Historic Hood River
East Side, 1968
Notes
Here’s a good view of the mouth of the Hood River and the east side of the city on February 12, 1968. You can get a good feeling for how much of the flow of the Hood River is constricted by the railroad and interstate dikes. The Mt. Hood Railroad tracks on the left side of the image mark the historic riverbank, but the OR&N dike and the later interstate highway dike left only a narrow channel for the Hood River to join into the Columbia. The slough between the dikes has been filled with silt and large trees.
The lot where Tum-a-lum Lumber is now located is empty, but the building which houses Windance is visible as is the remaining part of the Button House. This is perhaps the best view we have to show Button Bridge really is a bridge. It crosses the railroad tracks on the right side of the frame.
M.A.
I remember the navy ship at the port.
James Gray
It seems there was a Firestone Tire Dealer/retread Store where Tum-a-lum is now.
Thorn
I’m new here and a big fan of the HHRPhotoBlog! I love studying the past, present and people of our state!
I like to zoom in close to study details. If you don’t know how, try this: control-click (Mac) or right-click (Windows) the photo, click Open In New Tab, go to the new tab, and use the magnify cursor and Zoom tools in the View Menu.
L. E.
Button Hill and home used to be attractive in early photos.
Not so much in this photo.
Are the pilings in the River from the previous lumber mill?
Brian Carlstrom
My wife, Lorraine, and I live in the Button house. We purchased the property in 1991. The building by Hwy 35 was the barn for the Button farm. When the current bridge over the RR tracks was constructed, Harry English, who owned this land with his wife, Alice, had to either move or demolish the barn, as it was in the way of the widened highway. It was moved to its current location where Treebird is located. One of Harry’s favorite stories to tell was when he cut the top floors off of the house and the barn, tossed them over the hill and burned them. The current location of the barn is between the Windance building and the house. Harry was the Dupont dealer (for dynamite) for the Gorge, and built the building where Windance is located to park his dynamite trucks. He provided the dynamite for building the dams on the Columbia, and to farmers to clear their land. I have a photo of Harry, and will try to post it here.