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1966
Winter 1966 (or late 1965) Ski legend, John Day, of Medford, invites the Italian National Team coach and his two top skiers to Oregon for a training clinic. They ended their visit by skiing the Crater Lake Rim in a record six and one-half hours. At age 55, John Day tried out for the 1964 U.S. Cross Country team but was turned down. In 1966 John founded the Oregon Nordic Club. After Day had mastered the Norwegian techniques of skiing, he entered the grueling 60-mile Hardanger Katjulen ski race, finishing it in 17 hours. When John was 46, his doctors told him he would never walk erect again due to severe arthritis in his back. He decided to prove them wrong. Eventually he climbed six major peaks in Washington State in nine days and over 250 major peaks. (Information from John Lund to the author.)
June 15 1966 Gerald Reh and Ray Vincent kidnap a bear cub near Annie Spring. While being pursued by Ranger Jack Worth, the two men toss the cub from their speeding car. The two are fined $425 for “molesting park animals and speeding.” The mother bear from whom the cub was stolen became a dangerous pest in Mazama Campground during the summer and was eventually “destroyed”, by park rangers, along with her young cubs.
June 18 1966 Larry and Linda Smith marry in Ashland, Oregon. Their honeymoon is spent living in a tiny employee trailer at Annie Springs where Larry worked at the Annie Spring Entrance Station, worked as a patrol ranger and worked two days a week at the HQ Dispatch and Information Center. Larry is hired as a fifth-grade teaching in Jacksonville, Oregon, starting in September.
August 1966 NPS Director George Hartzog’s visit to Crater Lake leads to an appraising of the Munson Valley buildings in anticipation of turning them over the concessionaire for day use and overnight visitor use. The Steel Circle apartments are to be converted into motel units. (Please see “Administrative History”, Chapter 17, Planning and Development at Rim Village by S.R. Mark for more detail.)
Summer 1966 Washington Douglas McClain, of Texas, becomes Crater Lake’s first Black Entrance Station Ranger. David Scott of Atlanta was first offered the job, but he backed out and the job was then offered to Washington. David Scott, the brother-in-law of Hank Aaron, went on to become long-term Congressman Scott representing Georgia’s 13th district.
August 28 1966 Herald & News – College Students Provide Manpower for Crater Lake Jobs – by Dick Briggs
Park Service and Concession Operators Find Young Employees “Hard Working, Efficient”.
Representative of the young people employed at the National Park are eight students, including six serving the Peyton Griffin enterprises and two others working for the National Park Service, which the Herald and News interviewed at their jobs.
Washington McClain – Visitors entering Crater Lake Park probably will be greeted for the first time by Washington
Douglas McClain, 22, a student at Florida A&M College who is serving as an assistant ranger on duty at the south entrance of the National Park. MaClain welcomes park visitors as they register at the park entrance, collects park admission fees and distributes to motorists published material relating to the famous landmark. The political science major applied for the park service job while on campus last May and received word of his acceptance the following month. McClain appraises the Park Service as an organization which offers “young men a great opportunity to do something different.” In McClain’s case, “something different: meant his first visit to the Pacific Coast amid temperatures much lower to which he is accustomed. A resident of Tyler, Texas, the assistant ranger said he was uncomfortable most of the early summer while attempting to adjust to the 40-degreee weather of the more than one-mile high national park.
McClain is an admirer of Gov. Mark O. Hatfield and hopes he will be on duty if the Oregon official visits the area this summer. Upon completing his undergraduate work, the student intends to enroll at Indiana University and work toward his master’s degree in political science.
Larry Smith – Another of 18 summer employees at the National Park is in his fifth season as a seasonal park ranger.
Smith is assigned to the Park’s information/dispatch desk four days a week where he answers letters from school groups, replies to queries from some 50 – 60 visitors daily and provides solutions to dilemmas confronting visitors in the park. He observed that people with their varied backgrounds are the “most interesting part” of his job, especially the large number of foreign visitors who visit the Park annually. Larry works one day a week as a park patrol ranger. Smith graduated from LeTournau College in Longview, Texas and from Southern Oregon College with a degree in education last June and plans to continue working at the Park in the summer when he is not teaching school in Jacksonville. His twin brother, Lloyd, a teacher at Grants Pass, is also a seasonal employee with the Park Service at Crater Lake.
