(no audio) (gentle peaceful music) - [Narrator] The Cascade Range, mile upon mile of vast forest land, and rugged playground- - [Skier] Woo woo!

- [Narrator] But all of this might have looked very different.

- All this public land was gonna eventually be given away to private people.

- The vision what Crater Lake would be like if there were condos all the way around the rim.

- [Narrator] It may well have happened, sold to private interests, forever off limits.

That is, if not for some early outdoor enthusiasts who wanted to protect the land they played on.

(enthusiastic big band music) Of this crowd of early conservationists, one man stands out.

He was obsessed with the idea of preserving the mountains.

- I am very grateful that we had a leader of that type, at that time.

- They'd call him Judge Steel, Father of Crater Lake.

(upbeat strumming music) - [Narrator] William Gladstone Steel, complex, controversial, passionately determined.

- [Speaker] In today's terms, he'd be a radical, wild-eyed environmentalist.

- [Narrator] But he was also an opportunistic showman and developer, who used every advantage.

- This guy really knew how to market himself.

- Steel, you have to give him credit, no matter what you think of him, or whether he's the type of person you could even stand for five minutes, has to be credited with incredible persistence.

- He was a pest, let's face it, but he was very effective.

- [Narrator] His legacy would be millions of acres of protected, public forest land and watersheds.

But his crowning achievement was seeing Crater Lake become a national park.

He made it happen with little more than raw determination.

(playful strumming music) (peaceful cheery music) (peaceful cheery music continues) (peaceful cheery music continues) - [Announcer] Funding for "Oregon Experience" is provided by the James F. and Marian L. Miller Foundation, the Ann and Bill Swindells Charitable Trust, the Robert C. and Nanny S. Warren Foundation, and the Oregon Cultural Trust, thank you.

(carefree strumming music) - [Narrator] 1885, Oregon territory had given over to statehood only a generation before.

This was still untamed, uncharted country.

It was in this setting that a struggling Portland entrepreneur gazed upon an incredible site.

- [Speaker] "Crater Lake is one of the grandest points of interest on Earth.

Here, all of the ingenuity of nature has been exerted to the fullest capacity to build one grand, awe inspiring temple within which to live and from which to gaze upon the world."

William Gladstone Steel.

(carefree strumming music) - [Narrator] Today, Southern Oregon's Crater Lake is considered a gem of the national park system.

Formed from an ancient volcano, it is the nation's deepest lake, startlingly blue.

It awes visitors from all over the world.

- Great - Thank you.

- [Tourist] Thank you.

- [Narrator] For William Gladstone Steel, seeing this natural wonder would launch him on a lifelong journey that would ultimately help preserve the Cascade Mountain Range.

- He was not born as nature's nobleman and we, a lot of times, like to turn people into, well they were brilliant, or they had a lot of money, or they were six foot six.

(laughs) Steel was none of these things.

He was an average guy who had a little more of a motivation than some people have.

- [Speaker] Aside from the United States government itself, every penny that was ever spent in creation of Crater Lake National Park came outta my pocket.

And besides that, it required many years of hard labor that was freely given.

- [Narrator] The youngest of 10 children, William Gladstone Steel entered the world in 1854 to outspoken, abolitionist parents.

His father, William Steel Senior, Was active with the Underground Railroad, advocating freedom and citizenship for enslaved Blacks.

- [Speaker] He saw his parents doing good.

He realized that if you're gonna do something, you better do it yourself.

- [Narrator] Steel Junior would take after his strong-willed father.

In the 1920s, when the influential Ku Klux Klan pushed through a state law, effectively banning Oregon's Roman Catholic schools, Steel Junior defied them.

- [Speaker] Even though the family were entirely Protestant, he sent his daughter, Jane, to Saint Mary's High School, in in Medford, that sort of open defiance of the Klan's influence in Oregon at the time.

- He probably rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.

He knew what he wanted.

He knew what needed to be done and knew what the right thing was to do.

He was a zealot.

(upbeat strumming music) - [Narrator] This strong sense of righteous purpose developed early.

The story goes, he first read about Crater Lake as a Kansas schoolboy, in a newspaper, used to wrap his lunch.

- [Speaker] In all my life, I had never read an article that took the intense hold on me that that one did.

And then and there, I determined to go to Oregon to visit that lake and to go down to the water.

(upbeat guitar music) - [Narrator] It was a compelling anecdote, just the kind an enterprising man like Steel would tell, hundreds of times.

His stories became legendary and eventually, accepted as fact, even if he took liberties with the truth.

- It does make a great story and there's no way of verifying it to show that, I mean, the only verification is through Will Steel himself.

(native American flute music) - [Narrator] At that time, not many people, other than the local Indians, had even heard of the lake.

The Klamaths called it Giiwas, and to them, it was a place of sacred power.

