June 26
An armed robbery of two park visitors occurs at the Annie Creek Falls Picnic Area. The two male victims are beaten and kicked with $42 taken by the six assailants.
June 30
30 Youth Conservation Corps enrollees arrive for an eight week camp and work program.
The youth are assigned the Old Ranger Dorm.
July
A nineteen year old maintenance worker falls out of an upper story window of Sleepy Hollow House number 53, breaking his back, after chug-a-lugging a fifth of Segrims 7 whiskey.
July 28
A car with two teenagers, one a YCC enrollee, rolls over the road bank above Headquarters. Beer was found in the car. A large, roadside rock pins one of the youths to a snow bank, as the two of them escape with minor injuries.
July 28
Two juveniles are arrested at North Entrance by rangers Vic Affolter and David Panebaker for possession of a stolen car from Washington. The two youths are transported to Klamath Falls awaiting an investigation by the FBI.
August
A herd of 55 elk stroll past Ron Mastrogiuseppe as he hikes into Union Peak.
A large concentration of Tortoise Shell butterflies flutter their way through the eastern portion of the Park.
Ranger Tom Young and wife Betty spot a cougar running across the West Entrance Road.
August 10
Rim Drive, finally free of snow, opens for traffic. This is the latest Rim Road opening on record since 1945.
Summer
Bob Ewing, a biology teacher from Portland Community College and Portland University claims to have swum Crater Lake.
1974 – 1975
A bear study following the closing of the Park’s garbage dumps finds that 11 to 12 bear had to be destroyed because they could not adapt to returning to natural foraging. The study estimates that 40 to 45 bear still live in the Park.
The Forest and Wilderness Construction company sues Crater Lake National Park for $1,012 claiming in court that one of the 14 bears transported out of the Park during the past year had broken into and damaged the company’s trail camp near Four Mile Lake. The Judge ruled that the bears had not been transplanted in a negligent manner and that the Government was not liable for the damage that had been caused.
New rusty metal boxy entrance signs are installed at the North and West boundaries after bulldozing the historic stone and Redwood entrance signs.
Latest now removal in memory. Snow drifts remain in Rim Village throughout the summer.
The Park’s Master Plan is revised. Many expansion and construction projects are dropped or put off. Public hearings on the new Plan are scheduled in Portland, Medford and Klamath Falls.
All public row boats are removed from the Lake. The boats were getting old and coupled with a more difficult job of establishing rowing limits at Cleetwood Cove, officials felt that the public use of the Lake should be restricted to the Lake launches.
Because of the Park’s reliance on Forest Service fire observation overflights, theWatchman Fire Lookout is closed.
Mazama Campground and the Rim Campground are placed on a nation-wide Park Reservation System. Because only 5% of the Park’s campers make reservations, the administration of the system in the Park creates an administrative nightmare.
Season Visitation: 525,030. Down 3% from last year.
Mid-1970’s
The Dallas District Attorney clams, that after a thorough investigation, he believes that the body of a murdered Denison, Texas woman is buried somewhere in Crater Lake National Park. Local authorities search the canyons along the West Road, but find nothing.
