- 1976
-
- January 18, 1976
- Chief Ranger Dan Sholly enters on duty from Yosemite
National Park (a Viet Nam Marine), thus begins a new and unique era for
Crater Lake because of his dynamic and energetic leadership.
- January 19, 1976
- Legislation introduced into Congeress that would remove
mining claims from most National Parks, including Crater Lake.
- February 1976
- Large Headquarter's mantle photo (transparency) is installed,
taken by John Davis and Superintendent Frank Betts from an elevation of
16,000 feet.
- March 1, 1976
- Canteen Company of Oregon completes the purchase of Crater
Lake Lodge Company from the Peyton family.
- March 6, 1976
- Forced entry into the Rim Center discovered.
- March 8, 1976
- Superintendent Betts issues orders to prohibit cattle grazing
within the Park.
- April 18, 1976
- Forced entry into the Lodge dorm by four men seeking shelter
from the cold. The four had been warned that accomodations were not available
during the winter.
- June 1976
- Ralph Peyton resigns as president/manager of Crater Lake Lodge
Company after 17 years.
One-way road moved to Cleetwood Cove. It is felt that when the West Rim Drive
was desingated as a one-way drive, too many Park Visitors were being forced
to drive around the East Rim against their will.
- June 8 or 9 1976
- George Morrison, Cheif Park Naturalist, spots a "Big Foot"
creature crossing the South Road at dusk, headed int Annie Creek Canyon.
With four steps, the up-right creature crossed the road.
Because of distance and tree shadows, a description is difficult. Morrison
could not locate any footprints. George is an experienced ornithologist and
experienced in nature observation. Morrison was shaken by his sighting.
- June 28, 1976
- Mrs. Aline Smith slips and falls on Garfield Peak trail,
breaking her hip. Dr. Lloyd Smith, assists his mother during the emergency
carry-out.
- July 17, 1976
- Mr. Jack Jackman becomes separated from his son while hiking
along the Pacific Crest Trail and ends up walking 15 miles north to Highway
130. The Park mounts an extensive search for Jackman.
- July 18, 1976
- $209 in tips stolen from the Lodge wine cooler and $50 stolen
from a flight bag left behind the Lodge desk.
- July 19, 1976
- $80 stolen from Lodge dorm.
- July 1976
- It has now been a year since the closing of the Park because of
water contamination. Law suits and tort claims continue to be filed against
the government and Lodge Company. Over 1500 people have been affected by the
water contamination. costs and claims mount into the millions of dollars.
- July 20, 1976
- Self-service gas pumps and the service station are damaged
as vandals pull off covers.
- August 1976
- Wettest August on record - 5.94 inches.
Superintendent Frank Betts sights a wolf in the vicinity of Mt. Scott and
Anderson Meadow. Betts, having been assigned to parks in Alaska, was well
trained in wolf sighting.
New Headquarters area sewer lines are installed connecting every building
and residence.
First Annual Crater Lake Rim Run marathon. The event attracts 49 runners.
This may be the highest elevation marathon in America. A cool, foggy day.
Rim Run Winners:
Men:
- 6.5 miles, Dave Ellison, Klamath Falls, Oregon 37.28
- 13.0 miles, Bruce Manboyl, Crater Lake, Oregon 1:21.25
- 26.2 miles, Frank Shields, Chiloquin, Oregon 3:28.21
Women:
- 6.5 miles, Nancy Kurth, Klamath Falls, Oregon 52.46
- August 3, 1976
- Verbal threat of rape reported by YCC enrollee while hiking
the Pacific Crest Trail.
Seasonal Ranger, Phil Hixon rides the first horse over 5 miles of the new
PCT near the South Park boundary.
- August 8, 1976
- Arrest of James MacGregor for the burglary of $30 from a
cold water cabin and for larceny of a car for $225.
- August 9, 1976
- Six inches of snow closes the Rim Drive for two days.
- August 15, 1976
- Eight inches fo snow closes the Rim drive for three more days.
- Summer 1976
- The YCC (Youth Conservation Corps) becomes the direct responsibility
of the Park Service, rather than being handled on a contract basis.
Major rerouting of Pacific Crest Trail at Pumice Desert. The trail was moved
east into the trees so as to cut down on plant damage in the desert and to
line up with a rerouting of the trail around Mt. Thielsen.
Chief Ranger Sholly establishes physical standards and testing for all
employees.
24 hour operations are moved from the Headquarters building to the Annie
Spring Entrance Station.
Seasonal Ranger Phil Hixon's only arrest when he take in an 18 year-old man
for trying to sell marijuana to a younger person in the Headquarter's comfort
station.
Horse patrols begin for parling the back country and and Rim Village.
The old Stone Pump House at Munson Spring is torn down.
- Summer 1976
- Filming continues on the Park's new film, "The Crater Lake Story",
written and directed by award winning filmmaker, Kevin Peer.
- September 1976
- Seasonal Ranger John White runs from Park Headquarters through
Rim Village, to the top of Garfield Peak and back again to Headquarters without
stopping.
