Historic Hood River
Scenic Drive
11-14-2012
Notes
These folks are the subjects of many Alva Day photos, so I suspect they are family members. Here they are touring the Columbia River Highway just west of the Mosier Twin Tunnels. I’m pretty sure the car has a 1926 license plate. The Oregon DMV has a very helpful web page with historic plates which I rely on heavily. In the early years the format changed yearly, so you can frequently get within a few years even without reading the numbers.
charlott
Wonder if they might be headed out for a picnic. That big box on the side looks like it might fold out to make a table, with all the things needed in the box.
Sadly, people already were littering our highways….
l.e.
I thought maybe the big box was a container of fish, but I bet you are right Charlott. That side can fold down as a table and all supplies would be on shelves inside.
Alva Day was such a stickler for detail, I almost wonder if he purposely left the litter in the photo.
AndrewB
I think this is my favorite kind of shot: Period machinery, people, and a recognizable view in the background, although i can’t quite place where that is exactly.
I think people littered before there were ever highways- the only difference is that everything was biodegradable so it didn’t matter as much.
Scott Cook
Great Pic Arthur…I love when we leave the HR valley! It’s nice that almost 100% of what’s in this photo has not changed the least in 85 years.
steve s
That overlook is paved now – but it is indeed just a mile west of the tunnels – an overlook with great views after the long climb up from the Hatfield center.Go another 20 yards East and the grade is all downhill through the tunnels.
Arthur
Here’s an interesting link showing official traffic counts on the highway 1921/1922:
http://books.google.com/books?id=sz0lAQAAIAAJ&lpg=RA2-PA147&ots=9W1doTRg4f&dq=Columbia%20River%20highway&pg=RA2-PA144#v=onepage&q=Columbia%20River%20highway&f=false
Not exactly bumper to bumper, but much more traffic than I would have thought. It looks like summer weekends had 1-2 cars a minute.
Lynette Kaufmann
This looks like a picture of Zora Etta Moore (Day) Alva’s sister, her husband Frederick Day, and their two daughters Emma Margaret (my grandmother) and Marion Maude.