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1935
May 1 1935 Former Superintendent Solinsky, and his chief clerk are found guilty of using government funds and equipment for unauthorized uses. The two are sent to Leavenworth Federal Prison for a 5 – 8 year sentence. The former superintendent had built a house on East Main in Medford using Park material, trucks and labor. Park trucks would haul construction rocks down to Medford each time they went to town for a load of paving asphalt. Three additional employees were fired, even though they claimed they had just been following directions.
In addition to the house fraud, the superintendt also got into trouble trying to cover the repairs for a sunken boat. In August 29, 1967 the Park’s old wooden Ranger boat is sunk near Wizard Island, after using a sledge hammer to knock holes into the boat’s sides and bottom.
It was this boat was that got Supt Solinsky into
trouble. Evidently the boat initially purchased in 1931 sank in a storm, so a payroll payement was forged to cover the cost of its replacement. That landed Solinsky, his chief clerk (now AO) A.R. Erwin, and foreman Ike Davidson in hot water. The great thing about the boat was that the NPS could give boat tours with it and include a hike on the island independent of the concessionaire. From Park Historian Steve Mark (See the year 1931 for the full story.)
June 25 1935 “Court of Oregon shall appoint a Commissioner who will reside within the exterior boundaries of Crater Lake or at a place reasonably adjacent to the Park…” by an Act of Congress.
Summer 1935 Fireplaces are constructed in the Rim Campground. Rustic tables and benches are built during the following two summers.
July 21 1935 Terrific hailstorm, with hail 6 inches deep on the Watchman. Some stones measured 5/8 inch in diameter.
July 25 – Sept. 9 1935 Ranger Naturalist John Eliot Allen, while stationed at the Watchman, makes 50 observation and finds the “Old Man of the Lake” moved 23.3 miles during the 46 days “he” was under observation. The average rate of movement was a half-mile per day or 110 feet per hour.
July 1935 Five lightning storms in the Park start 26 forest fires.
August 1935 Margaret Hensley and Ernest Rostel are married in the home of Park Superintendent David Canfield. Ernie worked as a ranger in charge of publicity and interviewed many famous Park visitors, including Mrs. Roosevelt. Ernie published a major article, “Crater Lake, An Epic of Volcanology” in the Natural History Journal of January 1933.
August 1935 One of the CCC enrollees from the Wineglass Camp in going down from Kerr Notch to the lake with a group to go fishing, lost his balance and fell down a small cliff and down a steep incline. Companions farther down the trail saw him falling and ganged up, thereby preventing his going over a 200 feet precipitous bluff. He was packed out by one of the foreman and suffered no serious injuries other than ankle that was so badly broken that it was amputated after he had been under physician’s care for several days at the Roseburg, Oregon Veteran’s Hospital. (Sup Report)
August 1935 A policeman from Berkeley, California, Mr. Matlis, arrived at Park Headquarters in a very excited frame of mind saying that he had been mauled by a bear while sleeping in his sleeping bag at the Rim Campground. He was directed to the park physician’s office where he was treated for a surface wound on the upper arm. He insisted on a written statement from the doctor saying that he had been treated for a bear bite, using this statement for quite a newspaper story when he returned. This does not sound like anything the rangers have ever heard about, and our angle is that he attempted to capture a cub bear at night and the mother bear took steps (or bites) to prevent it. It is thought that he ran over and injured a cub bear near the rim and that in attempting to capture he was attacked by the mother.
August 5 1935 Chevrolet Sedan driven by Ford Harvey of Portland drives into Annie Creek Canyon. Mr. Harvey felt the South Entrance Road and fell some forty feet into the Canyon. The car was prevented from falling farther into the canyon by two small lodgepole trees. Mr. Harvey claims that while shutting off his spot light, he accidentally shut off his headlights, and was in darkness long enough to lose the roadway. The car was basically a total loss. Mr. Harvey escaped major injury. (Sup. Report)
August 15 1935 A near tragedy nearly occurred when five visiting CCC enrollees climbed down to the lake by way of the Garfield Peak slide. Upon reaching the water they were unable to either climb back up or to proceed by shore to the Lake Trail. When the officer in charge realized they were missing from the camp, Ranger Pfeynton Finch proceeded to the boat landing where he obtained a motor launch and proceeded around the lake in an effort to locate them. (Sup Report)
August 21 1935 Nine U.S. Army planes of the 31st Bombing Squadron circle the Lake at 10:30 a.m. “This is the largest mass flight over the crater in 6 years.” The planes then head for Medford and a week of bombing training.
August 26 1935 Two vehicles – a Chevrolet Sedan and a Chevrolet Truck collide (Sup Report)
August 27 1935 Two vehicles – a Packard sedan and a Chevrolet truck collide. (Sup Report)
August 31 1935 Fisherman drowns in the Lake, near Wizard Island, when his boat overturns.
The first drowning in the history of Crater Lake occurred near the southwest tip of Wizard Island. Occupants of the boat were Arthur Silva and Melvin Simon of Hayward, California, delegates to a national convention of 20-30 clubs being held in Klamath Falls. Mr. Simon was sitting in the bow of the boat holding both fishing rods while Mr. Silva rowed. As he got a good strike on one pole he called to Mr. Silva who wanted to land the fish as it was on his pole. Unfortunately, one man turned to the left and the other maneuvered to the right at the same instant, throwing their weight entirely on one side of the boat, and since the entire weight was in the narrow part, that is the frest, it capsized.
Mr. Simon came up under the boat and managed to keep hold of it until a launch from the main landing came over to the rescue. He never saw Mr. Silva after the boat tipped. The accident was observed by the lookout observer on the Watchman Peak on the rim just above the site of the accident. Mr. Silva’s body was recovered from some forty feet of water and over an hour of artificial respiration failed to achieve any results. (Sup Report)
1935 John Doerr becomes the Park’s first Park Naturalist. The Park’s Commissioner is no longer required to live in the Park. A stone entrance station and residence are constructed at the North Junction. The buildings were torn town 24 years later.
1935 100,000 Silver Salmon and 20,000 Steelhead are liberated in the Lake.
Winter 1935 – 1936 Park approach roads and the highway to the Rim are kept open for the first time throughout the winter.
Howell Williams conducts extensive geological studies on and around Mt. Mazama, completing his study in 1941.
Visitation: 1935 107,701 visitors
Winter 1935 – 1936 The park is kept open all winter for the first time in its history. Because of inadequate appropriations snow removal operations were not attempted during the winter of 1934-35, resulting in the park opening five weeks later than during the previous several years. In April snow removal commenced at which time a rotary and two bulldozers were used to clear the heavily-packed snow (13 feet at Park Headquarters). Visitors made their first trip over a two-way road to the lake rim on June 1. Once the snow was removed major road patching on the south and west entrance roads was undertaken.
Crater Lake was kept open on a year-round basis for the first time in 1935-36. The acquisition of an additional high-powered rotary snowplow facilitated the task of maintaining open roads in the face of heavy winter storms, leaving a total snowfall of nearly fifty feet. Bulldozers were used to cut through the frozen drifts on Rim Road. Cooperation from the Oregon State Highway Commission for snow removal on approach roads was an important factor in the winter accessibility of the park.
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