William Gladstone Steel

William Gladstone Steel (September 7, 1854 – October 21, 1934), called the "father of Crater Lake", referring to the creation of Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, United States. A native of Ohio, he worked in the newspaper business before becoming a mail carrier. He campaigned Congress for 17 years to designate Crater Lake as a national park.

Early years

William Steel was born on September 7, 1854, in Stafford, Ohio, to Elizabeth Lawrie and William Steel, abolitionists who were active in the Underground Railroad. The family included his brother, George A. Steel, who became Treasurer of Oregon, and his sister, Jane, who attended St. Mary's School.

On March 25, 1868 the Steel family moved from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to a farm near Oswego, Kansas. In May 1870, William, as a Kansas school boy, he read a newspaper wrapped around his lunch about the discovery of Crater Lake.

First visit to Crater Lake

Steel finally traveled to Crater Lake in 1885, traveling by railroad and then stagecoach to Fort Klamath. After that, he walked 20 miles, arriving on August 15, 1885. Steel published an articles in the March 1886 issue of West Shore describing his reactions as he viewed the lake for the first time.

Publicist

Steel was a member of the Portland Alpine Club, the first known alpine club in the West, and then a member of the Mazamas after the Portland Alpine Club folded.

Steel not only spent time guiding influential people around the area and leading nature hikes, but he also gave campfire lectures about Crater Lake's flora, fauna and geography, much like a contemporary interpretive park ranger. Steel more than anyone else shaped the early public perception of Crater Lake. For example, he garnered a great deal of publicity for Crater Lake by hosting The Mazamas' convention and mountain climbing tour in 1896. Hundreds of people, including politicians, scientists and climbers, spent three weeks in the area. At the close of the convention, fireworks were lit on Wizard Island and the group ceremoniously christened the volcano that once stood where the lake is, calling it Mount Mazama.

Steel and Native Americans

Steel's dismissive attitude toward Native Americans in the area was characteristic of the times but struck a chord with modern-day audiences. As Crater Lake's unofficial publicist, Steel distorted the relationship between American Indians and Crater Lake and presented an oversimplified version to the larger public. Klamath, Takelma and Molala Indians used Crater Lake as a spiritual retreat and the surrounding area for hunting and gathering. Despite speaking with Klamath leaders, Steel perpetuated the crude idea of childlike and naive natives who simply feared a body a water and the gods that lived within the lake. He essentially helped transform a sacred place for local tribes into a summer vacation spot for white people.

Despite Steel's many accomplishments, some of his policies ran contrary to the conservation aspect of the National Park Service's (NPS) mission.

Steel as developer

Steel's lobbying led to the designation of Crater Lake as the sixth national park. He was not the first superintendent of the park, but did manage to get the first superintendent ousted in what was known as the "Crater Lake Rumble". Steel believed it was important to develop the lake to bring the public to the lake, including selling the idea of a lodge and an encircling road at the crater's rim, but he also envisioned an elevator to take people to the lake's surface, and roads around the lake itself and to Wizard Island for cars. After three years, Steel was removed as superintendent of the park.

Later life

Steel was "honored, tolerated, and despised", and became known as "The Judge", described as a "one-man chamber of commerce".

He last visited the park in 1932, and died in Medford in 1934.