Ralph Peyton and Jim Griffin acquire the Crater Lake Lodge Company from the Smiths. Negotiations begin with the new concessionaires for the NPS to buy the Lodge for $285,000 and convert the building into a visitor center. The new concessionaires were to take the purchase price and construct a new motel accommodating 250 people adjacent to the cafeteria building. A new access road was planned from the south that would diverge from the existing road below Rim Campground and allow visitors to avoid the congested plaza area as they made their way to the new visitor center.
May 31
Rescue of a dog that had fallen into the Annie Creek Canyon.
June 10
Lloyd Smith begins work as a seasonal maintenance laborer and construction worker. Lloyd transfers to the ranger division, and law enforcement in 1965. Smith eventually works 22 summers for the Park.
Summer
Both the North Junction stone Entrance Station and stone ranger cabin are torn down. The cabin was located on the Rim, at the junction of Rim Drive and the North Road. The entrance station was located at the road “y”.
Annie Spring is encased with stone to obtain safe drinking water for Mazama Campground.
The “Fisher”, a former tuna bait boat, is lowered over the Crater wall. The excursion boat is named for, Don Fisher, the first superintendent of Lava Beds Nation Monument.
R.E. Williams and party, using sonar, map the Lake’s bottom. The depth of the Lake is officially changed from 1996 feet to 1932 feet. The 64 foot difference between the new reading and the 1886 reading is attributed to the Lake’s thermoclines (temperature caused currents), causing a large bow in the original sounding wire.
Summers 1959-1960
Felicia Wirtz, PhD, becomes the second lady ranger at Crater Lake. Felicia’s husband John, Ph.D., worked at the Park during the summers of 1955 and 1957.
Fall
Old Lake trail in front of the cafeteria is closed and abandoned.
October 3
Otto M. Brown enters on duty as Superintendent.
October 4
Rescue of young lady off of Hillman Peak.
October 13
Rescue of young boy near Old Lake Trail.
December 10
The latest date on record of measurable snow beginning to fall.
Season Visitation: 340,989
