Part 7

It is probable that this vast blue-bottomed caldron was once covered with a volcanic peak. This vanished volcano is named Mount Mazama. The geological story is that the upper half of the peak collapsed. There was volcanic violence. But it did not, like Mount Rainier and Mount Baker, explosively blow its summit to pieces. A mile or more of the upper half simply collapsed and dropped into the crater. Had an explosion hurled the enormous fragments of the top afar, they must have been found scattered about. But only small fragments of pumice have been discovered.

[Illustration: CRATER LAKE AND WIZARD ISLAND]

This collapse appears to have been preceded by a rupture of the base, allowing the lava to escape. This lava had filled the crater and supported its walls, and the collapse followed its removal. The upper part of this peak that apparently dropped into the crater must have been six thousand or more feet high, with a basal diameter of about six miles. Its bulk was equal to, or greater than, the whole of Mount Washington, the highest peak in New England.

An early impression that this lake crater gave me was that it had been formed by breaking off an enormous conical and hollow volcanic peak which was inverted and jammed, small end downward, into the earth. This caldron remains. It is now a jagged, gigantic central opening in the deep surrounding lava-beds. These exhibit the former fiery flooding activity of Mazama.

The volcano was active at intervals in the glacial period. This is shown in the glaciated rock-surfaces of the rim that are covered with layers of pumice and rhyolite. The lake is encircled by about twenty miles of precipitous walls that rise from five hundred to two thousand feet above the surface of the water. The lake-level is 6177 feet. The surface fluctuates a few feet each year.

The water is deep, much of it from twelve hundred to nineteen hundred feet. In a few places it is less than three hundred feet deep, with near-by surroundings several hundred feet deeper. Are these shallow spots above the tops of other volcanic cones or lava-masses?

The lava-beds in the surrounding outer slopes of the crater overlie one another at an angle that indicates that the lava was poured to them from a central point above. Extend the slopes upward from the rim on the angle of the slopes below, and the outline of the former peak is restored. This would make a peak about the size of Mount Shasta.

At the altitude of the crater rim, about eight thousand feet, the diameter is about six miles, the same as that of Mount Shasta at the same altitude. As both peaks are composed of like kinds of lava, we may safely assume that Mount Mazama before it collapsed was about the size and height of Mount Shasta (14,380 feet).

Glacier records furnish additional evidence of the former height and magnitude of Mazama. On the rim and on the outer slopes just below it are a number of glacier grooved and planed rock-surfaces. The lines of these extend downward, so the ice must have come from above. Then, too, there are a number of moraines that show they were deposited by glaciers from upper slopes. Apparently glaciers flowed down all sides of this mountain from a central high point. Two ice-eroded cañons begin in the southern rim and extend down the slope. Plainly these were formed by ice-streams that came down from above. Thus the angle of the lava-built slopes, and the lines of glaciation, testify to the former existence of a high central summit.

On its slopes the Fire King and the Ice King appear to have wrought and to have clashed. Both have vanished from the scene; but here remains a volcanic landscape slightly sculptured by ice. The Mazama story appears a spectacular one.

This scene is a favorite with geologists. They come to it from all over the world. Crater lakes are common. There are numbers of dead craters filled with water in South America, Asia, and elsewhere. But this is an extraordinary crater lake. The marvelous blueness is only one feature. The rare geological exhibit makes a strange appeal.

Joseph S. Diller, of the United States Geological Survey, closes his excellent monograph on the "Geological History of Crater Lake, Oregon" with the following words:--

Aside from its attractive scenic features, Crater Lake affords one of the most interesting and instructive fields for the study of volcanic geology to be found anywhere in the world. Considered in all its aspects, it ranks with the Grand Cañon of the Colorado, the Yosemite Valley, and the Falls of Niagara, but with an individuality that is superlative.

