Historic Hood River
Climbing Party at Cloud Cap
Notes
Here’s another Anne Lang image. I can tell you a surprising amount about this one thanks to an email I received from Mazamas archivist Jeff Thomas. This image was taken the same day as one which is in the collection of the Oregon Historical Society. The woman on the left is identified by OHS as Dora Moody. Summit logs in the Mazamas archive record that she climbed Mt. Hood as part of a party of five on July 5, 1896. The man to the right is very possibly their guide, Will Langille.
The climbers have smeared their faces with lamp black to protect against sunburn. They are wearing hobnail boots and carrying alpenstocks. Mr. Thomas points out that Dora Moody is wearing a comfortable wool sweater and bloomers, which is somewhat uncharacteristic for an era when women would wear a dress even climb a mountain.
Next time you visit Cloud Cap look for that rock. It’s outside the front (mountain side) door. I’m not sure why I was surprised to see it, as 117 years is not very long in a boulder’s time scale. It now has “6000′” carved in the face exactly where Ms. Moody is sitting. Those trees or their progeny are still there, though the water spigot and the cabin/woodshed have vanished without a trace.
Tags: 1890s, Cloud Cap Inn, Lang Anne, Langille, Moody, mountaineering, Mt Hood, sports
charlott
No, I don’t think the trees are still there, if they are they are all charred from the forest fire. Note the building showing in the right corner. That is one of the cabins that were built there. Also note that there is a cable on the roof. This secured the cabin to the ground so in the winter high velocity winds couldn’t tear it off. If you know where to look you can find the anchor rings to some of these structures.
l.e.
Do you know how hard it is to get lamp black off of your hands? Can’t imagine trying to get it off of your face.
Arthur
Here’s a recent picture of that rock:
http://flic.kr/p/dNJowZ
l.e.
What are the rings off to the right, next to the building?
Arthur
I cropped it so you’d have a better view of the climbers, but there is a coiled length of flexible hose/ piping on a rock in front of the shed. I suspect it has something to do with the water spigot in the frame (which is leaking pretty badly).
l.e.
Charlott, do you know where the water came from? If it is gravity flow, they could leave it running.
Maybe they are showing that they have running water and they are proud of it.
I see Dora Moody married a Charles M. Biddle in 1908.
nels
Second from left is sitting in a wheel barrow?
charlott
Bout the water. Bill should know. It would have been a gravity flow, probably from the same area that the water comes from now.
Looks like a wheelbarrow to me.
Weird position the man leaning on the rock has his foot.
charlott
Malcom Moody had a brother named Zenas Arizona Moody, who in turn had a son Zenas, who was married to a Dora. However this is probably not her, as she wasn’t born until 1900, so mystery still continues, I guess.
David Moody
charlott
29th January 2013 @ 03:03 PM
Malcom Moody had a brother named Zenas Arizona Moody, who in turn had a son Zenas, who was married to a Dora. However this is probably not her, as she wasn’t born until 1900, so mystery still continues, I guess.
The statement above is true. I know this because Zenas & Dora are my grandparents. Malcom had multiple siblings. The best source I’ve found on Moody history can be found here: https://www.genarchives.com/Moody-Lapointe/ps13/ps13_259.html