But for the White settlers, the lake was still mostly legend.

(energetic bluegrass music) - [Speaker] In 1853, Jacksonville, Oregon was probably the wildest mining camp on the Pacific coast, where whiskey, women, and shooting were monotonous.

(gun blasts) (energetic bluegrass music) - It was a group of people from Jacksonville, one of whom happens to be John Wesley Hillman, who William Gladstone Steel picked as the discoverer of Crater Lake.

(bright cheerful music) - [Narrator] But in fact, there would be many discoveries and names.

Finally, the name chosen, by a newspaper editor visiting the area, stuck, Crater Lake.

(bright cheerful music) - [Speaker] And then in 1865, was the effective discovery because after that, people began to know, it was in the newspaper, they really began to know that there was a lake here.

- [Narrator] But getting to the isolated lake would remain an ordeal for decades.

(peaceful piano music) (energetic strumming music) In 1872, William Steel moved with his family to Portland.

He was set on seeing the lake he had read about back in Kansas, but it would be several years before he would get the chance.

Instead, the self-educated high school dropout put his energy into a series of mostly unsuccessful endeavors.

- He'd get into one business and be there for a while and suddenly he'd jump to something else.

- As far as I can tell, he was broke most of the time.

- He said, "I got knocked down so many times, I got so I liked it."

- [Narrator] He dabbled in real estate, followed the gold rush to Alaska, bought and sold a newspaper, and settled into a job at the post office.

- Steel was really a part of a group that would see themselves as small businessmen or entrepreneurs.

- [Narrator] An adventurer in spirit, if not in means, he documented his thoughts and fanatically kept scrapbooks of things that interested him.

But in all his correspondence and clippings, there is almost nothing about his wife and daughter.

- We don't know much about his private life, or his marriage or family, but we do know about his public life.

- [Narrator] What he does document, in great detail, is his growing interest in the uncharted mountains.

He joined with like-minded, young, well-to-do professionals in Portland and formed the first known mountain club in the west, the Oregon Alpine Club, Steel wanted its members to climb mountains and work to preserve the environment.

- Somehow they got involved in too many different things.

There were just too many people looking at Mount Hood through telescopes and not enough people going to Mount Hood to climb it and and hike it and explore it.

- [Narrator] Even with limited funds, Steel was the club's main financier.

Fed up, he dissolved it, but its failure was a lesson to Steel about focusing on what he was really after.

And in 1894, he created a new club, The Mazamas, named for the surefooted Mountain Goat.

Steel was the first president.

(enthusiastic nostalgic music) The Mazamas were serious mountaineers and a voice for conservation.

They generated publicity by inviting filmmakers to document their activities.

- From the very outset, conservation wasn't an issue, but conservation in those days was a little bit different than it is today.

In those days, they built a big bonfire and it consumed a tree or two.

- [Narrator] The first meeting was on the summit of Mount Hood.

Members were required to make the climb.

It attracted 155 men and 38 women, billy goats and nanny goats.

- [Speaker] They had quite a contingent of women, just like the young man, on a great adventure.

(enthusiastic nostalgic music) - [Narrator] Mountaineering grew in popularity and the local newspapers followed the Mazama's expeditions, which is just what Steel had in mind.

He believed that if people were more aware of the mountains and their value, then they would want to protect them.

And if hikes didn't get enough attention, well then he would light up the sky with his message.

(enthusiastic big band music) He set off pyrotechnic displays on Mount Hood that could be seen from Portland, called "Illuminations."

After several attempts in bad weather, he was successful.

(people cheering) (enthusiastic big band music) - [Speaker] We screamed and hallooed until we were horse, did all sorts of silly things.

For now, we knew our fire would be seen.

- [Narrator] The publicity stunt was celebrated in Portland and across the nation as a grand scientific achievement for the state and for Steel.

- [Speaker] The indomitable Steel appears determined to leave a notable record behind him, the New Northwest.

(cheerful nostalgic music) - [Narrator] With his growing experience in mountain climbing, finally, 15 years after first hearing about Crater Lake, Steel embarked on a long trek to see it.

He would travel by train to Medford, then catch a stagecoach for Fort Klamath before tackling the final ascent.

Giddy with anticipation, Steel hurried ahead of his party, walking 20 miles from Fort Klamath, finally arriving at the rim on August 15th, 1885.

(upbeat nostalgic music) - And he stood there, absolutely without words.

It's a moment in history of where William Steel actually shut up (laughs) 'cause he couldn't find anything to say.

And they started marveling at what they had seen.

And here was a dream that had been born in a small kid back in Kansas, and there he is, standing on the rim, and he's actually seeing this for the first time in his life, not realizing that he was gonna spend the next 49 years involved in that puddle of water.