Crater Lake Lodge is the headquarters for some 113-college youths who provide most of the staff, which keeps the lodge and other concessions at the park in operation. The summer employees reside in dormitories on the third floor of the lodge. The students start their summer jobs about the second week in June and remain until a few days after Labor Day.
Linda Vigan – “Working at the national park is a great opportunity for a recent high school graduate to meet college students and learn about life on campus.” That was the opinion of Linda Vigen, 18, who graduated from Klamath Union High School last June and next fall will enroll as a freshman at the University of Oregon. Miss Vigen applied for a position at the park in February and was among various others interviewed later at Oregon Technical Institute for job vacancies. A waitress at the lodge, Miss Vigen is hopeful of joining the Peace Corps after graduating from college and later pursuing a career in creating writing.
Jurunee Toktaeng – Crater Lake’s “international guest” is Jurunee Toktaeng, a 19-year-old native of Thailand and sophomore at Pacific University who is hopeful that knowledge of French, English and her native language will eventually earn her a position with the United Nations. Miss Toktaeng is working at her first job in the curio shop after arriving in the United States from Bangkok 16 months ago. She reflected that there is little difference between the people of this country and those of her country and those of her own nation. Except that the “customs vary tremendously.” To illustrate her point, Jurunee Toktaeng observed that girls are now allowed to date boys at night in her native land. She acknowledged Crater Lake as “a fabulous place” and is impressed with its “beautiful scenery.” Her father is a YMCA director in Bangkok, one of two such establishments in Thailand.
Lee Hall – One of the student employees farthest from home is Lee Hall, 19, who received her associates of arts degree from Monticello Junior College, Alton, Illinois, last June and came west to apply for admission to the University of Oregon or San Diego State. A native Californian majoring in speech and drama, Miss Hall enjoys the park most for the impression of “solitude and beauty? It imparts to its visitors. She is employed in the cafeteria and specializes in preparing salads.
Phil Querin – Phil Querin, 19, began work as a bus boy at the cafeteria last season and returned this year in the same capacity. A graduate of Sunset High School in Beaverton, Querin is studying at the University of Oregon with a view to obtaining a degree in law and entering politics. Citing an advantage of working at the park, Querin said “it enables students to become acquainted with youths from different areas and college.”
On 11/24/09, “Querin, Phil” <philquerin@DWT.COM> wrote: Larry – I’m glad you responded because I was wracking my brain trying to figure out if you were one of the college students working up there and I’d just forgotten. Interestingly, I too have a twin brother and he also worked at Crater Lake when I did. We both became lawyers in Portland, although in the last few years he retired from the practice, went back to school and got his masters degree in psychology and now works for the Oregon Lawyer Assistance Program which is a part of the State Bar’s professional liability fund. I laughed when I saw in the quote that I said I wanted to be a politician. It just popped into my head and seemed like the thing to say – In truth, I always wanted to practice law, and always did. I will enjoy reviewing the website this weekend. You obviously spent significant time on this project. Have a great Thanksgiving and thank you for sending me the material. PHIL
Dee Ford – Three years ago a friend interested Dee Ford, 20, in applying for a position at the national park and the senior theology student at Northwest Christian College, Eugene, was hired and later that summer became Miss Crater Lake in the first such contest held at the Park. Miss Ford has worked in the cafeteria since 1964 when she waited on customers, moved up to assistant supervisor the following season, and is a line supervisor this year. She observes that about 50 percent of the tourists are vacationing ‘because they feel it’s expected of them. In any event, serving the public an extreme challenge,” she reflected. Miss Ford also is studying architecture and anticipates becoming an interior home designer when she graduates next year.
Tom Fredrickson – Among the initial six is Tom Frederickson, 23, who with six year’s experience is the oldest employee in years of service at the park concessions. A graduate of Klamath Union High School, Frederickson is the stock comptroller at the cafeteria – novelty store, with the responsibility of pricing the nearly 1,500 different items sold across the counter during the summer. More than 250,000 single items are merchandised throughout the tourist season. Frederickson said the “opportunity to meet new people, a dance for the students every two weeks, and a weekly motion picture on Thursday” contributes t making his job interesting. He has been a student at Blue Mountain College, Pendleton for the past two years and will transfer next fall to City College of San Francisco, where he will major in business administration.
