Historic Hood River
Pano Detail: Hood River
Notes
Here’s the Lost Lake Lumber Company mill (1900-1906) in the foreground on a point which juts into the Columbia (where the interstate bridge lands now) and the town of Hood River in the background. It’s a funny angle, but you should be able to make out Cascade and State Streets running west up the hill at a diagonal to the view. There is a north/south band of trees which is the drainage from Jackson Park down 13th Street. Beyond that– wilderness.
I think that may be the old Armory to the very far right, on Cascade at the very edge of town (about 9th). At the east end of Cascade, up against the Hood River you may be able to make out the cluster of buildings including the OR&N Company rail depot, the original Mt. Hood Hotel, and the Rand Livery. Behind that cluster I can just make out the George Crowell general store at Second and Oak, but it’s not easy to see.
You may have more luck picking out the steeple of the Methodist Episcopal church on State at 6th. If you move down State you’ll see the Pythian meeting hall at 4th.
Heading east from the rail depot you’ll see the very long trestle (which is now a dike) over the Hood River flood plain. The dike ends at the railroad bridge, but because of the angle we’re seeing it almost head on and it’s difficult to see. You can tell by the shape that it’s the older, pre-1907 bridge. The wagon bridge is just off the edge, but not really visible from this angle anyway.
You can also make out a nice clearing with a couple of buildings which is now the Heights. I think 12th Street would run on one side of the clearing and 13th on the other. I don’t see any sign of the 1908 High School on May Street, which makes sense given our tentative “late 1905” date for this image.
Do you see anything else interesting?
Dale Nicol
Arthur, that's a great description of the photo's landscape.
Thanks for all of your research!
L.E.
When you look at the original pano shot, I am amazed at how clear the details are. What a treasure!
I am also amazed that Lost Lake Lumber Company was willing to build where they did and risk a flood.
Kyle
I can see roughly where my house will be built some 48 years later…
L.E.
In the upper part of the photo there is a large area of cleared ground, but in the middle of it, there is an island of trees. Any idea where this is in reference to today? Wondering why the trees remain. Is it because of terrain and the ground was not good for growing?
nails
Hay bales behind the lumber office? And is that large cleared area the outwash of some drainage? Looks like the seasonal fluctuation of the river level allowed for season farming and logging. That isn't part of Wells Island to the right is it?
ArthurB
The Lost Lake Lumber Company quickly learned the folly of their choice for location. The history I saw said they decided to move to Dee after losing all their logs to floodwaters several times.
I am not sure if the land in the upper part of the photo is cleared or if it was a soil type which didn't grow trees well. I think Belmont would run near the north side of the trees. I think Kyle's house is just before the trees. I'm not sure what the white area is. It doesn't look like a stain, but I'll need to check the print to be sure.
nails
Wondering if the cleared area in the upper right is the beginning of the county hole in the ground that is where they began to take pebble rock to spread on streets? (Now 18th and May.)
Buck Parker
On the near end of that group of trees in the clearing there appears to be a gravel bank of some sort. I'm wondering whether that's the gravel bank that is now just south of the baseball field and is the north boundary of the lot at 1416 Taylor (where I grew up).
Jeffrey W Bryant
I suspect that most of the trees in downtown Hood River were Oak trees.
L.E.
I wonder if this is the sandbar we are looking at?
From the HR Glacier, January 2, 1919 P.1
“…..The dam, replacing one destroyed by freshets last year, prevents the Hood river from flowing into the Columbia in a shallow, wide channel over the huge sandbar……”
“…The city of Hood River also assisted in the construction of the dam, which diverts the river down a channel that keep clean the mouth of the outfall sewer….”