Historic Hood River
Greenpoint Pond, 1909
3-22-2016
Notes
We’ve seen a similar image to this one before, but this 1909 view has some great detail. The Stanley Smith Lumber Company operated this mill at Greenpoint (now Kingsley Reservoir). It was fed by a flume which came from Rainy, Black, and North lakes. Lumber from here traveled by flume down to the Belmont District, then down to Ruthton.
L.E.
It is as if the Hood River Valley was geographically set up for making use of the natural resources.
Even though it was expensive and a lot of work to get irrigation water to the orchards, the abundance of water and gravity flow ability was there.
The same with lumber. Expensive and hard work to get the system in place, but to be able to run flumes from the good timber, to the populated valley floor at Belmont, and then down to a good export source of rail and water must have been ideal.
For people coming from the east, looking for the opportunity to get ahead, the HR Valley must have been an amazing place.
Longshot
Looks like maybe a fire had run through the area a few years previously.
James Holloway
Yeah, L.E., natural resources for depredation….our historical heritage. Well at least we are making progress, as today’s standards must take into account the total environmental habitats. Not just $ signs……!
Dan
Where in the Belmont district was the transfer to the flume down to Ruthton? I’m assuming there would have had to been a large pond for the lumber and water to dump into before going into a flume to Ruthton.
Arthur
Dan, the 1911 county map shows the Stanley Smith Planer #1 just west of what is now Country Club Rd. at Forden Rd., just west of the Saddle Club. I think the flume crossed Riordan right where it takes a sharp bend just west of Country Club. The map is not particularly accurate, but that’s what it shows.
Rachell
Makes me want to turn back time just to be able to see it.
L.E.
The March 2, 1905 HR Glacier on page 5 says…
…Mr. and Mrs. Davenport live near the planer of the upper lumber yard of the Davenport Bros. Lumber Co., at Belmont…
Margaret Bendler Jacob
My grandparents, Carl & Margit Jacobson, bought a farm a few blocks south & he worked at Stanley Smith lumber yard. Since having bought property, they did not move to Silverton when the mill reportedly moved.