Crater Lake
Sprague and twenty men from Company I were assigned to build a road linking the Rogue River with the existing John Day road. This connected Jacksonville and southwest Oregon with John Day's mining country. After the construction work was completed, Sprague published a list of the best camp sites along the road in the Jacksonville newspapers so that the wagon masters could find the best water and grass along the way.
On August 1, 1865, two hunters from Sprague's road construction crew rediscovered Crater Lake, which had been first visited in 1853, but was never effectively recorded so that others could locate it. Based on directions from his hunters, Sprague and five other men visited the lake on August 12. They climbed down the 800-foot caldera cliff to become the first explorers to reach the lake shore. Sprague's account of the visit was reported to Jacksonville's leading newspaper, the Oregon Sentinel on August 25.
Sprague's report was published in the Oregon Sentinel on September 9, 1865. It included several significant observations. First, Sprague identified the volcanic origins of the lake. His report described Wizard Island, and observed it was a remnant of volcanic activity. Second, his description of the lake's unique beauty was thoughtful and eloquent.
| “ | ...you sit down on the brink of the precipice, and feast your eyes on the awful grandeur, your thoughts wander back thousands of years to the time when, where now is a placid sheet of water, there was a lake of fire, throwing its cinders and ashes to vast distances in every direction. The whole surroundings prove this lake to be the crater of an extinct volcano. The appearance of the water in the basin, as seen from the top of the mountain, is that of a vast circular sheet of canvass, upon which some painter had been exercising his art. The color of the water is blue, but in very many different shades, and like the colors in variegated silk, continually changing. Now a spot will be dark blue, almost approaching black, the next moment it will change to a very pale blue; and it is thus continually changing from one shade to another... | ” |
Sprague also predicted that the lake would "be visited by thousands hereafter." Finally, he recommended that the lake not be named after its discoverer, saying: "I do not know who first saw this lake, nor do I think it should be named after the discoverer." Sprague suggested it be called "Lake Majestic." Today, it is known as Crater Lake. Since he was the first to identify the lake's volcanic origin, Sprague deserves some credit for the name.
Read more about this topic: Franklin B. Sprague
Famous quotes containing the words crater and/or lake:
“Give me a condor’s quill! Give me Vesuvius’ crater for an inkstand!”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“The best quality tea must have creases like the leathern boot of Tartar horsemen, curl like the dewlap of a mighty bullock, unfold like a mist rising out of a ravine, gleam like a lake touched by a zephyr, and be wet and soft like a fine earth newly swept by rain.”
—Lu Yu (d. 804)