Historic Hood River

Notes

Spring melt will be coming along soon, but hopefully it won’t all happen at the same time.  This image of the “old” (pre-1923) Powerdale Dam was probably taken on the same day as this one, documenting the damage to the power generation and railroad infrastructure caused by the raging river.  This image gives a good view of how this kind of “run of the river” dam works.  While the dam doesn’t hold back any water, a portion of the river is diverted into the penstock flume which we see on the far side of the river.  The structures on the far side of the dam are the penstock, which regulates the flow into the flume.

If you look closely you’ll see the wood stave flume has been crushed.  This postcard shows what it all should look like when the river isn’t raging.

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