northward and westward and enlarge the park to include Diamond Lake, Mount Thielsen, and Mount Bailey. After considerable study of the issue, he observed in 1914:
Boundaries of the Crater Lake National Park were not originally located wisely, for the reason that but little was then known of the necessities of the case, or of physical conditions. Experience has shown that they should be changed to meet new and permanent conditions. . . .
In support of the foregoing, will say there are no settlers within the new boundaries. On the west there is a narrow strip of Klamath County that should be eliminated and the park made to conform with the county line.
On the east there is also a narrow strip between the park and the Klamath Indian Reservation that should be eliminated and the park boundary made to conform with the Indian reservation.
On the north is located an extremely interesting region that is wholly within the Crater National Forest and should be included in the Crater Lake National Park in time to extend to it the road system now under construction. It is neither valuable for agriculture nor mining, and there is no public reason why this extension should not be made. On the other hand, I believe it will meet with approval of a vast majority of the people of the State. Within the proposed extension is located Diamond Lake, one of the most beautiful and attractive in the mountain region, and Mount Thielsen, a sharp peak standing over 9,000 feet above sea level and commonly known as the Lightning Rod of the Cascades, because of the brilliant displays of lightning about its pinnacle in stormy weather.
