W.H. (William Howard) Banes was born in Iowa in 1873 but relocated to Portland, Oregon by 1910. Banes married Fern May Jobson and the couple had two children, Virginia (b. 1901) and Elenor (b. 1904). Banes appears to have operated the Motor Equipment Co., an automobile parts distributor on North Broadway Avenue in Portland, Oregon. The Howland family referenced in the album may have included Luther H. Howland and his wife, Alice D. Howland. Additional information about the Banes and Howland families is unavailable.
Crater Lake is the only National Park in the state of Oregon and the fifth designated National Park in the United States. Crater Lake was first seen by white settlers in 1853 and the first depth sounding was taken by a USGS expedition in 1886. William Gladstone Steele, now known as "the father of Crater Lake" oversaw efforts to gain national recognition for the lake and develop tourist infrastructure. Due in part to Steele's efforts, Crater Lake National Park was established in 1902, the Crater Lake Lodge was opened in 1915, and construction of the Rim Drive was completed in 1918.
The Oakland Motor Car Company was founded in Pontiac, Michigan in 1907 and purchased by General Motors in 1909. The company initially produced a 2-cylinder vehicle. After takeover by GM, the company began producing 4, 6, and eventually 8-cylinder options. The vehicle appearing in this album was likely a post-1913 6-cylinder touring model.
The Banes-Howland Crater Lake Auto Trip Photograph Album (P 339) was acquired by the Special Collections and Archives Research Center in 2016.
This collection is open for research.
Banes-Howland Crater Lake Auto Trip Photograph Album (P 339), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
The Special Collections and Archives Research Center includes numerous collections of photographs, maps, film, publications, oral histories, and ephemera documenting Crater Lake National Park. Materials related to Crater Lake can be found in the
Other collections documenting early 20th century outdoor recreation and tourism in Oregon include the
The Banes-Howland Crater Lake Auto Trip Photograph Album documents a 17-day journey through Oregon from Portland to Crater Lake and back. The trip was a joint effort between the Banes and Howland families of Portland and appears to have been led by W.H. Banes. The journey was taken in an Oakland 6 automobile carrying as many as seven individuals, food, and equipment. The exact makeup of the group remains unclear. However, it appears to have included W.H. Banes, a man from the Howland family, two adult women (likely the wives of Banes and Howland), a young woman (possibly a teenager), and at least one adolescent girl.
The group left the Mount Tabor area of Portland on July 22. They traveled through the Columbia Gorge and then followed what is now U.S. Route 97 through Central Oregon and into Southern Oregon. From Crater Lake, the group traveled modern day Oregon Route 99 through the Willamette Valley back to Portland. In total, the group drove approximately 880 miles.
The trip is described in detail by an accompanying newspaper article which was published on August 25,1916 and includes a day-by-day description of the journey. The article gives a detailed report of the route, campsites, road conditions, automobile accidents (involving other travelers), and recreational activities including swimming and a motorboat tour of Crater Lake. It also refers to numerous individuals met during the journey including several ranchers and William Gladstone Steele, the superintendent of Crater Lake. The article also includes six photos from the trip. Of note, what was likely a reference to the Howland family in the first paragraph of this article appears to have been intentionally obscured.
The album includes 58 pasted-in silver gelatin photographic prints and one loose print. The photographs include notable features in the Columbia Gorge such as Rooster Rock, Crown Point, Shepard's Dell Bridge, Bridal Veil Falls, Oneonta Tunnel, and Multnomah Falls; Central Oregon landscapes; road scenes; Crater Lake and the surrounding area; and numerous shots of the travelers in their Oakland 6, hiking, swimming, and in camp.
The album was likely assembled by W.H. Banes or another member of the Banes family.