In 1923, Bank of Lassen County in one their weekly newspaper advertisements contained this. “National Parks as Money Makers. According to the Department of Interior, National Parks are good money makers for the states they are in. Crater Lake Park brought $7,000,000 revenue to Oregon; Yosemite, $5,000,000 to California and Mt. Rainer $1,500,000 to Washington.

”What about Lassen Volcanic Park? If we awake to the possibilities which lie in the park—if we appreciate that such a park in time must bring in considerable revenue, we can more intelligently boost for sufficient appropriations to develop the park.”

When Lassen Park was established in 1916, Congress only approved an annual budget of $5,000. In addition, the park was administered by Yosemite. It was not until 1922, Lassen Park hired its first ranger. It was estimated that it would cost a million dollars to build a highway through the park. What made that problematic were private lands inside the park such as Drakesbad. Any park improvements would increase the value private lands inside the park, making it more difficult for the park to purchase said lands. In 1925, Congress approved $340,000 for initial highway construction. Not enough, but a start.

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