pass between the drainage area of South Fork Malheur River and Harney Valley. Crane Creek is doubtless named for the sandhill crane, Grus canadensis tabida, formerly a common summer resident of eastern Oregon. For information about this bird, see Birds of Oregon, Gabrielson and Jewett, page 229. A smaller bird, the little brown crane, has been known in Oregon. The California heron or blue crane is found generally in western Oregon.
CRANE CREEK, Lake County. Crane Creek flows into Goose Lake a few miles south of Lakeview. Crane Mountain, elevation 8447 feet, is a little to the southeast of the creek and about five miles south of the Oregon-California state line. These two features were named for an early settler. History of Central Oregon, page 816, says this man's name was Samuel Crane and that he settled on the creek in 1869. The compiler has a statement from John Venator of Lakeview, made in 1943, to the effect that his father bought land from a man who was called "Bill" Crane and that the creek and peak were named for him. The two Cranes may have been brothers or otherwise related. In any event, the geographic features do not seem to have been named for the bird, despite the popular notion.
CRANE PRAIRIE, Deschutes County, Crane Prairie, before the regulating dam for irrigation storage was built at its lower end, was a natural meadow, with several river channels cutting across it. The main stream flowing through the prairie is Deschutes River. When unreg. ulated, the water stands on the prairie in the spring, but by midsummer the meadows are comparatively dry. The dam built at the south end of the prairie can be made to hold back sufficient water to flood the entire area several feet deep. This has been done to such an extent that the natural woods fringing the prairie have been water killed and present a desolate appearance. The prairie is so called because of the number of cranes that fish there. When full, the water surface of the reservoir has an elevation of about 4440 feet and covers an area of about seven square miles.
CRATER LAKE, Clackamas County. This lake, some four miles north of Clackamas Lake, is so called because of a peculiar crater or sink hole in the grassy marsh surrounding it. There is a notion that the name is not particularly apposite, especially on account of the much more important Crater Lake in Oregon. The name Turquoise Lake has been suggested but as far as the compiler knows has not been officially adopted.
CRATER LAKE, Crater Lake National Park, Klamath County. This is a mountain lake between five and six miles in diameter, with an area of about 21 square miles, situated in the caldera of the extinct volcano, Mount Mazama, on the summit of the Cascade Range. It is fed by small streams from melting snowbanks on the inner slopes of the rim, and has no visible outlet. Elevation 6177 feet. This lake is one of the deepest in the world, and soundings have been made of 1996 feet. The highest point on the rim is Hillman Peak, 8156 feet above the sea. The water is of an intense blue. Crater Lake was discovered on June 12, 1853, by John W. Hillman and a party of prospectors, and was christened Deep Blue Lake. It has been known at times as Mysterious Lake, Lake Majesty, Lake Mystery, and other similar names, but on August 4, 1869, it was named Crater Lake by a party of visitors from Jacksonville, Oregon.
