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