Craters of the Moon Administrative History

Chapter 10:
CONCESSIONS

CRATER INN: HARD LUCK BUSINESS AND FORGOTTEN RUSTIC

At the same time the packtrain business appeared and faded from sight, another concession was conceived. In May 1927, the Park Service signed the first five-year permit for Crater Inn, allowing the operators Jo G. Martin and John R. Wright of Arco to sell "gasoline and oil, lunch goods, cold drinks, and the usual line of accommodations furnished to tourists and sight-seers." Crater Inn provided a full-service business for monument visitors who, especially in an era of poor road conditions throughout the state, may have been stranded otherwise, the monument being a long drive from the nearest village or town. Stephen Mather's approval of the concession came as early as October 1926, a short time after the monument's creation, indicative of his belief that comforts would attract more visitors and raise the monument's stature. [3]

To be visible, the concession operators located their buildings under Sunset Ridge, across from the present campground, and at the time, near the junction of the two monument entrance roads. They began construction in May 1927 and by October had completed five log structures--the central concession building, Crater Inn, a gas station, and three log cabins. Crater Inn stood west of the cabins, which formed a a line to its east, beneath the slightly curved crater wall, facing out to the campground and headquarters. With walls of Douglas fir, chimney of lava stone leaking smoke, and mule deer antlers hanging from its eaves, Crater Inn composed a familiar country (rustic) image in a strange and unfamiliar scene. [4]

The site was dry, the Park Service having instructed Martin and Wright to establish here to protect the monument's limited water supply. In return, the concessioners were promised a connection to a permanent source in the near future. As it turned out, the concession site played an important role in the location of the water system; at the same time the buildings were under construction, the water levels dropped to near depletion, and the Park Service implemented plans to centralize the headquarters complex across from the operator site, where the new water system would serve both the monument's administration and concession. [5]

Without water in the monument and with the appearance of Crater Inn, visitors were drawn to the concession. At the request of the Park Service the owners supplied tourists water free of charge during the "dry years." Martin and Wright hauled the water from Martin, around five miles away, and stored it in a three-hundred-gallon tank. Ironically, the benevolent act of providing free water for four years constituted Crater Inn's greatest achievement, for as a business venture it failed. [6]

The owners expected that once the water system was installed they would be able to modify the inn and cabins with running water, toilets, and "bathing facilities, without which it is impossible to have a first rate establishment." Water and the improvements it would bring were important to the growth and stability of the concession, and essential to conveying the significance of the monument to the public. As soon as these improvements were in place, Martin declared, the "popularity of the place will catch up with its real merit as one of the most interesting scenic phenomena in the world. People will not come in large numbers or stay very long where they are uncomfortable or subjected to hardship. We hope to relieve that at Craters of the Moon and profit accordingly, but we are practically at a standstill until the water is brought in." [7] When the water system was finished in 1931, however, Martin was proven wrong. The business operated in debt for several decades, unable to provide the monument with the "dignified accommodations" it deserved. [8]

Before it was closed in the mid-1950s, Crater Inn changed ownership four times; the new owners, though, were not able to turn the business around and make it a profitable venture. In a sense, the concession's operation paralleled the monument's administration. During the decades of low visitation, the business, at times, could not even pay its permit fee; the situation was aggravated by the poor conditions of regional highways, the depression and World War II. The condition of the primitive structures was poor and overall the facility was unsightly and uncomfortable. The Inn's emphasis on meals and lodging produced little revenue, yet was a powerful fixation in the minds of the concession's owners. Even though past operators, for instance, could not afford to modernize the facilities, in 1940 Crater Inn's new owner began adding four more cabins, one of which housed the concession's house maid. [9]

Closed several years during World War II, the concession reopened to the new conditions of the postwar travel boom, regional population growth, and improved highways--all things that forecast profit. For a brief time, this was the case, until the business was beset by another ironic twist of fate. Better roads brought more sightseers who, rather than stay in the monument to eat or sleep, drove on to tributary towns, like Arco, attracted to that city's motels, cafes, and services. Besides the "amenities" of Arco, tourists were likely unimpressed by the appearance of Crater Inn, what Superintendent Aubrey Houston called in 1950 an "eyesore, and substandard in every way." [10] In short, the short-term visitor treated the monument like a roadside attraction, the concession offering little incentive to linger in the monument.

The superintendent thought that, as it existed, the concession should be eliminated. Still, national park visitors expected services, and he recommended that the agency offer a concession service in the new headquarters design. Regional Director O.A. Tomlinson, however, revised the existing concession policy, noting that the new boom and travel patterns dictated a change in public services. Citing the recent growth of motels in Arco, Tomlinson stated that

I have always felt that, due to the nearness of Arco to the monument, our monument visitors should find their accommodations in that town. For this reason I feel strongly that our development planning should be very modest as to public accommodations--perhaps confining them to meeting the day-time needs of our visitors. For this reason we should encourage the Chamber of Commerce and business men to provide the necessary overnight facilities for tourists who visit the monument. [11]

Tomlinson's decision to leave the provision of "personal comforts to the business interests of Arco" foreshadowed the demise of Crater Inn and established the Park Service's concession policy at Craters of the Moon.

In 1952, the concession's fourth owner attempted to stave off what appeared to be the inevitable by renovating the structures with electrical wiring (when electricity arrived that year) and by making other superficial repairs. The operator, realizing the changing times, stopped short of full modernization because it was not profitable in an age of "deluxe motels." He decided to emphasize the sales of souvenirs and refreshments instead of meals and lodging. The Park Service, as well, prepared for the eventual closure of overnight facilities, and enforced Special Condition 19 in the new operator's permit, which essentially stated that the agency could discontinue cabin rental with the completion of the new headquarters development. [12]

Although the monument's master plans of the early 1950s included a concessionaire wing in the headquarters complex, the facility was eventually omitted from the final Mission 66 master plan. [13] Until then the Service seemed indecisive. When the operator announced his decision not to renew his permit after 1956, the Park Service advertised for operators to run the new concession. The agency's stipulations, while not expressly stating that the Park Service was against a concession in the new development, made the venture an unattractive proposition, specifying that there would be no living quarters available and that the operator would have to incur all expenses (including, it seems, construction costs). [14] What was clear at the time, however, was that the Park Service had decided to officially end overnight accommodations, retain the campground, and operate the monument as a day use area. [15]

In the fall of 1958, Park Service authorities settled the issue by rejecting a concession proposal for a lunch counter, lounge, employee quarters, gas station, and souvenir shop. Although these services were strictly day use, they were available a short drive away in Arco. Moreover, it appears, the compact design theme and costs of construction made the concession facility expendable. [16] When the last buildings of Crater Inn were sold at public auction and removed from the monument in November 1958, the era of concessions ended at Craters of the Moon. [17]

Crater Inn, three guest cabins, and gas station, as they appeared in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
(CRMO Museum Collection)