North of Mount Jefferson, wedged in between living glaciers on the south and a rough precipitous mountain wall a thousand feet high on the north, lies Jefferson Park, a natural playground, invitingly level, directly athwart the Cascade Range. I have seen much snow in this park even as late as the first of September, but generally during August the park is a mass of flowers. There are several lakes in the park, and the largest is but a few hundred feet in diameter, but looking down into it from the north, one gets a fine reflection of Mount Jefferson. This lake was named in honor of Dr. Israel C. Russell, one of the early geologists of the United States Geological Survey, who was an enthusiastic investigator of Oregon in the early eighties. The lake forms the south fork of the Breitenbush River until late in the season, when evaporation reduces its level to a point below the outlet. The elevation of the lake above the sea is about 5900 feet.
The three so-called Deschutes lakes are the best known of the lakes of the Cascade Range, with the exception of course of Crater Lake. These are Odell, Crescent and Davis lakes, and for natural beauty and surroundings they are hard to duplicate. Odell is fed from melting snows on Diamond Peak and Maiden Peak, and is about six miles long. Its western end is but a few moments walk from the summit of the Cascade Range at the proposed crossing of the Eugene-Klamath Falls line of the Southern Pacific Company. This lake occupies a depression cut by a glacier and the terminal moraine makes the dam that impounds the water. A stream connects this lake with Davis Lake to the northeast, and while not so attractive Davis Lake is well worth visiting. Davis Lake is unusual in that it has a subterranean outlet under a lava flow, so that it always discharges about the same amount of water. Odell and Davis lakes have an important influence in keeping the flow of the Deschutes River constant. Davis Creek flows directly into the main Deschutes.
The third of this trio is Crescent Lake, one of the loveliest in the state. It has an elevation of 4837 feet
