Crater Lake Lodge, Inc.

Every spring, recruiters from Crater Lake Lodge, Inc. would disperse to college campuses throughout Oregon and Washington interviewing candidates in an effort to locate “over 150 of the highest type of young people,” according to the company’s orientation manual.

Most of the employees would come from the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, University of Washington and Washington State University, as well as from the smaller regional colleges and private universities in both states.

Applying for a position as boat mechanic, I benefited from the fact that longtime friend Pat Taylor (above, right), who had worked for the “Crater Lake Navy” in 1972, would be returning as boat crew foreman. To my great delight, Ralph Peyton himself, President of Crater Lake Lodge, Inc., hired me following a phone interview.

Most positions offered by Crater Lake Lodge, Inc. centered on activities at the lodge and Rim Village: servers, bartenders, housekeeping staff, retail clerks and gas station attendants. Many staffed the gift shop and cafeteria in Rim Village, The Wineglass (a bar and grill upstairs), the upscale dining room and Caldera Room bar in the lodge, or worked in housekeeping and janitorial services.

The majority of employees lived on the third or fourth floor of the lodge (above), which in those days could only charitably be described as a “fire trap.” Crater Lake Lodge was built in 1915, so it’s older than the other iconic lodges of the Cascades -- Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood and Paradise Inn on Mt. Rainier.

Living in the lodge had its upside, with possibly the best views of any quarters in the world, but it also had its drawbacks: “Housemothers supervise the dormitories to prevent excessive noise or conduct that would disturb guests with rooms nearby. Closing hours are enforced for this reason,” according to the manual.

Fortunately for everybody, the boat operators and gas jockeys (both all-male crews) had their own quarters three miles down the road from Rim Village at Park Headquarters in the Munson Valley. The boat crew lived in the old Ranger Dormitory (above), while the gas station attendants lived across the road in the Steel Circle residential area.

As my sophomore year at Mt. Hood Community College came to a close, I packed my Volkswagen and left the City of Roses for Crater Lake National Park and a summer to remember. I would begin my studies at the University of Oregon School of Journalism in the fall and, as it turned out, never return to Portland as a full-time resident.