National Parks
Portfolio

Cover

Contents

Foreword

Parks vs Monuments

Acadia

Bryce Canyon

Carlsbad Caverns

Crater Lake

General Grant

Glacier

Grand Canyon

Grand Teton

Hawaii

Hot Springs

Lassen Volcanic

Mesa Verde

Mount McKinley

Mount Rainier

Platt

Rocky Mountain

Seqoia

Wind Cave

Yellowstone

Yosemite

Zion

Monuments

National Parks Portfolio

Crater Lake

LOOKING INTO ITS VAST DEPTHS IS LIKE LOOKING INTO THE LIMITLESS SKY
Photograph by Fred H. Kiser, Portland, Oreg.

THE PHANTOM SHIP—STRANDED ON A MAGIC SHORE
Photograph by U.S. Reclamation Service

THE LAKE OF MYSTERY

CRATER LAKE is the deepest and the bluest fresh-water lake in the world. It measures two thousand feet of solid water, and the intensity of its color is unbelievable even while you look at it. Its cliffs from sky line to surface average over a thousand feet high. It has no visible inlet or outlet, for it occupies the hole left when, in the dim ages before man, a volcano collapsed and disappeared within itself.

It is a gem of wonderful color in a setting of pearly lavas relieved by patches of pine green and snow white—a gem which changes hue with every atmospheric change and every shift of light.

There are crater lakes in other lands; in Italy, for instance, in Germany, India, and Hawaii. The one lake of its kind in the United States is by far the finest of its kind in the world. It is one of the most distinguished spots in a land notable for the nobility and distinction of its scenery.

Crater Lake lies in southern Oregon. The volcano whose site it has usurped was one of a "noble band of fire mountains, which, like beacons, once blazed along the Pacific coast." Because of its unique character and quite extraordinary beauty it was made a national park in 1902.

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Last Modified: Mon, Oct 31, 2002 10:00:00 pm PDT
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