Historic Hood River

Notes

In January 2008 construction commenced on the Hood River Waterfront Park.  The waterfront had been constructed in the 1960s and 1970s by building a rim of large rock (rip rap) and then dredging sand from the floor of the Columbia River to fill behind the rock.  To build the swim beach, the crew needed to remove the rock and contour the sand in to the proper shape.

I have been told some of the rock for our waterfront came from The Dalles Dam construction project.  I haven’t been able to verify this, but it is common for rock from one construction project to be used for another.  The rock you see being removed to build this beach was crushed on site to make gravel for the Oak Street urban renewal project which was occurring at the same time.  If the Dalles Dam story is true, it means rock removed from the Dalles in 1952 wound up under Oak Street 56 years later.  It’s a safe bet that when Oak Street is eventually reconstructed, this material will be recycled once again.

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