Nearly 500,000 tourists visit Crater Lake National Park during the summer, but few of them realize that most of the labor which keeps the three major concessions in operation is provided by college students earning funds to continue their education.
Jim Griffin, partner of Ralph Peyton in operating the concessions, praised his youthful employees. For being “hard working and efficient” and dispelled the possibility that the concessionaires would ever change their present policy and begin hiring an older class of people.
(Unfortunately this policy began to change in the 1990s because of rampant drug and alcohol use among college students leading to numerous law violations and dependability issues and shoplifting. Now the summer labor force in most national parks is foreign students and retired couples along with some college students.)
In attesting to the abilities of his college- attending employees who comprise 113 of the 120-man staff operating the lodge, the cafeteria complex and the service station. Griffin noted, “We’re proud of the college people working here. They are quick, willing, and will perform proficiently in any task we assign them.”
Excursion Boats – In addition the operators maintain a fleet of three excursion boats- with a fourth to be added next year – which also are kept in service through the efforts of a small staff of college students.
Other students also serve the legions of summer tourists as part-time staff members of the National Park Service, coming from as far off as Florida to fill positions for assistant rangers, and maintenance personnel.
Selecting a competent staff from thousands of college-going applicants is undertaken at considerable expense to the concessionaires during a three-week period every spring.
Thousands Seek Jobs – As an initial step to acquiring their summer personnel, Griffin and Peyton set up job interviews at various Pacific Northwest universities, including: Oregon Technical Institute, Southern Oregon College, University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Whitman College, Washington University and Lewis and Clark.
Then begins the arduous task of selecting some 120 prospective employees out of nearly 500 students interviewed, and more than 1,000 others who have submitted job applications through the mail.
During the interviews each applicant receives a grade based on that individual’s possession of certain attributes that Griffin, of Portland, believes is indispensable to employees serving his park enterprises.
The grades awarded in the job applicants are then reviewed and those receiving the best marks are offered positions in merchandising, clerical housekeeping, food serving, or in service station or general maintenance work.
Griffin generally seeks to hire only those students, who are residents of Oregon and Washington, but this season one girl is from far off Thailand and another is a transfer student from Illinois intending to enroll at either the University of Oregon or San Diego State College.
Although the work schedules offer little opportunity for the student employees to conduct an extensive tour of the Park, most of the staff delights in working amid the scenic splendor of the famous landmark and having as associates young people of their own age.
Stranded on Island – In most cases women work a split-shit six days a week, while the men have no days off. Despite this rigid schedule, one-third of the youths who worked at the park last year reapplied for employment again this spring and was accepted.
Peyton, formerly of Klamath Falls, who now lives in Portland, noted that during his eight years as entrepreneur at the National Park it has been necessary to discharge only one employee.
Young men and women employed at the resort reside in dormitories on the third floor of the lodge, with the latter assigned in special quarters in the wing under the supervision of the housemother. Bernice Andrews, an instructor at Oregon Technical Institute.
The same rules and regulations which govern young women residing at dormitories in college apply to these employed in the National Park. Women intending to leave the “rim are” are required to sign out, disclosing their destination and then anticipated hour of their return.
These regulations proved beneficial in the case of one coed who joined a boat tour to Wizard Island and became stranded on the volcanic atoll. Because of the checkout sheet, supervisors at the lodge were able to trace her activities and dispatch a boat, which removed her from the island at 3 a.m. the following morning.
All is not work and regimentation for the youthful employees.
Youth proficient in playing musical instruments exhibit their talents nightly during a leisure hour held in the lobby of the Crater Lake Lodge; others present skits in the same lobby for the amusement of guest registered at the Lodge.
Early Christmas – One of the two social events which spotlight the summer season was held last Thursday with the staging of the Christmas Party, held on Aught 25 every year at Crater Lake and other national parks throughout the US. That date has been set aside by the Park Service so employees may impart some token of remembrance to those associations with whom they have briefly become acquainted and may never meet again.
The other social occasion is the Miss Crater Lake beauty contest, being held this year for the second time, in which college students elect one of their feminine members “queen” during a dinner and special festivities scheduled on Labor Day.
