Historic Hood River
“Beacon, or Castle Rock”
8-1-2025
Notes
Here’s a 1901 Benjamin Gifford image of Beacon/ Castle Rock, and again– there’s the gaff rigged sailboat. Is it a coincidence? Was a “sailboat included for scale” required for Beacon Rock images at the turn of the century? Did some neighborhood kids rent out their sailboat to passing photographers to create some ambience?
L. E.
This is in the area of the Doetsch Ranch. I am including a link to some history of the family. The photo looks a bit lonely but there was a lot of activity along the River in this area.
https://www.columbiagorge.org/wp-content/uploads/docs/Mostert,_Howard_History.pdf
Thorn
Great photo. I’m surprised how much logging has already occurred and no huge Douglas fir remain, but conversely also the great size of that cottonwood. And, how cool is Beacon Rock–the solidified lava of a small volcano, and the outside of the volcano is gone, washed away by up to a hundred different 1000 foot tsunamis that came down the Columbia 15-12,000 years ago. Mind boggling.