Historic Hood River
Wagon Convoy, 1906
3-7-2012
Notes
E.R. Bradley, stationer and publisher, sent this photographic print of a caravan of horse-drawn wagons to engravers in 1906 to prepare a copper halftone plate. Unfortunately we don’t know where it was published, and we don’t have any further detail. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this was on the east side of the Hood River, at or near the Button farm (present day Tum-a-lum lumber yard).
Charlott
My first thought when the picture popped up was the Calkins House just below the old Frankton School, across there from Alpine Vet. You are probably very close to being correct, as I don’t know that there was another house or room for one in Frankton before the road turned up the hill. Someone needs to go stand at Tum-a-lum and get a visual on the hills across the river….
l.e.
I wonder where they are going?
If they are leaving town, the wagons don’t seem to be overly loaded with supplies.
Is that a power line coming up from the river?
Neat photo!
Shellman
I think I’ve seen this picture before, labeled as the Davenports heading to central Oregon or something like that.
This would be closer to downtown than Frankton, as Frankton would be across from the Underwood bluffs.
Are the lines for a telegraph?
Ralph
Remember the Columbia river would be some 40 higher after they built Bonneville Dam, so most everything in this picture is now undewater.
spinsur
the women behind the fence and on the porch implies it wasn’t an everyday occuance. looks like hops growing up the porch!
l.e.
It seems like the cottonwoods should be bigger on the bottom ground.
As in photo #129.
Shellman
I think I’ve seen this picture before, with the caption that it was the Davenport family headed to central Oregon or something.
Arthur
Shellman, I think I know which photo you are talking about– it will be posted in a month or two. It shows Emory Davenport taking people up into the valley to look at orchard land. I just checked, and it’s a different wagon and different crew– but the composition is very similar to this one. You must know the collection well!
Arlen Sheldrake
I think these folk are headed to meet a steernwheeler and off load supplys or a train…..the wagons seem to be mostly empty. Just a guess.
Arthur
I like Arlen’s theory, but I’ll turn it around. Maybe they have just offloaded their produce at the ferry landing (where the bridge is now), and they are headed home with pockets full of cash.
l.e.
Isn’t this the same group that is in the #146 photo?
In both photos, there is something coming out of the back of the wagon that the lady is sitting in. It looks like ropes of some sort.
Can you tell what they are?
Arthur
l.e., great detective work. I checked the high res scans, and they are indeed the same people in the same clothes in the same wagons. That causes me to change my location guess– I think this view is just around the corner from the other one, on Front Street between Oak and State. There is another photo which shows what looks like that fence line and one of those houses, a few years earlier.
Arthur
Also, i can’t tell what is in the back of the wagon with the woman, but there is rope rigging for a rear wheel braking mechanism which you can sort of make out. Other than that I just see a few burlap sacks.
Arthur
I found another (better) copy of this photo today, and Shellman is right– the caption says the Davenports are headed to homestead near Bend. Seems like they are short on supplies for that journey, but that’s what the caption says. I find it a little suspicious that there is another similar photo also of the Davenports heading up to the upper HR Valley, but these captions are the best source we have right now.
l.e.
Arthur….could you tag this photo with Davenport
I was trying to get a timeline of the Davenports and lumber mills.
Around 1903 I think J. Frank Davenport sells the Davenport Brothers Lumber Co. to Oregon Lumber Co. or Stanely-Smith.
But 1904 they have a mill and six mile flume at Parkertown and moving to Green Point.
Around 1910 they are at Deschutes and then a mill at Bull run
Wish I knew if that is J. Frank Davenport and wife Helen making one of their moves.
Jerry Larsen
I have a copy of this picture that is captioned, "L36 Davenport Brothers, Frank, Mark and Will and son Emory leaving to prove up on timber land near Bend, 1906 W.E. Rogers photo." I can’t for the life of me remember where I got it, but it doesn’t have the blemish in the middle of the pic like this one has. The various narratives I have, along with the birth of grandchildren in Bend, would indicate that this was a Davenport move. My guess is that they have assembled the convoy, and are getting ready to load household goods into the wagons, and then depart for central Oregon. One or more of the families may have been living in the houses that are shown. The Barrett Ranch is a possibility.