Historic Hood River

Notes

What we know for sure is this sailboat is called “Muriel” and the image was taken on July 29, 1911 by the ferry terminal in the Hood River Delta.  The sail includes advertising saying “Fruit Lands/ Call on Consolidated Realty/ White Salmon.)  We have two images from different perspectives in the Orva Magill Wiley album.  Now for some educated guesses:  I think that’s Commodore O. C. Dean helping the women off the boat, which I think is part of his fleet of ferries (or perhaps excursion boats).  We’ve seen earlier sail-powered ferries with advertising like this, and this view of Dean and his ships shows a ship which looks like this.  This article describes Dean’s fleet as of 1904.  The man could also be Dean’s stepson Alf Shepler.

1911 was a difficult year for the ferry business.  There were multiple lawsuits over access to ferry landings, mentioned here and here and here and here.

This article has an interesting aside about the Dean ferry business, claiming there has never been a day when his ferry couldn’t run on account of too much wind.  This article describes the ferry being cld in sheet metal to protect against winter ice.  You can read about his 1919 exit from the ferry business here.  Seems like his timing was good, since the bridge rendered the ferries obsolete just five years later.

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