Historic Hood River
Mill at Mitchell Point?
Notes
Maybe you can help clear up this mystery. Eleanor Mitchell shared this with the museum back in 2007. She provided several images, and I’m having trouble lining them up with her notes. This may be Mitchell Point, or it may be “on the Washington side of the river.” Does anyone recognize enough context in this image to be sure? She says it is circa 1918. Unfortunately the scan is from a computer print, so the resolution is limited.
This is a good example of the practice of putting the mill where the logs were. It’s hard to see exactly how they got the milled lumber down from there, but I am sure gravity played a role. Is that a flume? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one so steep. I wouldn’t want to be at the receiving end.
Eleanor Mitchell says Mitchell Point was named after her parents, according to her dad. Her parents lived in the area, and the story goes that the USFS ranger who named the point used to visit them whenever he was in the area.
The authoritative “Oregon Geographic Names” by Lewis McArthur says, “Beyond the fact that a man named Mitchell lived and died near the point there is little information available.
It’s not unusual to see dueling stories for place name origins. Her dad’s story could be a family legend, or maybe he knew something Lewis McArthur didn’t.
Kyle
Does indeed look precarious.
L.E.
Good grief. Glad I didn't have to live there.
From the rising smoke down in the canyon, there might be another building down there?
I was under the impression a man named Mitchell was farming in the area and Indians killed him.
Another example of history is according to who is telling the story.
nels
What in the world! Why live so close to the edge of a cliff? How would you get supplies up to there? Is that a log at the top of that possible flume?
Janiene
Maybe the smoke below is a train and they lowered and loaded the milled lumber right down the steep hill/cliff to the waiting flatbeds?
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Kenn
The Mitchell Point mill site I have seen is not on this steep a hill and was gas powered by model T engines that remain there. It was on a flume coming down from the top of Perham creek to just west of Mitchell Point on the railroad.