As a result of Mather’s continuing lobbying efforts Senator McNary introduced legislation (S. 4283) on April 6, 1918, to provide for the transfer of some 92,800 acres of national forest land to the control of the National Park Service for addition to Crater Lake National Park. The proposed extension included a 3/4-mile strip of land on the western boundary as well as the principal nine-mile northward enlargement to include the Diamond Lake region (see map below). In support of this bill Mather noted:
When the park has been enlarged as proposed by this measure an opportunity will be afforded for developing to a very much greater extent the camping facilities of this region. Diamond Lake will lend itself to development as a fishing resort of great importance and other recreational features will be added that will, in a few years, make this park as great a resort as most of the very big national parks. This is its manifest destiny. Furthermore, the enlargement of the park will make conditions more satisfactory from the point of view of the development of first-class transportation, hotel, and camp accommodations, because the traveling public can be induced to spend more time in the park than ordinarily is the case at the present time. More roads will be built, opening up unusually interesting territory, and providing circle trips that will delight the traveler. A road connecting Crater and Diamond Lakes would be a natural development. The addition will also afford better opportunities to protect the wild life of the park.
Like the proposed extension of the Yellowstone National Park, the addition of the Diamond Lake region to Crater Lake would give to the national park system something that was intended by nature always to be the property of the Nation and to be developed as a recreational area for all the people. . . . [72]
Map showing the proposed enlargement of the Crater Lake National Park.
A more detailed account of why the Park Service was interested in the Diamond Lake extension was given by Superintendent Sparrow in his annual report in 1918. The Service was interested in the extension for two principal purposes- -to develop its recreational opportunities and to create an enlarged game preserve. Sparrow elaborated on these themes:
Diamond Lake is 5,200 feet above sea level and is almost rectangular, 2-1/2 by 5 miles, its south end being 5 miles north of the present park boundary. It is beautifully located and furnishes an ideal camping ground. To the east and south the shore is grassy, with a gradual slope to a pebbly beach, making it possible to walk or ride into the water, which is shallow for some distance. By reason of its shallowness, the water becomes warm enough for comfortable bathing.
This lake offers a strong contrast to Crater Lake, in which bathing is out of the question and which is reached only by a trail built at considerable expense. . . .
Mount Thielson is directly east, and Mount Bailey west of Diamond Lake. The region comprising these three scenic attractions rightfully belongs to the park not only as a recreation ground but as a game preserve.
Crater Lake Park is too small for a game preserve. Many of the deer get quite tame and it seems like murder to kill them when they stray across the boundary. One case in point occurred recently during the hunting season. Voley Pearsons, of Klamath Falls, shot a doe on the road about 300 yards outside the southern entrance to the park. The doe had frequently visited the ranger’s cabin and was so tame that it would not run when an auto approached. As it is unlawful to kill a doe at any time, the man was arrested by the Park Service and turned over the local authorities at Fort Klamath, where he was fined $25 and costs. This case is cited only as evidence of the necessity of enlarging our game preserve. [73]
