partment. All phases of park activity are now harmonized throughout the system, and it is particularly gratifying that we at last have the opportunity to plan future progress in all of the parks in accordance with a uniform policy.

PARK ROADS IN GOOD CONDITION.

While the rim road was somewhat rough in places, especially where construction and heavy maintenance work was still in progress, the general condition of the road system was exceedingly good. By contrast with the approach roads to the park boundaries the state of our highways was especially satisfying.

Improvement work of a permanent nature was continued on the rim drive after the road was opened to travel, and this work will be carried on to the end of the season. This road is one of the finest scenic highways of the world. Not only are the views of the marvelous lake superb and unique, but the glimpses of the surrounding region that falls away from the crater are only slightly less sensational.

TRAILS SUPPLEMENT RIM DRIVE.

In order to give the visitor even more thrilling views of Crater Lake or the adjacent mountain region than that afforded at the points where the Rim road overlooks cliffs of the crater, trails were built this year from the road to Sun Notch and Crater Peak.

A PAVING PROGRAM ESSENTIAL.

Because of the nature of the soil in Crater Lake National Park, which in many places is either a volcanic ash or volcanic sand, in many stretches of the road natural surfaces are impossible to maintain. Where the road surface is a volcanic-ash soil it rapidly breaks up under automobile travel and becomes a finely pulverized and almost impalpable dust, which, when dry, flows much like Portland cement, filling the ruts and chuck holes so that to the eye they appear fairly smooth, yet offering no cushion to absorb the shock of the rut or chuck hole. Much of this dust is puffed into the air by the wheels of the automobile, where it remains in suspension for a long time, filling the eyes and nostrils of the occupants of automobiles, and often obscuring the view.

The sandy soil is of a very friable nature and impossible to pack or consolidate, and as a result many automobiles get stuck when these sandy stretches occur on hills, as is the usual case. That these conditions would exist was known in advance of the construction of the road system, for the roads at Crater Lake were built by the Engineer Corps in accordance with the scheme or project outlined in House Document No. 328, Sixty-second Congress, second session, in which provision was made for surfacing the entire system of roads with macadam, and the construction and maintenance of a sprinkling system to keep the macadam roads in repair and free from dust. During the first season of actual road construction short stretches of experimental road surfaces were laid, and it was developed that an oil-bound macadam, which was about as cheap as water-bound macadam, satisfactorily withstood travel demands, while the waterbound macadam did not.

140922°- -INT 1919-VOL 1-65

Much of the 57 miles of road constructed is in material that with a reasonable fund for maintenance can be kept in a fair condition for travel, but perhaps half of this mileage is in need of permanent surfacing, which is the best and only economical method of maintaining it. Certain short sections of the road that are in most need of surfacing should be surfaced each season until all of the bad sections are thus improved, and in line with this idea I have included in the estimate for 1921 an item for surfacing 3 miles most in need of this treatment.

APPROACH-ROAD NOTES.

The State road leading to the park from Medford was in unusually bad condition this season, inside and out of the Crater National Forest. The section around Prospect was the worst part of the highway. The State is now working in this region on an entirely new road, but little was done to keep the present road in anything approaching proper usuable condition. With the very heavy travel of this year it became deeply rutted and terribly dusty.

If Crater Lake National Park is to be developed as a resort for motorists, these approach roads must be quickly rebuilt or repaired. The war, of course, has delayed this improvement work, but now that State and Federal aid funds are available, it should be rushed to completion. As we pointed out in previous reports, the counties of Klamath and Jackson have repaired these roads to the limit of their finances, and Jackson County citizens have even made personal subscriptions of considerable sums of money for this work. More can hardly be expected of them.

HOTEL SERVICE SOMEWHAT IMPROVED.

The service furnished at Crater Lake Lodge was somewhat better than last year, although facilities are not what they should be, and I again emphasize the necessity for the people of Oregon to give to the owners of this property their financial and moral support in bringing the enterprise to an operating basis that will insure proper treatment of tourists visiting this beautiful national park.

There was much demand for boating and fishing on the lake during the season. The Crater Lake Co. bought a large number of boats, but they did not reach the park until late in the season.

NATIONAL EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION AT CRATER LAKE.

On August 11 nearly 400 members of the National Editorial Association visited the park, and I happened to reach Crater Lake the same day. This big party was far larger than the ordinary hotel facilities at the crater rim could accommodate, but the chambers of commerce of Ashland and Medford furnished additional blankets and other equipment, and the superintendent of the park contributed a supply of tents to the emergency camps, thus making it possible to reasonably well care for these excursionists for the one night they spent in the park.

DIAMOND LAKE ADDITION.

The Diamond Lake country to the north opens out to the view of the traveler around the rim, and the importance of adding this section to the park can be readily seen. The construction of a road from Diamond Lake connecting with this rim road would be a very simple matter, following the route of the present trail, and with the development by the State and county authorities of the road from a point south of Crescent, on the Central Oregon highway east of the Cascades, a new entrance into Crater Lake National Park would be developed. This would be very useful to the people of Oregon, and particularly to tourists coming to the park via The Dalles and Bend.

Camping facilities around Diamond Lake are excellent, and the addition of this section would add materially to the park's usefulness. Last year Senator McNary, of Oregon, introduced a bill providing for this enlargement of the park, but it was not reached in the Sixty-fifth Congress. He reintroduced this legislation on August 15, 1919, as Senate 2797, and I earnestly hope that this bill will be enacted into law this year in order that we may begin the development of the Diamond Lake region next season.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK.

In 1917 and 1918 Rocky Mountain National Park held the record for tourist travel to the big scenic parks of the Western States, but this season it takes the first place of the entire park system as a tourist resort, having passed Hot Springs Reservation by a safe margin. Its travel for the season just closed reached the amazing total of 169,492. While this is necessarily an estimate, it is based on a careful count of visitors entering the Estes Park and Longs Peak gateways, and a reasonable allowance for travel in the early mornings and evenings, before and after checking could begin, and a similar conservative allowance for travel via the western or Grand Lake entrance. Lack of funds for the employment of temporary rangers for traffic control at all the gateways prevented the making of an absolutely accurate count of all visitors such as is made in nearly all of the other parks of the system.

ALL HOTELS CROWDED.

This enormous travel has clearly demonstrated that if Rocky Mountain National Park becomes more popular than it now is its hotel accommodations will be wholly incapable of meeting the public demand for service. There are enough hotels in or adjacent to the park to accommodate more than 200,000 people if they should come and stay only an average period of two or three days; but such is not the use that is made of this splendid reservation. Visitors, generally speaking, want to spend a long time in the park, resting about the comfortable hotels, fishing, mountain climbing, or traversing the trails on foot or horseback. Motoring, of course, is limited on account of the relatively small road mileage. The superintendent reports that most of the accommodations of the hotels in and near the park were reserved for the remainder of the season very shortly after it opened.