- September 2, 1976
- $300 worth of vandalism done to a MG convertible top.
- September 4, 1976
- Rescue of two hikers from below the Watchman. The hikers
had been attempting to reach the Lake.
- September 5, 1976
- A Jacksonville man claims that he was offered $1,000 to go
over the Rim Wall and retrieve a wallet containing $2,000 that had dropped
from the owner's coat as he leaned over the parapet to look at the Lake.
- September 6-7, 1976
- NPS Director, Gary Everhart and Deputy NPS Director visit
Crater Lake. Director Everhart holds a press conference to discuss President
Ford's announcement of a $1.5 billion proposal for additions to and up-gradings
of the country's National Parks.
- September 10, 1976
- Brian Thomas, 26, a Viet Nam veteran suffering from a servere
case of post battle shock, arrives at Crater Lake, along with is wife, hoping
that the peaceful, mountain surroundings will calm his troubled spirit. Brian
had been threatening suicide while battling bouts of depression. Thomas spent
much of the night, sitting in the Lodge lobby, wrapped in a sheet, talking
and praying. Mrs. Thomas keeps an all night vigil, hoping to be able to
intervene in case her husband becomes violent or dangerous to himself.
- September 11, 1976
- At about 8:00 a.m. Brian Thomas suddenly jumps up,
announcing that he is going to kill himself, and runs out of the Lodge.
Mrs. Thomas screams for help, and is quickly joined in the chase by the boat
crew and several other Lodge employees. Thomas leads his pursuers along the
Rim Promenade toward the Visitor Center and the Sinnott Overlook. Running
down the long stone stairway, with the boat crew yelling for him to stop,
Thomas, without missing s step, jumps to his death from the curving parapet
of teh entrance walkway in full view of Ranger Linda Appanaitis and a group
of Park visitors.
- September 19, 1976
- Four airmen, stationed at Kingsley field in Klamath Falls,
are arrested fir stealing nine interpretive and informational signs valued at
$650. The four men spend six days in jail and each is assigned to 40 hours
of community work in the Park.
- September 25, 1976
- A prescribed burn of 250 acres takes five weeks to burn
itself out amoung the Ponderosa Pines of the south Panhandle.
- October 13, 1976
- Two hikers, from Texas, turn in a ripped and torn backpack
they found while walking along a little used trail in the Sphagnum Bog area
of the Park. The two Texans had been hiking the Pacific Crest Trail when they
mistakenly took the abondoned spur trail into the bog. It is a mystery why
these two conscientious hikers went to the trouble of hauling a dirty and
rotten backpack nearly 8 miles to Park Headquarters. But their actions cleared
up a nearly two year mystery.
- October 14, 1976
- While inventorying the contents of a nearly empty, dirty,
ripped and torn backpack, Rangers Larry Smith and Marion Jack discover a
Volkswagen key in a zippered side pocket. A suggestion is made to compare
the VW key with a Xerox copy of a VW key from the Charles McCullar file,
who was thought to have disappeared somewhere in the Park a year and half
earlier. An "electric charge" went through the tworangers as the overlaid
key made a perfect fit. A horse patrol, lead by Marion and Dave Lange set
out immediately to search the area where the backpack had been found. At
1:30 p.m. the radio call came that McCullar's remains had been found, scattered
over and down a steep bank of the Bybee Creek drainage, four miles from
Lightning Springs. The FBI is called in to complete the investigation.
McCullar's cause of death is ruled by natural causes, but the mystery remains
how it was possible for the young man to have walked from the North Entrance,
on top of 105 inches of new snow, 14 miles into Bybee Creek, especially
considering that the young man was not prepared for winter survival. One
theory is that mcCullar may have followed snowmobile tracks, but the machines
are not allowed into remote areas of the Park. Secondly, the new snow was so
fresh and deep, it would have been impossible for snowmobiles to have traveled
the distance.
So, just how McCullar was able to get into the Bybee Creek drainage remains
conjecture, as does his exact cause of death. The boy's father remains
convinced that his sone was the victim of foul play because none of McCullar's
expensive camera equipment was ever found.
- October, 1976 to June, 1977
- - The Lake level drops 2.16 feet, the greatest
winter decline on record.
- December 9, 1976
- The second latest measureable fall snowfall on record. October
1 is normal for the beginning of the winter snow season. 50% of the time, the
Rim Road is closed for the season by the third week of October.
- December 31, 1976
- Supervisory Park Ranger Bruce Wadlington and family drive
completely around the Lake on the Rim Drive. This is the latest seasonal
drive on record.
- Season 1976
- Snowfall for the past 60 years averages 650.66 inches (54feet) or
16.53 meters. The average yearly precipitation averages 65.99 inches or 1.676
meters.
Season 1976 Visitation: 606,636, the second highest on record. This is an
increase of 179,384 over 1976 and an increase of 81,606 over the visitation
in 1974. Good summer weather and dry fall contributed to the increase.
(Next stop 1977)