Historic Hood River
Gathering in the Woods
8-7-2013
Notes
It’s 7PM, August 5th 1933, and these folks have gathered in the woods for some special event. I’m pretty sure this is the evening before one of the American Legion climbs of Mt. Hood. The long exposure has given it a ghostly effect. I can just make out some feathered headdresses in all that motion blur.
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charlott
This is definitely at Legion Camp. These people are gathered for the Saturday night program prior to the climb that started long before dawn the next day.. It appears that this is the area where the theater was, but it appears not to be constructed yet. I would guess that this is in the infancy of the program, as later there was a stage built and seating . I do not know whether the illumination of the mountain had been started in these days. Later the Crag Rats did illuminate the mountain at the end of the program, which was just when it was dark enough to be able to see it.
As a child it was something I looked forward to eagerly for days to get to go to Legion Camp and spend that week end. Wonderful memories…….
l.e.
I thought it was a funeral gathering.
Buzz
Quite a crowd. I only lived in Hood River during high school years, but don’t remember ever hearing about legion climbs. Had they stopped by then, and if so, when?
charlott
Yes by the time you were in high school they had discontinued them for a number of reasons. When the word liability came into play that was one of the major items, they could not afford insurance to cover all of it. Secondly, the sad part about it was the fact that once alcohol was introduced into Legion Camp that became another issue. I remember the last year I was up there, there were people who nailed boards to trees around their tents to keep that element that helped ruin the entire thing out of where they were sleeping.
l.e.
Prohibition ended Dec. 5, 1933. Would that have had anything to do with the introduction of alcohol?
l.e.
Charlott….what are they gathered for. Would there have been an evening church service? Or would they be getting instructions for the next day?
charlott
First of all the Saturday night gathering was a show, with entertainment, local talent and the crowning of the Legion Climb Queen.
I know when I was little there was a church service provided in the theatre, with the stage serving as a pulpit on Sunday morning for those in camp who wished to attend.
The alcohol problem at the Legion Camp area had nothing to do with Prohibition. It was later that it became a problem.
Bill P.
The last "Legion Climb" was in July 1951. My wife, Pat was the last Queen who was chosen by the maximum "Avalanche Lillys" she sold to promote the climb. The main reason for the cancellation was the deterioration of the snow in the upper regions known as the "chimney" and with the increase in rock fall. A few years earlier the summit climb was cancelled and an Elliot Glacier trip replaced the summit trip. Other climbs were finished by going down to Timberline Lodge.
Society was also changing. WW II veterans returned with new knowledge of climbing techniques at which time they recognised the dangerous exposure to the climbing route.