Historic Hood River
Reading at Cloud Cap
1-21-2013
Notes
It’s been a while since I posted any Anne Lang photos, so I’m going to share five of them with you this week. We start with an image which includes Anne Lang herself, reading at Cloud Cap Inn probably in the 1890s. Records indicate Anne Lang is the woman reclining to the right. Her sister Elizabeth (Bess) Lang is standing in the middle, and Louisa (Lou) Eaton is seated to the left.
charlott
First of all this photo is in the reverse. The windows are actually the ones that look out over the now parking lot down the hill.. Behind the door shown are where the bedrooms were located.. This is in what I always have referred to as "the big room", where the massive fireplace is.
You can tell by the floors that this is fairly new.
I have slept many a night in this very room when I was growing up.
I bet Bill has spent his share of nights on those old triple bunks that used to be in there. If only these old walls could talk, what a story they would tell, believe me.
Over the years there were a lot of small hidden treasure stored right up above them. The rats, no not Crag Rats, lived up in the attic over the decades and when they took the old ceiling out to replace it, all sorts of things were up there in the foot or so thick mess the rats had accumulated over the course of many years.
lee curtis
This picture was handed down to me by my father and I think his aunt gave it to him and the paper work that is with the pic states that the women holding the lamp was Isabell Dimmick from the Mount Hood area who was my dads grandma and the pic was taken in the early 1900s. I see that there are records to the identy of the three ladies do they mention anything about Isabell working there?
Arthur
Charlott, I had the same thought, but the image is not reversed– it is the building that is reversed! I can clearly read text in the newspapers and cards on the wall, which is the simple test for a negative printed backwards. Bill P. and I discussed this up at Cloud Cap, and determined that at some point in the last 115 years the opening with the registration book was moved from one side of the room to the other. If you imagine the opening to the left of the door, everything will make sense. We have several other frames which confirm this.
Arthur
Lee, the IDs are written in pencil on the paper enclosures of the glass negatives. They seem to be period notes, but we have found plenty of errors in photo notations. But in this case I think the IDs of Anne and Bess Lang are correct. I have shared this and several other frames with historians in the Dalles, where Anne and Bess Lang were well known as prominent local citizens. They have shown me other images including their obituaries, which seem to confirm the IDs on the negative sleeve. But we know nothing of "Lou" Eaton.
I’ve certainly seen the Dimmick name on other photos from the era– I think I may have posted some here already with a member of the Dimmick clan.
charlott
I will ask my brother if there were anythihng within the walls when he re-did the interior to show the old window on that side, as he would definitely know if there was anything showing where it had been taken across the room.
This photo has many copies, so who knows where the original might be. Yes, from the time I could remember that office opening was on the other side, that is why I thought the photo was reversed.
Arthur
We scanned this directly from the glass negative which Anne Lang exposed in her camera all those years ago. We’re very lucky these glass plates survived the years, as the resolution available is much greater than that of prints.
Ranger
Very odd, the sun light on the floor appears to be coming in from the left, which is the north side. There is even a shadow from the table cloth corner there. The chairs are generally arched around the fireplace. It sure looks like the negative was reversed, but I believe what you are saying Arthur. Odd.
Arthur
I think we need to take a field trip! I was wondering about the shadows too, but here’s some more evidence– look at this earlier post: https://www.hoodriverhistorymuseum.org?showimage=81
You can see the same room, and even in the low res version you can see the Oregonian masthead. If the negative were reversed the text would be mirrored.
Arthur
This image is likely from 1893. It has much in common with #81, which has a July 24 1893 Oregonian in view.
charlott
Okay, this is the latest twist….according to how my daughter see this the photo is correct………At this time apparently the office was on the wall that is where the bathroomj is now. When I was growing up until the remodel of Cloud Cap a tripple bunk bed sat there………That door goes into what was for many years a wide hall way with bunks Look at the photo that is on Oregon Field Guide in their video about Cloud Cap and it shows the fireplace is on the side that the woman in the rocker is facting (the mjountain side.) Th woman reclining is facing the front door that looks out towards Snow Shoe and the parking lot…….. Bill, does my brother have the orginal set of blue prints for Cloud Cap??????????
charlott
This is definitely taken in the afternoon as the sunlit spot on the floor is coming in through the window by the fireplace, mountain side.
Jay
Charlotte’s theory makes sense – another reason being the wall you can see outside the window. if the window is looking North towards the Snowshoe Club (the "front door" is on that wall behind the empty rocker), there is a short exterior wall extending perpendicular from the window wall, which you can see through the glass.
If that window actually faced South towards the mountain, then the wall outside would be at a very oblique angle, not 90 degrees (the deck would be out there), and I don’t think you would see it like that.
So – the two rockers face the fireplace, and the sun is coming from the south (left), which all makes sense. It also means they closed in that office window and the bathroom is now behind the wall, as Charlotte said.
It also means that, as Charlotte mentioned, the doorway was later widened to become the open hallway which leads thru the bunkroom to the kitchen. I think the main reason for confusion in all this is because there is still a similar doorway leading to the East wing bedroooms, but this doorway is leading West, and has since been widened and opened up.
Arthur
I’ve posted a new image to illustrate the point Charlott and Jay are making. Should be up in a minute:
https://www.hoodriverhistorymuseum.org?showimage=677
charlott
Whew, glad we got this one figured out…….
Arthur Babitz
OHS published this cabinet card of Anne Lang: https://www.hoodriverhistorymuseum.org/reading-at-cloud-cap/ I think it looks more like the woman on the left, but their facial features of the two woman in the foreground are very similar. Thoughts?
L. E.
The women in both photos look exactly the same to me. 😉