No streams flow into this lake, and there is no visible outlet. It is probable that subterranean waters empty into it and flow from it. The annual precipitation, together with the enormous quantities of snow that are blown into it, greatly exceeds the amount of water evaporated. The water is clear and cold. It is so clear that a plate may be seen upon the bottom through fifty or more feet of water. Fish may be distinctly seen swimming about at great depths.

Many alpine lakes are blue under some lights. The deep blueness of this lake may possibly be due to mineral which the water holds in solution; or also in part to its high surrounding walls and to its enormous depth. Seen from the rim, a narrow margin of the water along the walls is sea-green. Yet a glassful is as clear as the clearest.

A few days spent upon the rim and in a launch upon the lake will give glimpses of world-building features and nature-history. Morning is a good time for a journey around the lake. At no point is there a beach. The steep walls descend and plunge into the water.

In the lake near the west shore is Wizard Island. It is a perfect little volcano--a crater within a crater. Although a few pines are growing upon it, the island's lava and ashes appear as if just cast from the internal furnace. It probably was formed after the collapse of Mount Mazama. Lava, cinders, and tiny water-filled crater appear strange mimicry. The island rises several hundred feet above the lake-surface, and its crater is eighty feet deep. The island is a good view-point at noon, at evening, or when the blue cold crater glows and sparkles with the reflected fires of a million fiery worlds.

[Illustration: PHANTOM SHIP, CRATER LAKE

_By permission of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior_]

Phantom Ship, near the southeast shore, is a volcanic island masted with rock-spires. It has scattered trees. From a number of points of view it has the appearance of a ship, but under certain lights it blends so completely with the walls behind it that it vanishes.

The forests are magnificent. Among the trees on the rim and on Wizard Island are noble fir, alpine fir, mountain white pine, Douglas spruce, alpine hemlock, and lodge-pole pine. Sheep-pasturing in former years wrought havoc with the wild flowers, of which there are numerous varieties. There are many kinds of wild birds and wild life. While there are other scenic attractions, the supreme one must ever be the lake of marvelous blue and its rugged, fire-tinted walls. In the ruined caldron where red fire and black smoke wildly mingled, blue water lies in repose.

On June 12, 1853, a number of prospectors, led by John W. Hillman, discovered Crater Lake. Though not interested in scenery, they were aroused by this gigantic blue gem in its rough volcanic setting.

In 1885, William G. Steele began the campaign which finally won this National Park. This campaign went through numberless vicissitudes and lasted seventeen years, the Park having been established in 1902.

In 1888, Steele carried a number of trout in a can upon his back for more than forty miles. These trout were placed in the lake and grew rapidly. Since then it has been repeatedly stocked by the Government. Nowhere else that I know of can a fisherman catch a trout and clearly watch its every effort many feet under the water, as it tries to run away with or escape from the cruel hook.

This Park is in the heart of the Cascade Mountains in southern Oregon, a short distance north of the California line. It has an area of about two hundred and forty-nine square miles. Mount Thielson, Diamond Lake, and other near-by attractive features might well be added to the territory of the Park.

VI

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

Lakes--splendid intermountain lakes--are an unrivaled attraction in the Glacier National Park. Here, too, are other striking features--glaciers, peaks precipitous and stupendous, forests, and streams. The rugged Alplike mountains are of first magnitude. The forests that crowd the lower elevations of the park are primeval and grand. The vigorous streams are set in magnificent scenery. But I feel that the lakes are entitled to first rank among the scenic attractions in this park.

There are two hundred and fifty of these, of different sizes, each of individual outline and with an original alpine setting. Some repose in the depths of the forest. Others have a shore-line half forest and half the abrupt wall of a towering peak. Still other lakes have a wild shore of snow-fields, glaciers, forests, meadows, and mountains. Waterfalls out of the mountain sky drop into many; cascading streams rush from the outlets of others.

