Quatrains of Crater Lake: Hemlocks
By Ernst G. Moll, Ranger-Naturalist
Serene where death once pitched his camp, they lift
Green spires against blue water far below;
And the scarred slopes where their slow shadows drift
Drink the cool peace that only trees bestow.
Drawing by Walter Rivers.
Speculation on Specularite
By Carl R. Swartzlow, Ranger-Naturalist
On the walk to Sinnott Memorial, about halfway down the last flight of steps, there is a boulder showing mineralization. The boulder is on the outside retaining wall, and along its top surface are streaks of specularite (ferric iron oxide) and small quantities of some other mineral. A high power microscope would be necessary to determine their identity. The presence of these materials proves the presence of mineralized waters or gases emanating from fissures on Mt. Mazama. Very few secondary minerals have been reported from the rocks of Crater Lake and each new discovery may help unravel the story of the type of magma that supplied the lavas of this region.
The Phantom Ship Loses a Sail
By Hugh H. Waesche, Ranger-Naturalist
The Phantom Ship is one of the most popular of Crater Lake’s many novel objects of beauty. Geologically, the Phantom Ship is a remnant of a projecting promontory of the Lake rim, left by natural erosional forces. It is separated from the mainland by a shallow channel of several hundred feet. As is the case with all earth features produced by the erosive action of water, wind, and ice, the Phantom Ship is doomed eventually to disappear from view.
The lava rocks of this “Ship” are like the others of the Crater Lake region in that they are much fractured by jointing. The joints give ready access to plants, rain, and ice, and promote unequal expansion of the rocks caused by changes of temperature. At the “bow” (southwest) end of the Phantom Ship are several comparatively small spires of rock, succeeded towards the “stern” by the tall pinnacles which rise high above the water, simulating the masts of a sailing ship. On July 25, 1934, between two and four o’clock in the afternoon the second of the smaller spires fell from its place into the lake carrying tons of rock from the side of the “Ship” with it. The evidence of this is shown by the absence of the spire and by a clean gray area of exposed new accumulation of talus at the water’s edge. It may have been caused by unequal expansion of the rock during the warm weather of the week of July 25.
A Water Ouzel Inside the Rim
By Berry Campbell, Ranger-Naturalist
The Water Ouzel (Cinclus mexicanus) is fairly common in the streams which flow off the sides of the old Mt. Mazama. It was the writers good fortune to discover a bird of this species at the shore of the lake at the foot of Dyar Rock late in the afternoon of July 25, 1934. I was traveling along the shore by rowboat, and saw the bird at the foot of one of the numerous spring-fed streams which cascade into the lake in that vicinity. This species has a predilection for water falls and the small trickle down the cliff walls seems to have been the attraction. I rowed up in the boat to get a better view of it and it flew around the next point. Sure enough, when I followed it around the point, I found that it had settled on a rock at the next waterfall, and there it stood, bobbing up and down, watching me as I rowed slowly off down the lake.
Applegate’s Paint-brush on Applegate Peak
By Elmer I. Applegate, Ranger-Naturalist
Last winter at Stanford University, while preparing labels for my 1933 collection of Crater lake plants, I was struck by the unusual repetition of a name on one of them. The label reads something like this:
Name of plant: Castilleja Applegatei. Locality: Applegate Peak. Collector: Elmer I. Applegate.
The plant was named for me by Dr. M. L. Fernald of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University, based upon a collection made by me on the summit of Mount Scott, in August, 1896.
To complete the story, I might add that Mount Scott was named for Levi Scott, a member of my grandfather Applegate’s expedition in the initial exploration of southern Oregon and the blazing of the Applegate Trail in 1846.
An Oregon Jay Gets a Thrill
By J. Stanley Brode, Ranger-Naturalist
On August 20 an Oregon Jay attempting to light on the ridgepole of our tent apparently missed his landing and lighting on the slope, continued sliding on down to the edge, where it took flight. Now, if that had occurred only once it might have been construed as an accident. But apparently they jay was as thrill hungry as the modern generation is reputed to be, for it came back to try the slide again. Three times the performance was repeated, and then our sliding jay betook himself to other means of amusement.
