The Phanton Ship Log.
Yes. Rod Cranson was interested in that. If you look in that log there’s a picture of, I think it’s me, dressed up as John Hillman with a saddle over my shoulder walking out of the park. There were no horses any more. I think we took a park boundary sign and stuck it on a tree by Rat Hall (8). There would be a lot more living history if I was in charge. Imagine living history with a kids program. It would be awesome. Those kids would just be all eyes, asking, “Who is this guy, what does this mean? I want to know more about this.” That’s certainly a missing park to any interpretive program in a park that has such a rich history as we have. Ron Warfield either started or helped run a program as Lassen, which had a living history (9). There was a guy and a gal interpreter with the oxen that pulled carts. I don’t know if they were real oxen or what they used. They would drive up as the pioneers coming over the pass. He appreciated living history, but I don’t think he reinstated the Hillman program.
Was there a kid program at the rim?
Yes, there was. In addition to the kids programs at the rim, we thought about putting one down at the Mazama Campground also. I remember doing them in both places. One met at the Rim Center and involved sitting down a talk about fire and the many hats of a park ranger, or topics like that. The campground was a little better because that is where families were more abundant and centered. We would meet kids down at the amphitheater. I remember more of the rim kids programs rather than the Mazama kids programs.
I remember meeting the public at the Mazama Amphitheater so we could do the Annie Creek hike. The Garfield hike began in the morning and the Annie Creek hike was offered in the afternoon.
There could be a couple of people, in the Rim VC, and roving Rim Village doing the Hillman and Sinnott talks as well?
The visitor center on the rim would be our focus. We would be knocking shoulders at times as we switched. One rim rover was coming in while another one would be leaving. Those were one or two hours blocks of time. You would be in the visitors center selling books for two hours, then you’d be out on the rim for an hour or two, then you’d have lunch.
Was there a work room so that seasonals had some sort of office space?
Yes, that would have been in Rat Hall. The Naturalist Hall above the fire cache. At that time there were a couple desks, the slide file, and we had our meetings up there. At that time there was one big room and one huge heater, I think it had a blower on it.
