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Book Review
| Crater Lake National Park: A History. By Rick Harmon. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2000. 280 pp. Illustrations, plates, maps, bibliography, index. Paper $19.95.
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| Written to commemorate the centennial of Crater Lake National Park in 2002, Crater Lake National Park: A History presents a chronological history of the park. Beginning with introductory chapters on the geological origins and Euro-American "discovery" of the area, the book focuses predominantly on the development and management of Crater Lake as a national park. In providing a chronicle of the people, events, and issues that shaped Crater Lake over the past one hundred years and in charting what he calls the park's "failed destiny"(p. 3), historian Rick Harmon seeks to provide a historical legitimization for a future policy of "conscientious preservation" (p. 240). |
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Established in 1902 as the nation's sixth national park, Crater Lake was celebrated for its unique volcanic origins and the depth and clarity of its waters. Regional booster and entrepreneurial outdoorsman William Gladstone Steel played a pivotal role in the establishment and early tourist development of the park. Advocating an array of promotional schemes from stocking the lake with "trout minnows" (p. 56), to a rim-tunnel project, to the establishment of "permanent camps" (p. 87), Will Steel served the park as political lobbyist, tourist guide, and park administrator during its first three decades. Although Crater Lake initially was included in the list of crown jewel national parks—Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Glacier National Parks—the park constantly struggled to overcome its reputation as an isolated and underdeveloped tourist destination. Unlike these larger, more popular western parks, Crater Lake did not have the backing of a transcontinental railroad line to help fund and support park development. Through the 1930s, administrators and promoters continually sought to expand and enhance the tourist infrastructure. By the mid 1950s, Crater Lake had settled in as a "second tier" (p. 150) national park. With the dramatic expansion of tourism during the post World War II boom and the ensuing park service "Mission 66" program, which sought to upgrade park facilities, Crater Lake witnessed a flurry of improvement initiatives and redevelopment plans. However, many of these plans failed to materialize. By the mid 1970s, controversies over water contamination and substandard tourist facilities further marred the park's reputation. After weathering the adverse political climate of the early 1980s, Crater Lake began to experience a resurgence in the next two decades as a series of conservation and preservation projects came to fruition. Harmon concludes that Crater Lake is poised to play a leading role as the park service works to find a balance between recreation and preservation in the twenty-first century. |
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This detailed history provides a wealth of information about the development of Crater Lake as a national park. Harmon addresses issues of park administration, work conditions, employee community, and Native American relations. The book corroborates the scholarship of Alfred Runte and Richard West Sellars, arguing that tourist development of the park took precedence over cultural and environmental preservation. However, at its core, this is a traditional administrative history with little attempt to connect Crater Lake to the history of other national parks or larger issues of wilderness preservation or tourist development. |
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Reviewed by Marguerite S. Shaffer, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. |
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