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Mail Tribune 100, Sept. 3, 1922 By Alissa Corman Sep 03, 2022 12:00 AM A A News from 100 years ago The following news items were drawn from the archives of the Mail Tribune 100 years ago Sept. 3, 1922 OREGON CAVE BEING MARRED BY SIGHTSEERS Portland, Sept. 1. — The garden of paradise, the bacon room, Joaquin Miller’s chapel and all other wonders of the Oregon caves are being marred by irresponsible youths who are scratching their initials on the walls and smoking them with acetylene torches, according to District Forester George H. Cecil, who has just returned from a trip through southern Oregon. “Each guide takes 15 or 20 persons through the caves at a time,” said Cecil, “and he cannot keep an eye on all of them. There are generally some children. While the caves, as a national monument, are protected by act of congress, and it is a penal offense to mar them, we probably would not want to send a man up for a year or two, but we have got to do something. “If we had the appropriation from congress for lighting the caves, we would abandon the use of torches, and thus remove some of the incentive for marking the walls.” Cecil reports the portion of the road between Diamond lake and Crater lake within the Umpqua National Forest, complete and in good shape. The forest service is building the road around the lake, and has finished the stretch on the east side, and is pushing north toward the summit and Crescent Lake. Fifteen out of the total 30 miles between Diamond and Crescent lakes will be complete this fall, unless weather conditions prevent. This road is a link in the future Skyline Highway. “Road work around Bend is progressing steadily with the use of graders and heavy tractors,” said Cecil. “Through the lodgepole pine country the forest service is building roads at a cost of $400 a mile.” Plans Road Commenting upon the Oregon Skyline, Cecil stated that next year he expected to start upon the section between the McKenzie Highway and the Santiam road, and to finish the section on the south from Crescent lake to Odell Lake. This will leave only the Mount Jefferson country and the region west of the Three Sisters without roads in the entire Siskiyou route from Mount Hood to Crater Lake. The Waldo lake section of the Skyline will not have been built, but it will be possible to connect up Odell lake with Elk lake by means of the Century drive on the east side of the range. — Alissa Corman; [email protected]