About fifty Mazamas joined these men on the crater rim in the middle of August, along with several hundred other individuals traveling by wagon and on foot from Ashland, Medford, and Klamath Falls. Also present were participants from the Fort Klamath Indian Reservation and the nearby army post. The executive council meeting of the club was held in the Witch’s Cauldron in the crater of Wizard Island; new members were elected and the decision made to set aside each August 21 as Mazama Day. Guided nature walks and campfire lectures by the eminent scientists on the flora, fauna, and geology of the region occupied the group’s time. This outing culminated in the christening of “Mount Mazama” when Miss Fay Fuller, first white woman to climb Mount Rainier and first historian of the Mazamas, broke a bottle of crystal-clear water distilled from the snow in Wizard Island’s crater against a rock on the mountain side. Other highlights of the event included a speech by Steel and the recitation of an original poem about Mount Mazama by Miss Fuller. The evening ended with a gorgeous illumination by red fire of the crater on Wizard Island, accompanied by the firing of Winchester rifles and the execution of the club yell.
The scientific conclusions drawn from this trip were of the utmost importance, having had the benefit of more extended study in their formulation. There was a general feeling that
the geology of the region offers problems of the greatest interest for solution; the fauna is said to be the most interesting of any part of the Cascades. . . The most important discovery, however, was that made in taking temperatures of the water. . . The conclusion is almost irresistible that this curious phenomenon [higher temperatures in the lower depths of the lake] is due to the presence of very considerable volcanic heat. [23]
Probably the most important result of the participation by the scientists was that each one of them eventually recommended passage of the Crater Lake Park bill. Their arguments were made on the basis of the area s being a great natural wonder, favorably situated for a healthful and instructive pleasure resort; being potentially valuable as an attraction for scientific study; being a potential contributor to the economic prosperity of the region; and being too easily susceptible to the ravages of fire and worthy of more care than it was receiving under its status as a timber reserve.[24]
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