- [Speaker] An over-mastering conviction came to me that this wonderful spot must be saved, wild and beautiful, just as it was for all future generations, and that it was up to me to do something.

I then and there had the impression that in some way, I don't know how, the lake ought to become a national park.

- He was so awestruck by the lake and the surroundings and that just started him on a new course of life, unpaid, but a new course of life.

(upbeat strumming music) - [Narrator] He began his mission writing to every major newspaper editor in the country, asking them to support a national park.

- He'd come back to Portland, he would get a massive letter writing campaign going, before the internet, but he could have hundreds of names on a petition in just a few days.

He produced the book, "The Mountains of Oregon" and he gave a copy of that to every member of congress.

He wore out 12 typewriters during this period.

(typewriter clacking) (buzzing) - [Speaker] The overpowering impressiveness of its grandeur cannot be described.

It has no peer, no rival to divide the charms, but stands alone, the one, the only Crater Lake.

- [Narrator] He lobbied President Grover Cleveland with some success, but persuading Congress proved to be more difficult.

- From 1886 until 1902, bills were introduced into congress, both from the house side and from the senate side to Crater Lake established as a national park.

And often Steel would go back to Washington DC and would promote the bills and try to encourage, through letter writing campaigns et cetera, to get these bills passed, but every one of them failed.

- [Narrator] Not everyone wanted the area off limits.

Gold had been discovered in nearby Jacksonville, and it was prime land for timber and sheep grazing.

Deterred on the national level, a state park was proposed, but steel would have none of it.

- [Speaker] The writer objected seriously to this for the reason that the state would never make proper provision for its maintenance.

- Will Steel realized from the very beginning that you couldn't get this established as a national park until you knew something about it.

They didn't even know how deep it was.

(carefree strumming music) - [Narrator] Steel persuaded John Wesley Powell, of the US Geological Survey, to fund a thorough scientific study of Crater Lake.

Steel's job was to prepare the equipment.

- [Speaker] The mold was built in Portland, shipped by railroad to Medford, and then transported by horse and wagon up to the edge of the lake and let down by ropes and cables down to the water, which might be a thousand feet down there.

- [Narrator] Once on the lake, they used weighted piano wire for sounding lines and measured its depth.

- [Speaker] "As it sank deeper and deeper, the men watched with increasing astonishment, 600, 800, 1000 feet, and still it continued to sink."

Earl U. Homuth.

- [Narrator] They calculated the depth to be nearly 2,000 feet, a surprisingly accurate measurement that modern sonar would confirm.

- Here they are, finding one of the deepest lakes in the world.

He sent word up to the rim.

There was a guy up there with a horse, and he took off for Fort Klamath, the closest telegraph spot, and they telegraphed the news that they had found the world's second deepest lake.

And Steel thought it was gonna be a cakewalk.

15 more years (chuckles) before it became a national park.

- [Narrator] William Gladstone Steel was gaining notoriety, but he wasn't acting alone.

An important ally, and potential funder, was Judge John B. Waldo.

The son of pioneers, John Waldo loved the mountains, spending summers in the most remote parts of the Cascades.

He thought all of it, from Portland to the California border, should be protected.

- [Speaker] Waldo said, "Well why don't you withdraw the whole cascade range?"

- [Narrator] In 1891, that suddenly seemed possible.

Congress passed the Forest Reserve Act, giving the president the power to set aside public forest lands for protection.

It was the beginning of the national forests.

Waldo and Steel went into action, lobbying hard to protect the entire cascade range.

- They had this incredible idea that they should have federal land reserved for the public, forever.

Few people around the United States had that kind of a notion, that strength of feeling, of assuredness, that would eventually give us national forest and national parks today.

- [Narrator] Steel and Waldo envisioned a 300 mile long forest reserve, stretching from the Columbia River to the California border.

What they got was less than they had hoped for, but at four and a half million acres, still the largest reserve in the nation.

- Almost immediately, there was an outcry from people who thought that the reserve was way too big.

When Steel started to oppose them, they were just irate.

(gentle dramatic music) - [Narrator] Steel was ready for a fight, sending an avalanche of letters to politicians, editors, anyone who might help protect the new reserve.

- [Speaker] Honorary Grover Cleveland, my dear friend, I am plumb full of the Forest Reserve.

Dear sir, I am a citizen of the state and somewhat familiar.

I was never so full of fight as since coming.

The life of our reservation is simply trembling in the valley.

Sincerely, W.G.

Steel.

(gentle dramatic music) - [Narrator] He spent months lobbying in Washington DC, with no job and little money, begging and borrowing where he could.

- He did this all on a shoestring.

He was a man who could make 20 cents last a week.

He got a room back there, he'd go back and rent a room, didn't even have any furniture in it.

He'd just roll up in a blanket, sleep on the floor.

(twanging strumming music) - [Narrator] His efforts eventually paid off.