The event marks the closing of the summer season at the park, with the lodge shutting down September 10 until the following June. Many of the students remain an additional week to help winterize the building and other facilities excluding the cafeteria and gift shop, which remain open throughout the year.
August 1966 Record accent of Cleetwood Lake Trail by Ranger Owen Hoffman in 7.5 minutes. Owen was a champion runner from San Jose State and had his eye on an Olympic position. Eventually worked as a nuclear scientist and as a private consultant. His Crater Lake summers infused him with a life-long interest in the National Parks. The record run was preceded by many training accents during the summer. “As best as I can recall, this timed run to the top of the Cleetwood Trail was done in late July or early August. The stopwatch was mechanical and hand-held, meaning that the jarring of my arm swing could have affected the accuracy of the clock. But, I was in fine shape at the time, having just come off a competitive track season at San Jose State. For the hell of it, I would often jog the trail to the top in my full class ‘A’ woolen ranger uniform at the end of the day after having completed two boat tours (I don’t think we ever did as many as three tours in a day).” Owen January 1, 2010
Summer 1966 An email from Owen Hoffman, August 24, 2016 to the authors. – Prior to and including the summer of 1966, all evening NPS ranger-naturalist programs at Crater Lake were 2-man events, one ranger to be the MC to make announcements, sing campfire songs, and engage in crowd control, and the other ranger to concentrate solely on presenting the featured slide program.
There were two exceptions to the two-ranger approach to evening programs: (a) the primitive campfire program at Lost Creek, which was a one-ranger program, and (b) the evening slide program at Crater Lake Lodge.
At the Lodge, I too recall that park guests, visitors, and concession employees would sit on the stairs, and listen to the ranger slide presentation about the park. I still have fond memories of making those presentations, but I also remember being interrupted (albeit infrequently) by head-waiter announcements for guest seating in the dining room. We always carried a quarter in our wallets just in case the Kodak carousel tray jammed.
Each of us was responsible for our own material and presentation, but we were audited often. We felt a huge incentive to get better and better, with each presentation. Sometimes, the park superintendent, or his family, would attend our programs.
The very high standards expected of us were a product of the leadership of NPS Chief Naturalists, Bruce Black, Dick Brown, Bob Bruce…and of course the supervisory seasonal naturalist, Ted Arthur. And then there was the exceptional talent and leadership by example given by the excellent university professors on our seasonal staff, like Dr. Marion Jackson and Dr. Dwayne Curtis, as well as the numerous professional educators at the secondary and community college level, who were each polished public speakers. Owen
Summer Two new housing units are constructed in Steel Circle. The new sewer lagoons are enlarged.
Summer Construction (on Wizard Island) begins on a new Lake launch, the “Herron”, named for Paul Herron, Crater Lake boat operator for 27 years.
September 1 1966 NPS Director George Hartzog visits the Park and stays overnight in the Lodge. An agreement is made for the NPS to buy the building. The plan is to reduce the Lodge to a low profile structure to the height of the exterior masonry walls for use as the Park’s new visitor center.
October 1966 Mary Polston, age 35, of Crescent City, later of Grants Pass, is attacked by a large 6 foot black bear at Rim Village in front of the cafeteria. Several visitors had been feeding the bear, when it suddenly walked up behind Mrs. Polston, striking her across the face, cutting her face and tearing out her right eye. The injuries required 52 stitches and the eye was repaired.
November 23 1966 An appraisal is done of the concession and NPS buildings at Rim Village and Munson Valley, so that Lodge owner Ralph Peyton can ascertain the value of NPS property at Park Headquarters. Peyton is willing to trade his Rim Village property for much of Munson Valley. He hopes to use the proceeds from the sale of the Lodge to finance this new development. Development of the new two-story visitor center is planned to be accomplished by 1970.
Season 1966 50th Anniversary of the National Park Service. The completion of the Mission 66 program.
Mission 66 Expenditures – Crater Lake National Park – 1956 through 1966
Mission 66 was a ten-year program that was intended to dramatically expand Park Service visitor services by 1966, in time for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Park Service.
