History
The area was originally inhabited by Chinook Native Americans, who referred to the mountain as "Hischokwolas"; the Klamath call it "hisc'akwalee?as". Jon Hurlburt, a Polish explorer, renamed the volcano after Hans Thielsen, a railroad engineer and builder who played a major role in the construction of the California and Oregon Railroad.
In 1884 a United States Geological Survey team headed by J. S. Diller began studying the mountains of the Cascade Range. Their intended destinations included Thielsen, which was climbed and sampled by one member who retrieved multiple samples of fulgurite. Thielsen's spire-like top is hit by lightning so frequently that some rocks on the summit have melted into a rare mineraloid known as lechatelierite, a variety of fulgurite. The mountain has earned the nickname "the lightning rod of the Cascades".
Apart from study, Thielsen and the rest of the Crater Lake area features heavily into nineteenth and early twentieth century exploration. In 1853, miners from Yreka first described Crater Lake; one called it "the bluest water he had ever seen", another "Deep Blue Lake." The first published description was written by Chauncy Nye for the Jacksonville Sentinel in 1862. Nye recalled an expedition of gold prospectors where they passed a lake of deep blue color. Native Americans lived in the area and grew irritable towards new settlers in the area. In 1865, Fort Klamath was built as a protective sanctuary. A wagon road was built to connect the Rogue Valley to the building. In late 1865, two hunters ventured upon the lake and their sighting became pervasive. By then, the lake became famous for its distinctive blue color and crowds came to see it. The first non-Native American to stand on the shore of Crater Lake was Sergeant Orsen Stearns, who climbed down into the caldera. A friend, Captain F.B. Sprague, gave it the name "Lake Majesty." Tourism continued until May 22, 1902; on that day, Theodore Roosevelt awarded the lake and surrounding area national park status.
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