Congress would end up keeping the entire reserve intact.

Meanwhile, another battle continued to brew.

Steel was still fighting for a national park.

- The National Academy of Sciences, through funding provided by the US Congress, sent a team of people to the West to investigate the Forest Reserve.

- [Narrator] Steel was at Crater Lake when he heard about the commission's trip to Medford.

So he set off, hiking the 70 some miles on foot, to personally escort them to the lake.

Among the party was Gifford Pinchot, who would eventually be the first chief of the Forest Service.

To Steel, Pinchot was an ear to the new president.

- And that turned out very well for Steel because Pinchot was interested enough to help him, in 1902 when Theodore Roosevelt became president, and Gifford Pinchot was Roosevelt's main conservation advisor.

- [Narrator] Theodore Roosevelt was a celebrated outdoors man and the era's champion of conservation, who supported the creation of national parks.

Steel, again, badgered lawmakers, and this time congress finally relented.

On May 22nd, 1902, Theodore Roosevelt signed the bill, making Crater Lake the nation's fifth national park.

(carefree strumming music) - [Speaker] After 17 years, my dream came true and the press of Oregon congratulated me.

- Steel went on to do other things.

That battle was over and he needed money.

(carefree strumming music) - [Narrator] The headstrong, opinionated steel was passed over for the park's first superintendent's job.

It instead went to local rancher, William Arant.

- But Will Steel coveted that position.

And so he started working behind the scenes, trumping up false charges against Arant.

He claimed he just wasn't running a park the way it should be run.

It wasn't running the way Steel wanted to see it run, according to his rules.

- [Narrator] For a time, he set up shop, providing services to park visitors.

But eventually, his efforts to get rid of Arant worked and Steel was awarded the post of Crater Lake superintendent, while Arant and his wife were forcibly removed from the area by federal agents in what would be called the Crater Lake Rumble.

(engine rumbling) As a new superintendent, Steel wanted as many visitors as possible.

(playful nostalgic music) - He immediately went to the idea that Crater Lake should be available and accessible to the public, and the more public could get there, the better off the preserving of the lake would be.

(playful nostalgic music) - [Speaker] The average tourist is willing to pay for his scenery, but is not willing to endure hardship to enjoy it.

- [Narrator] He pushed for more roads and hiking trails, constructed telephone and water systems.

He secured financing for the building of a lodge and would've done a lot more, if he had the money.

He envisioned an elevator to the lake shore, a bridge to Wizard Island and a road inside the caldera walls.

- [Speaker] As the years passed and he started seeing that without a road, without a paved road from Medford, you're not gonna get the kind of people up there at Crater Lake that you want, not the volume.

And you have to have the volume to get the people up there to enjoy it.

And by having more people up there, you could get more money to build more roads.

And they had that creature comfort, so you have to build your hotels.

So this idea started evolving that everything that he did benefited the visitor.

- [Narrator] But his ideas were not in line with the new national park system.

After just three years, he was pushed out of the superintendent's job.

- He took over control of the filing cabinet and the desk, but he alienated a lot of people, local people, and your support for national parks, especially in those days, came from the local people.

He was a great promoter, but not a manager.

- [Narrator] But at 62, his lifelong effort to preserve Crater Lake was recognized.

He was given a new role, a mostly honorary judicial position, one that finally paid a decent salary.

- [Speaker] They tolerated him.

They honored him, tolerated him, and despised him all at the same time.

- [Narrator] He would be called The Judge for the rest of his life.

(gentle cheery music) - And people would stop and visit with him.

He was a one man Chamber of Commerce.

He never tired of promoting Crater Lake.

He never tired of welcoming people.

- He did this as his own public service.

So he was quite a hero in that respect.

- To keep with the program and eventually prevail was, you know, a tremendous triumph.

- [Narrator] He made his last visit to Crater Lake in 1932 and died in Medford two years later.

Judge William Gladstone Steel was laid to rest in his national park service uniform.

(gentle peaceful music) Shortly before his death, Steel reflected on his life's work.

- [Speaker] "On this, my 76th birthday, my heart bounds with joy and gladness for I realize that I have been the cause of opening up this wonderful lake for the pleasure of mankind, millions of whom will come and enjoy, and unborn generations will profit by its glories.

Money knows no charm like this and I am the favored one.

Why should I not be happy?"

(gentle cheerful music) - [Announcer] There's more about William Gladstone Steel on "Oregon Experience" Online.

To learn more or to order a DVD of the show, visit opb.org.

(gentle peaceful music) (gentle peaceful music continues) (gentle peaceful music continues) (gentle peaceful music continues) Funding for "Oregon Experience" is provided by the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, the Anne and Bill Swindells Charitable Trust, the Robert C. and Nanny S. Warren Foundation, and the Oregon Cultural Trust.

Thank you.

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