Historic Hood River
First Dredging?
Notes
Alva Day captured this aerial view of a dredge on the Hood River waterfront in July 1951. I think this dredging was associated with either the water-level freeway through Hood River or the “Groin” which jutted into the river roughly even with 2nd Street. It wasn’t until 1962 that dredging began to construct the waterfront land as we see it today. We’ve seen that later dredging project in this, this, and this post.
We know the “Groin” existed as early as 1938 from this post, which is why I think this is more likely freeway construction.
This may not be the most attractive image, but it shows an important part of the story about how we’ve (temporarily) shaped the river’s edge to meet our purposes. The river has its own idea, reforming the delta which was “tamed” in the 1930s and closing off the Nichols Basin.
Tags: 1950s, aerial view, Alva Day, dredge, Hood River delta, Port of Hood River
Jeffrey Bryant
My Uncle Bob Vaughan ran a dredge near the Interstate bridge, as well as serving on the fire department. This might be his dredge.