Historic Hood River
First Elected County Officials
Notes
I thought I posted this before, but apparently not. This is a page from the Arline Moore album showing the first elected officials of Hood River County. You’ll recognize the side of the Riverside church in the background, as this was taken on the lawn of the first county courthouse (the 1882 schoolhouse). Hood River County was formed out of Wasco County in 1908, but its first officials were appointed by the governor. According to Arline Moore’s notes, these are the men who were elected in the 1910 general election:
- 1) Frank Bishop, County Treasurer
- 2) George C. Gladden, Deputy Clerk
- 3) Jasper Wickham, Assessor
- 4) George Clough, ???
- 5) W.E. Hanson, County Clerk
- 6) Thos. F. Johnson, Sheriff
I suspect she prepared this album page some time later, as some of her recollections don’t match the newspaper accounts of the election. Maybe someone can sort that out.
According to the Hood River Glacier, July 1, 1915, this cannon saw quite a bit of history before it landed on our courthouse lawn:
This gun was in use at the defense of Fort Sumpter at the beginning of the civil war, and in 1864 went with Sherman to the sea, one of Captain Degre’s battery. It was captured by the confederates on the 22nd of July, 1864, and retaken by the federals a few hours later, and went on with Sherman tn the grand review in Washington City. Congressman W. R. Ellis presented the gun to Canby Post in honor of the members’ services during the war. It has been fired for the past 15 years each Fourth of July by R.M. Hunt, its present custodian.
R.M. Hunt died in January 1918, and I can’t find any references to the cannon beyond that date. Perhaps it succumbed to a WWII scrap metal drive, or maybe it’s hiding in some county storage facility.
Tags: 1910s, cannon, church, courthouse, Hood River County, Moore, State Street
Buzz
You say gun was presented to Canby post. Was that in Hood River or maybe what is now Fort Canby on north side of Columbia river at its mouth?
nels
The hats here seem to be a full run from working man to full dress styles. And today adults rarely wear hats except as a sports signature.
Arthur
"Canby Post" was the name of the statewide GAR post. I’m guessing the gift of the cannon was made during a year when the GAR post commander was from Hood River, so the cannon landed here.
Longshot
The majority of the guns at Ft Sumpter (maybe all of them) would have been much larger than this small piece and thus not suitable for conversion to mobile artillery. After the fort was ceded to the Confederates at the start of the war, the Sumpter armament would most likely have been in the possession of the Confederates until late in the war when the fort was abandoned as Sherman passed thru South Carolina after his march to the sea.
The Glacier account sounds like a fairy tale to me.
Judy
Hats? Now they wear baseball hats backwards (grown men) & somehow cannot remove them even at the dinner table or when the American flag passes by in a parade. Sign of the times I guess.
Jeffrey Bryant
Oregon had many G. A. R. posts, 77 in fact. Many were named after notables from the Civil War. As examples, Post 16 was Canby Post in Hood River and The Dalles had Post 32, J. W. Nesmith.
L.E.
At first view, the photo looks like an old English setting.
No. 6, Sheriff Johnson, looks like the same Sheriff Johnson in HHR photo #770.
Frank Bishop passed away in 1916. It appears that his wife Jessie was county treasurer for some years.
Charlott
"Some one is really whistling Dixie here" about the cannon being at Fort Sumpter. This is a baby cannon compared to the ones there. Sherman would not have access to it, has it been from Sumpter to begin with.
I find it a rather stretch of the imagination to think a Congressman would give a cannon from Sumpter to a little tiny group of veterans in a little "berg" called Hood River.
It may have served in the Civil War somewhere or maybe not.
Probably a more interesting story, true story concerning the bombardment of Fort Sumpter. That turned out to be an artillery dual between student and teacher. General P. T. G. Beauregard was the Confederate general who gave the command to fire the first shot at Sumpter. The man in charge of the Federal fortification at that time was General Richard Anderson. Anderson had been Beauregard’s artillery instructor at West Point. They say this was a war of "brother against brother. In the case of this opening battle it was of "student against teacher.
Charlott
George Gladden was from South Dakota. His wife’s name was Edith
Jasper Wickham was from Iowa. His wife was Mary Winsor. He was the grandfather of Harold Dinsmore.
Jeffrey Bryant
http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83009939/1911-03-01/ed-1/seq-9/
The Hood River News, March 1, 1911
The board of trustees of the Riverside Congregational Church accepted plans for the new church building, which will be gray stone 70 x 70 feet.
Jeffrey Bryant
Story by H. C. Coe of how the Hood River county lines were set.
https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn97071110/1925-08-06/ed-1/seq-6/
Jeffrey Bryant
The story of a different cannon, used at Ft. Rains, can be found in the Hood River Glacier, 1927-05-19, page 5.
https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn97071110/1927-05-19/ed-1/seq-5/