The explosion in prosperity following World War II brought a tide of automobile-borne tourists that the parks were ill- equipped to receive. By the mid-1950s it was apparent that massive investment in park infrastructure was required. Mission 66 was conceived as the means to accommodate increased visitor numbers and to provide high-quality interpretation services.
In 1955, Park Service Director Conrad Wirth proposed a decade-long program of capital improvement, to be funded as a single program by Congress.
While Mission 66 involved a variety of infrastructure projects such as roads, utilities and employee housing, the most visible components were the interpretational facilities, or visitor centers. Crater Lake National Park was an exception to the visitor center concept. As of 2011 no visitor center has been built in the Park.
Fifty years later, as many Mission 66 facilities themselves aged and required repairs and modernization, controversy erupted over their suitability for the Park Service mission and their impact on historic and natural sites. Modernism had fallen from favor with the general public, and some facilities were considered intrusive. Two of the most notable examples were the Cyclorama at Gettysburg National Military Park and the Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center at Mount Rainier National Park. Both of which have been demolished.
While a large portion of the funding for Mission 66 was devoted to visitor facilities, attention was also given to employee housing. Much of the existing housing was built by the CCC and amounted to little more than cabins. Using the model of postwar military housing, a series of standard designs was developed, focusing on the ranch style detached housing popular at the time.
The National Park Service Rustic style that had previously been popular was suitable for the 1930s, when cheap and plentiful Civilian Conservation Corps labor was available, but was not practical on a large scale in a time of full employment. Managers made a conscious decision to employ a more streamlined modern style of design for Mission 66 facilities. The simpler, cleaner design philosophy was faster and less expensive to implement, and its public image fitted with the idea of a “new era” in park services.
This streamlined design resulted in a number of flat-roofed, non-insulated cement block duplexes to be built in Steel Circle. The idea was that with cheap, government supplied heating oil, the snow would melt off the flat roofs. As heating costs escalated, the government began charging for their heating oil. Employees cut back on their heat, the flat roofs were insulated, thus snow built up on the roofs and the buildings were in danger of collapsing. Teams of employees were employed to manually shovel the roofs. The flat-roofed Mission 66 residences now sport giant pitched metal encased super structures.
Roads and Trials
Work Order number Project Cost
521.1 Annie Spring Bridge 110,282
521.2 Goodbye Creek Bridge 84,725
523.1 Campground Roads, Annie Spring 18,245
523.2 Roads and Walks, Headquarters 16,056
523.3 Surfacing Campground Roads, Annie Spring 37,177
523.4 Headquarters Residence Roads 20,745
523.5 Driveway, Annie Spring 3,491
523.6 Picnic Area Roads 7,540
524.7 Pave Utility Area 6,115
523.8 Rim Campground Road 41,970
523.9 Reconstruct Trails, Garfield and Discovery Pt. 6,991
523.10 Interpretive Roadside Markers 32,809
523.11 Construct Parking area and intersection 34,790
523.12 Pave Utility Area, Headquarters 26,781
R-1 Restore Walks and Walls Rim 17,612
R-1A Restore Walks and Walls Rim 39,057
R-2 Construct Cleetwood Trail 29,268
R-2A Construct Cleetwood Trail 44,243
R-3 Reconstruct Campground Road, Annie Spring 6,140
R-4 Extend Road, Mazama 17,340
R-5 Trail to Campfire Circle, Mazama 1,931
R-6 Parking Area for Cleetwood Lake Trail 21,252
R-7 Annie Spring to Rim Road Reconstruct 484,890
R-8 Seasonal Employee Trailer Court 1,479
