Historic Hood River
Headed To Market
Notes
This is a great image to introduce an important “new” collection to Historic Hood River: the “Mason Magill” collection. We’ve previously seen plenty of images of A. I. and Ollie Mason’s Liberty Home Orchard, but this new collection tells a broader story. It was given to our museum by the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, which felt these albums and artifacts were more closely associated with the Hood River Valley than the Dalles. The collection came to us 6-7 years ago, but didn’t make it to the top of the photo pipeline until this month.
First a little genealogy: A. I. Mason’s wife Ollie was a Magill. Their daughter Hattie Joy Mason married Fred Tooley. The collection includes an album from Joy Mason Tooley of her life with Fred and their children Venard, Carol Jean, and Charles. There is a second album from Orva Magill Wiley, Ollie’s sister, covering her life with her husband Rowland Wiley in this area. There is a third unlabeled album which seems to be more from the perspective of Ollie Mason, though it could also be a childhood album of Hattie Joy Mason. There are several other albums and many loose photographs which have not yet been processed, so we’ll talk about them later. It’s interesting to note this collection includes a virtually identical album to the Ollie Mason album we’ve seen so many pictures from already. It seems she prepared a copy of the album for each of her kids, and now they are both in the same place again.
Back to this fine image: That’s Fred Tooley with Carol Jean and Venard loading the Model T pickup bed and trailer with cantaloupes ready for market. Venard was born in 1919, which sets this date at about 1923-24, which matches the car’s number plate. We know from other images at this time the Tooley’s had a farm in the Chenowith Road/ Chenowith Loop area of the Dalles, (near Home Depot).
The trailer is a very typical construction for the era– he took the rear end of a Model T and built a short bed for it. While we can’t see for sure, I bet there are Model T axles and differential under the bed.
Tags: 1920s, agriculture, cantaloupe, Chenowith Loop, harvest, Mason, the Dalles, Tooley
L. E.
I assume cantaloupes grow better in The Dalles than Hood River.
Pat A
I used to live near Chenowith Loop area and remember the Pishon family farming hay with horses into the late 1990’s.
This image looks more like the Tooley lake area which was definitely rich bottom farmland that is still in production. Famous for being called the onion patch, I was told the onions float up during the 1964 flood event thus the name stuck. Tooley is my current neighborhood. The rock formation and shadows sure look’s familiar!
Looking forward to more from this collection.
Arthur Babitz
Pat A, good info– we have images which suggest two farming locations, one by the high school and one in a hillier location. You’re right that Tooley Lake matches this image better. There are plenty of views to help work this out.