Many of the lakes are strikingly long for their narrow width. Lake McDonald is about ten miles long and one mile wide. Waterton Lake is about twelve miles long, with an average width of perhaps half a mile. Bowman Lake is about six miles long by half a mile wide. Avalanche Lake, which lies in Avalanche Basin, is hemmed in on all sides, except at the outlet, by precipitous mountains. It is a beautiful ellipse about one mile long. Iceberg Lake is on the north side of Wilbur Mountain, which towers three thousand feet above the surface of the water. The Blackfeet name for this is "Fly-around-in." McDermott and Altyn Lakes are beauty spots. The outlet of McDermott is a series of spectacular cascades. Its shore is open, and around it one moves about easily. Altyn Lake is only a quarter of a mile distant from McDermott. These lakes lie between Grinnell Mountain and Allen Mountain and are a part of one of the grandest scenes in the Park.

Grinnell Lake lies one mile above Altyn Lake, at the foot of the tremendous cliffs of Gould Mountain. The lower end of the lake is open and parklike, while at the upper end cliffs rise about four thousand feet. This lake receives the waters from Grinnell Glacier. These pour over high cliffs at the upper end of the lake and form a beautiful spectacle. The scenes which unite around Grinnell Lake are unsurpassed in the park.

These lakes are glacier lakes. That is, the basin of each was gouged or eroded by the movement of glacial ice. There are a few exceptions where the lake is due chiefly to a morainal dam, or a dam that was formed by a landslide.

The highest peak in the Park is Cleveland Mountain, 10,438 feet above sea-level. Several others rise more than ten thousand feet, and a great number more than nine thousand feet. Many of these peaks are connected with sharp pinnacled ridges, and most of them rise steeply into the sky. Precipices, nearly vertical, that measure between two thousand and four thousand feet are common. Thus it will be seen that these two hundred and fifty lakes have a mountainous setting. Distribute these lakes on terraces among the peaks and fit in about one hundred glaciers, have the forests everywhere in the lower altitudes, cut these with clear streams, and we have the scenic make-up of the Glacier National Park. Considered as a whole, it is unexcelled mountain architecture.

[Illustration: McDERMOTT FALLS AND GRINNELL MOUNTAIN GLACIER NATIONAL PARK]

The Blackfeet Glacier on the Continental Divide is the largest in the Park. Mount Jackson towers red above it. It has an area of about three square miles and lies between the altitudes of six thousand and seven thousand feet. The much-visited Sperry Glacier, which is easily reached from Lake McDonald, has a little more than one square mile of ice-area. Grinnell Glacier is about the size of the Sperry.

Altogether there are about one hundred glaciers in the Park. Most of these have an area of less than one square mile. The majority of them, of course, are mere remnants of vast glaciers. In many cases their small size is an advantage to the student. Carrying, as most of these do, the characteristics of larger glaciers, and being in a small compass and surrounded with various kinds of glacial work--moraines, lakes, and smooth rock-surfaces--they place before us, in one scene, the story of the ice age.

On every hand is evidence of glacier work. The glaciers themselves in many instances are placed in a manner that explains their mobility. You can see that they have moved and are moving. You can see the effects of their moves, and the results of the movements of the stupendous prehistoric glaciers that have vanished.

The Glacier National Park has an endless variety of small game, and in it numerous varieties of large animals are fairly abundant. Most important of all is the grizzly bear. Black bears are common. So, too, are elk; and there is a scattering of moose, lions, deer, and antelopes. In some localities bighorn sheep and mountain goats are abundant. Trout abound in many lakes and streams.

There is a goodly array of suggestive outdoor names, many of which are of Indian application. Red Eagle Mountain, Pass, and Valley, Rising Wolf Mountain, Two Medicine Lake, Avalanche Lake, Swift Current River, are a few of the vigorous, spirited names. Many of the old picturesque and descriptive Indian names have been discarded, however, for names that are utterly unfit or meaningless.