R-9 Reconstruct – Bit. Pave – Rt. 4 133.037
R-10 Rt. 2, Reconstruct, Grading and Paving 2A1 and B2 839,294
R-11 Road Aprons, School, and Apt. Buildings 6,168
R-12 Road Aprons, Equipment Building 2,274
R-13 Road Aprons, Apt, Buildings 2,941
Roads and Trails Total $2,094,668.95
Buildings and Utilities
Work Order Number Project Cost
331.2 Comfort Station Reconstruct – Rim campground 7,975
331.3 Comfort Station Reconstruct – Annie Spring 21,606
331.5 Employee Housing, HQ 142,166
332.1 Water and Sewer Supply, A Spring C.G. 36,925
332.2 Water and Sewer Employee Housing HQ 38,077
332.3 Spring Encasement, Annie Spring 2,328
332.4 Reservoir and Pump, Annie Spring 17,513
332.5 Water and Sewer at Annie Spring Check Station 1,096
332.6 Munson Spring Improvement 10,061
332.7 Campground Electric Line 2,966
333.1 Campground Tables 3,683
333.2 Campground Development (Por) 27,338
333.3 Reconstruct Rim Campground (Por) 16,783
333.4 Picnic Site Development (Por) 6,395
B-1 Site Development, Hq, Residence (Por) 4,374
B-2 Covered Entrance Admin Building 11,019
B-3 Campground Comfort Station, Mazama 22,491
B-4 Checking Station, Annie Spring 11,879
B-5 Covered Entrance, Rim Comfort Station 3,374
B-6 Headquarters Fire Alarm and Telephone System 3,012
B-7 Headquarters Sewer System 2,393
B-8 Reconstruct Annie Spring Campground 4,893
B-9 Emergency Fire Exits, Apartment Buildings 3,918
B-10 Additional Campsites, Mazama 14,037
B-11 Comfort Station #62 11,639
B-12 Water, Sewer and Comfort Station, Mazama 7,472
B-13 Elec. System, Mazama Campground 2,426
B-14 Reconstruct Sinnott Memorial 21,006
B-15 Amphitheater, Mazama Campground 36,718
B-17 Construction Employee Trailer Camp 6,959
B-18 Water Storage and Distribution System, HQ 52,584
B-19 Employee Residences 146,353
B-20 Equipment Storage and Shop Building 161,587
B-21 Community School Building Steel Circle 200,782
B-22 Duplex Residences 170,560
B-23 Sewage System Extension, HQ 43,505
211724 Trunk Sewer, Rim to HQ 45,787
211727 Water, Sewer, Power, and Campsites, Loop F 30,136
Buildings and Utilities Total $1,366,181.04
Construction Costs Crater Lake National Park 1962 – 1974 (From Jeff Adams)
- Water storage and distribution 1963 52,584
- Trail to campfire circle 1963 1,931
- Interpretive markers 1963 32,810
- Camp sites Loop E 1963 14,037
4a Employee trailer court 1963 8,439
- Road Rt. #3, 4, 7 1963 163,636
- Road Rt, #3, 4, 7 (+$19,065) 1963 596,415
- Parking area Lake Trail 1963 25,950
- Building 14-A 1964 187,441
- Builidngs 15,18,26 1964 169,770
- Building 222 1964 200,782
- Sewer Lagoon 2-cell 1964 43,502
- Buildings 219, 221, 226 1965 168,473
- Road aprons apartment building 1964 2,914
- Road apron equipment building 1964 2,274
- Road apron school and apartment bld. 1964 6,168
- Sewer Rim ara to Headquarters 1965 45,787
- Comfort station (2) Loop G and F 1965 30,136
- Sewer Lagoon 3rd Cell 1966 16,588
- Concrete Curb and Guard Post 1966 32,863
- Road Loop G and F 1966 38,066
- Utilities Loop G and F 1966 39,820
- Tables Loop B 1967 1,733
- Reconstruct Rt. #2 1966/67 996,326
- Cleetwood Picnic Tables 1968 3,518
- Lodge Sprinkling System to Garfield Res. 1969 30,041
- Road Rt. #1,2,3, (+12,526) 1969 346,578
- No construction 1970
- No construction 1971
- Annie Springs Water and Sewer 1972 58,670
- Sewer System Extension, Sleepy Hollow 1972 115,797
- Watchman Parking Area Overlook 1972 115,797
- Utility Extension – Rim Village 1973 58,670
- West Entrance Road – 1-A2 1973/75 595,858
- Asphalt Concrete Overlays – Maint. 1974 35,459
Total Mission 66 Construction over a 10-year period $3,511,446.46
Summer 1966 A travel survey conducted at Annie Spring entrance indicates that 45% of all Park visitors are from California, 29% from Oregon, 9.4% from Washington, 1.4% from Arizona, 1.3 % from Illinois, 1.1% from New York, 1% from Michigan, 0.9% from Texas, 0.8% from Ohio and 1.5% are from Canada.
Visitation: 552,531 visitors
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