Crater Lake and the Cascade Mountain Range

e [Music] [Music] the western coast of the North American continent is a land of movement and change a border zone between the Earth's crustal plates shifting against one another as our planet continues to evolve looming Above This landscape from British Columbia to Northern California is a range of mountains called the Cascades they are vivid expressions of the Earth's Restless movement and are the home of some of the world's largest [Music] volcanoes formations of their own lava and de B these volcanoes have influenced the landscape here for hundreds of thousands of years for modern civilization they are symbols of uncertainty and awesome power people living within their midst have learned to watch and listen and pay heed to their [Music] moods in southern Oregon within an area now known as The clth Basin there live a people whose coexistence with the volcanic landscape has encompassed many thousands of years they see the physical world and the spiritual world as one each rock each plant each animal with whom they share their environment is an individual reflection of of creation the forces of weather and geologic change are the embodiment of powerful Spirits which influence their lives their ancestors call themselves maak the people of the marsh these ancient ones told of a great B battle that took place nearly 7,000 years ago between two Mighty Spirits named skele and [Music] La skele was the spirit of the above world the region of light and Beauty he lived in the marsh country his Messengers included the most active and beautiful creatures of the March when they appeared in visible [Music] form deep within the mountains surrounding the marsh dwelt La his was the domain of darkness and Terror the below [Music] world the great volcanic Mountain that towered over the western side of the marsh was LA's passageway to the kingdom of light [Music] in time the spirit of the below world became angry with the people of the marsh he emerged from the mountain as a dark cloud of smoke and vowed that he would destroy them hearing LA's thundering voice skele came to the defense of the people and a furious battle began the spirit of the below World poured forth as an avalanche of burning Ash like a river of flame he swept over the land devouring forests and covering valleys continuing on to the homes of the marsh people to appease the Wrath of the angry Spirit shamans climbed the mountain and threw themselves into the pit of fire but Lao would not be a [Music] beasted with a final burst of Fury scal drove Lao underground collapsing the mountain upon him [Music] when daylight returned to the land the high mountain was gone then came the spirits of the storms snow and rain fell for many years upon the ravaged land in time the spirits of the trees and an animals returned in their physical [Music] forms the waters brought by the snow and rain covered lao's entrance to the above world peace and quiet rained over the Earth the people of the marsh called this place the lake of Blue Waters for them it was a place of great spiritual power a passageway to the inner world of divine [Music] Vision they came to this sacred Lake to bathe in its Waters seeking contact with the spirit beings who dwelt there to receive a vision was to experience a State of Union with all creation Body Mind and Spirit became one Hunter Warrior and Shaman could return to their people with great strength and wisdom by the middle of the 19th century a new people was making a mass migration through the area surrounding the lake of blue WS these people embodied a world of different beliefs a world seemingly separated from the rhythms and flows of the living [Music] landscape they came to carve new lives from the raw material of the earth and to expand the growing Empire they called the United States over the next 30 Years the people of the marsh would have to change their lives dramatically as the growing edge of this Empire encompassed their Homeland the maalo spiritual link with the living landscape would be weakened but not severed the lake over the battlefield of Lao and skele would remain for them a sacred and Powerful place during these years of the Great westward migration the lake of Blue Waters was discovered by gold prospectors and visited by soldiers haunters and Thrill Seekers these newcomers would call it deep blue lake lake Majesty hole in the ground Crater Lake in the summer of 1885 a man named William steel made a journey to this Lake from the growing city of Portland years earlier as a school boy in Kansas steel had been deeply moved by a short description of the lake that was printed in the newspaper wrapped around his lunch [Music] for William steel seeing Crater Lake was the Fulfillment of a dream the newspaper descriptions and fantasies of the past could not approach the reality now before him he looked over the lake in od [Music] silence realizing that the lake and its surroundings were unclaimed and open for exploitation steel became deeply inspired to protect the area from private development soon his vision prompted a movement to create a national park in 1886 William steel returned with a scientific expedition to explore the lak's depths they found it to be nearly 2,000 ft deep one of the deepest lakes in the world during the years that followed steel wrote numerous books and hundreds of newspaper articles describing the dramatic features of the lake and the deeply spiritual feelings he experienced there the lake of Blue Waters became known to people throughout the country in 1902 Congress spoke for for the hopes of an entire nation by preserving Crater Lake as a national park in the tradition of the molock it was recognized as a sanctuary of the spirit for all [Music] [Music] people the geologists of our modern civilization consider this mountain as the sight of one of the most violent volcanic eruptions that this continent has ever known the upper 5,000 ft of the mountain was destroyed Fallout from the eruption blanketed hundreds of thousands of square miles with a layer of fine gray Ash this lay a remains today as the signature of an awesome event and a reference point in geologic [Music] time the lake which formed in the cavity of this volcano is among the most transparent bodies of freshwat on Earth its Clarity has long inspired the Curiosity of scientists the knowledge they gain here contributes to the research of other lakes around the world [Music] he [Music] for hundreds of years humankind has been coming to this Lake seeking power and vision and knowledge seeking a sense of completeness within the universe that we all [Music] share the lake of Blue Waters will remain for us a sacred place until LA and skell rise to do battle again [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e for