Historic Hood River
Lyle, Washington
12-29-2021
Notes
This Brubaker aerial survey postcard of Lyle, Washington, probably dates to the 1930s. You can see the Lyle Hotel building north of the tracks at the bridge. I think the ferry landing is off to the right of the image. That winding road is called “Old Ferry Landing Road” which I take as a clue. When I posted another image of Lyle LE suggested the large building in the foreground is a sheep shed. I don’t think many of the other large buildings have survived, but maybe some Lyle locals can set me straight. I can provide higher resolution if that helps.
L.E.
“Around 1910, two combined sheepsheds were built on the south side of the railroad tracks and operated by a man named
Hopkins, who came from Yakima. About 1915, Art Bohosky purchased Hopkins interest. They had a capacity for 30,000
sheep, which were winter-fed, sheared of their wool in the spring and shipped out by rail to various markets. Lyle became, for
the next decade, an important point in the sheep and wool industry of the Northwest. Later, during the winter of 1921-22, a
heavy snow fell and one of the sheepsheds collapsed. The industry could not survive the loss, and dwindled away. In 1968, the
remaining sheepshed was burned as a public service.”
http://w3.gorge.net/davee/firstLyle.htm
ANNIE MAGUIRE
The Twin Bridges Museum in the old church in Lyle has some of this info. Dick Keyes is on the board and he used to be a sheep man.
cg
L.E., thanks for this info. HR Museum has an undated brochure from a wool processing business that may have been on the east side of the valley that makes me wonder how much sheep raising went on in HR valley. A friend of mine says she remembers sheep drives through Parkdale; that would probably have been on the 1950's. I've seen wonderful pictures of the sheep sheds in The Dalles. Would be interested if anyone could share more light on this “forgotten” industry.
cg
share=shed. Too many sheds here.
nels
Not being familiar with Lyle topography, is that a lava flow to the east of town, and if so, is it farmable?