Historic Hood River
Oregon Lumber Company Mill on Columbia River
Notes
This is Maltie Dukes and Chas. Black at what is described as the Oregon Lumber Company mill in 1904. This mill was roughly where the Hood River Inn is today. It was at that location from 1900 to 1906, when they moved the equipment up to Dee.
This mill was originally Captain Davidson’s Lost Lake Lumber Company mill. He died in 1901, and in 1903 David Eccles and his Oregon Lumber Company acquired the interests of the Lost Lake Lumber Company and merged their local operations into the Mount Hood Lumber Company. A 1903 article said they employed 50 men cutting 75,000 board feet a day, and were planning to double it to 150,000 board feet per day. That’s a lot of logs coming down the Hood River in the pre-Powerdale Dam days. The article talks about “improvements” to the river channel, which I presume means removing obstacles to logs floating down the river.
Here’s a good exterior view of the mill
Tags: 1900s, Black, Columbia River, Dukes, interior, logging, Lost Lake Lumber Company, lumber, mill, Mount Hood Lumber Company, Oregon Lumber Company
L.E.
I think I read once that they did blasting in the Tucker Bridge area so logs wouldn't hang up.
Nice to see the building so bright with lots of windows.
Ranger
The clearing and blasting to make fluming (is that a word?) easier adversely affected the fish habitat in the Hood River system.
The building of the Powerdale dam also stopped the using of the Hood river as a flume.
nels
Been trying to figure out why and how such a large building is so light.
Is the wood painted white, and if so, is that for fire retardant?
Are there openings in the roof to let in the light? They did not have opaque plastics back then.
Or is it just a long exposure?
ArthurB
I was wondering about the lighting too. If you look at the exterior image it looks like the building has ridge vents and skylights.