Crater Lake National Park Roads, Klamath Falls, Klamath County, OR

Significance: The primary roads in Crater Lake National Park were designed and constructed to provide visitor access to the park's scenic features, which are largely concentrated along the rim of Crater Lake. Blending roads harmoniously with the landscape was the stated goal of the National Park Service in its collaboration with the Bureau of Public Roads, most notably on the circuit called "Rim Drive." The aim of subordination in road design to geological phenomena, dramatic vistas, and subalpine forests also applied to the approach roads, particularly where ancillary attractions like the "Pinnacles" or Annie Creek Canyon could be seen by motorists. The Rim Drive, however, remains an especially noteworthy example of "naturalization" among all national park roads built during the 1930s.

Remnants of other roads at Crater Lake illustrate construction methods that date to 1865 and changed once horse-drawn grading equipment became available a decade or so later. Early wagon roads were eventually realigned for highways designed for automobiles, but pieces of a circulation system built by the Army Corps of Engineers from 1913 to 1919 are still evident in the park, particularly in places near the rim. Evolving design standards can also be seen within the current road system, a product of a collaboration that began in 1926 between the National Park Service and the Bureau of Public Roads.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N879

Survey number: HAER OR-107

Building/structure dates: 1913-1919 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1931-1940 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1865 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1905-1906 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1914-1917 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1925-1928 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1972-1976 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1904-1905 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1913-1914 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1963 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1929-1930 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1932-1936 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1919 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1985-1987 Initial Construction

road and roadside elements geology concession transportation recreation mission 66 program civilian conservation corps crater lake a milne horace albright angelo doveri w f arant bureau of public roads arno b cammerer david canfield thomas e carpenter christian carr justine christianson todd croteau tim davis arthur demaray armin doerner dunn and baker el gates federal highway administration historic american engineering record homer johnson company jc compton frank kittredge francis g lange ernest p leavitt sarah lehman donald libbey jet lowe stephen mark stephen t mather john c merriam pl crooks construction company public roads administration merel sager looney and risley saxton walton stowell simona stoyanova c g thomson us army corps of engineers thomas vint von der hellen and pierson warren northwest kelly young photo crater lake national park roads klamath falls klamath county ultra high resolution high resolution oregon library of congress

1969 - 1980

Library of Congress

https://www.loc.gov/

No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html