Historic Hood River
Road to Mecca
Notes
Phew, that was a lot of driving on unimproved dirt roads. This was Olga Plog’s first campsite on their big 1924 road trip. “Mecca” appears to refer to a crossing of the Deschutes River near where Highway 26 currently crosses in Warm Springs. There is currently a “Mecca Road” along the Deschutes which leads to the “Mecca Flat Recreation Site”. In fact, I suspect this campground is basically at the same spot as the modern campground. Check out this image, which I think even shows a bit of the old bridge abutment to the right side.
I think it is telling that this point was a good day’s drive from Hood River in 1924. While this drive takes about an hour and 45 minutes on today’s roads, in 1924 most cars could cruise at 35-40 mph on good roads, of which there were none between here and Bend. Think of driving on one of the less improved roads in the National Forest, and it is apparent why it took a good day to get to this point.
Tags: 1920s, automobile, bridge, camping, Deschutes River, Mecca, Plog, road trip, tent, Warm Springs
OrMtnMaid
I would say the bridge over the Deschutes River, but at Kahneeta. Looks like the original bridge across the river.
OrMtnMaid
https://books.google.com/books?id=kQM27Mms0X8C&pg=PT226&lpg=PT226&dq=Was+Kahneeta+ever+referred+to+a+Mecca?&source=bl&ots=S1u4davpQW&sig=ACfU3U0k0dYd-KrcbaWJekCmEeRRTR6fXA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiF38DcwaDoAhU2GDQIHecIDioQ6AEwCXoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=Was%20Kahneeta%20ever%20referred%20to%20a%20Mecca%3F&f=false
Nancy T
My great-aunt Blanche Lafferty kept a diary of her family's three-week car trip in 1921 from their home in Hood River to Crescent Lake to Hilgard (where they used to live) and back to Hood River. She tells of days in camp waiting for a new axle, fishing and crocheting, good roads and bad roads and hill climbs, and seeing their old home and friends for the first time in 20 years.
L.E.
I wonder if road signs like Mecca began with the automobile era, or did wagon trains see the same information.
Charlott
I have diaries of my great-grandfather of driving from Hood River to where they wintered in Long Beach. It was a weeks drive for him. Quite an experience.
Kenn
I still see the piers for this old bridge about one mile downstream from the present crossing. I believe the present bridge dates from the early fifties when the warm springs cutoff opened.