There are scores of varieties of flowers. These brighten the woods, stand along the streams, border the lakes, and crowd close to the glaciers. They climb above the limits of tree growth. Grinnell Lake has a grand wild-flower garden on its shores. Among the many kinds are bluebell, queen's-cup, violet, water-lily, and wild hollyhock.

The summit slopes of these mountains are above the timber-line. All the lower slopes and spaces in the Park not occupied and glorified by lakes, streams, and cliffs are crowded with forests, green and grand. Much of the old glaciation is covered with forest growths. Many moraines are crowned with spruces, and numerous glacial amphitheaters are now filled with splendid forests.

The visitor to the summit of Swift Current Pass will find himself monarch with great scenes to survey. Below, around, and above are lakes, streams, peaks, waterfalls, snow-fields, glaciers, cañons, and mountains. These are splendidly grouped and combined; gradually they fade into mysterious horizons.

St. Mary's Lake--"Good Spirit Woman Lake"--is crescent-shaped, with miles of spruce-walled shores. It has a length of ten miles in the Glacier Park and is a queen among queens of mountain lakes. Kingly peaks stand waiting around the shores. Red Eagle Mountain, Fusillade Mountain, and Going-to-the-Sun Mountain are a part of the magnificence in which this lovely lake reposes. Mount Jackson, one of the highest summits in the Park, is often reflected in its waters.

The mountains of this Park are broken and have towering walls. On the east they rise abruptly from the peaceful plains. Nowhere in the country can be found such an array of high and nearly vertical walls. Many of these mountains and peaks are enlivened with color. Yellow, red, and green are distributed on a magnificent scale.

The very name "Two-Ocean Pass," in the Yellowstone Park, led me through the pathless forest for days in search of it. There was a fairyland novelty in the lure of the name. As soon as I heard of a glacier in the Glacier National Park whose waters were divided between the Arctic and the Pacific Oceans, I wanted to see it. A part of the water of a glacier on Vulture Peak goes to the Pacific through Logging Creek and the Columbia River. The remainder goes to Hudson Bay through the Little Kootenai Creek. Some one has wisely proposed the name "Two-Ocean Glacier" for this ice-field.

Triple Divide Peak is another place that has a peculiarly wild, romantic appeal. This sharp-pointed peak is 8001 feet above the sea. Close together in its summit slopes, surrounded by a maze of alpine mountains, three streams start almost from a common source, each to go on its separate, scenic way to the ocean.

The Red Eagle travels towards the North Pole through the north country and empties into that vast ice-formed basin, Hudson Bay. The waters of the Cut Bank choose the channel of the Missouri in which to travel the long journey to the inland sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and perhaps from this to flow north into the Gulf Stream. The Nyack goes to the Pacific through the crooked international channel of the scenic Columbia River.

HISTORY OF THE GLACIER NATIONAL PARK

George Bird Grinnell was a loyal and helpful friend to the Yellowstone National Park during its trying years. He also rendered the public the distinguished service of originating the Glacier National Park idea and helping to bring about its realization. In 1885, accompanied by James Willard Schultz, he visited a number of its now famous lakes and glaciers. On his return he published a series of articles entitled "To the Walled-in Lakes." A peak, a glacier, and a lake have been named in his honor. Year after year he returned to this region to enjoy the scenery and to study the language and customs of the Blackfeet Indian. In 1891, accompanied by Harry L. Stimpson, he discovered the Blackfoot Glacier, the largest in the Park, and a little later he wrote an article concerning it. In an article entitled "The Crown of the Continent" he gave a good account of the region.

James Willard Schultz lived for years with the Blackfeet Indians and spent a number of years with them in this territory. He says that Hugh Monroe was the first white man to see the Glacier National Park region. This was in 1815. Grinnell states that James Doty visited it in 1853. The same year, apparently, A. W. Tinkham, a government engineer, crossed through Cut Bank Pass. The American and British boundary-line survey commissioners visited the region in 1861.

I had a few weeks in the region in the autumn of 1896. For most other National Parks I have recommended enlargements, feeling that some adjacent and important scenic territory had been left outside the Park lines. But with the vast Glacier National Park no additions appear to be needed.

Grinnell says:--

In an old notebook, under date of September 17, 1891, I found not long ago the following remark: "How would it do to start a movement to buy the St. Mary country, say thirty by thirty miles, from the Piegan Indians at a fair valuation, and turn it into a national reservation or park?"

This idea, in the course of the next ten years, grew in my mind. It was, I think, the first suggestion, in words, of the Glacier National Park. About the year 1893 indications of copper were found in the foothills. It was believed that the country contained mines, and before long strong pressure was brought to bear on Congress to purchase the land from the Indians and throw it open to settlement. The mountain region was not used by the Indians. They lived on the plains. In 1895, Secretary of the Interior Hoke Smith sent out Commissioners W. C. Pollock, George Bird Grinnell, and W. M. Clements, to treat with the Blackfeet for this territory, and a majority of the commission went into the mountains and made a hasty inspection of the region. An agreement was made with the Indians, and was ratified by Congress, and about two years later the territory was thrown open to settlement....

Soon after 1902 I spoke to Senator T. H. Carter about setting aside this recently purchased tract as a National Park, and found that he was disposed to favor the suggestion. I then took up the matter with friends in Montana, and induced them to write to Senator Carter about the project. The result was that a little later he introduced a bill, which passed the Senate once or twice, and at last, in 1910, passed both houses, and was signed by President Taft, May 12, 1910, and the Glacier National Park became a fact.

Certainly the most striking fact in the history of this Park is the rapidity with which it has been developed and opened to travelers. L. W. Hill has given this region a large share of his time, and in it has spent enormous sums of money. There is more than commercialism behind his work. It has been done with happy hands. He has made this a part of his life-work. He has endeavored to create on artistic lines. What he has done for this Park has stimulated interest in the other Parks and will greatly help to bring about their development.

VII

MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK

Weirdness, romance, and mystery dominate the Mesa Verde National Park. Towering high and dry above the surrounding country, carrying in places squatty, scattered growths of piñon pines and cedars, it stands silently up in the sunlight. Combined with these things, the deserted prehistoric cliff dwellings give to the Mesa a strangeness and peculiar appeal. These monuments of a departed race tell but little of the story of their builders. They are the ruins of an ancient civilization that stood its day and vanished; that--

"Like snow upon the desert's dusty face, Lighting a little hour or two--is gone."

Who were the cliff dwellers? It is probable that they were Indians. No one knows where they came from, how long they remained on the Mesa, nor why they left; how long since they went away, where they went to, nor what has become of them. Several hundred ruins of the structures they reared still remain. These are mysterious and thought-compelling, but they tell little more than is told by the Sphinx.

The Mesa Verde National Park covers seventy-seven square miles in southwest Colorado, near the corners of four States. It is in the "Land of Little Rain." The table-like summit of this steep-walled Mesa is eight thousand feet above the sea, and nearly two thousand feet above the surrounding country. Looking from the summit, one sees strange "Ship Rock" far away in New Mexico. This appears to be an enormous ship in full sail upon the sea. It adds to the unreal and mysterious air of the region.

Numerous cañons are countersunk deeply into this sunny sky plain. Many of the cañons are corniced with a heavy overhanging stratum of rock. Beneath this, in cavelike hollows in the cañon walls, the cliff houses are found. Here ages ago the cliff dwellers lived in large communities and probably under organized government--the oldest and most fully realized civic-center scheme in America. Long before their mesa country was invaded by the men of recorded history, these people of the Southwest vanished, leaving buildings, tools, clothing, and pottery to tell of their odd and interesting Indian civilization.

When the name Indian is mentioned, the average individual usually thinks of a savage. But at the time Columbus discovered America, there were millions of civilized Indians in the Western world, living under organized government. It is true that their civilization was different from ours of to-day, and happily different from the European civilization of that time.