Historic Hood River
Surge Tower
10-1-2014
Notes
Here’s another view of Horatio Davidson at Hood River’s 1905 power house. You can see bit of a large wooden pipeline on the ground in the background, with a vertical pipeline and structure in the foreground. The November 9, 1905 Hood River Glacier explains that Mr. Davidson’s box factory provided 140,000 feet of lumber for these structures: 3000 feet of five foot diameter pipeline running alongside the Hood River, as well as a 43 foot high two foot diameter standpipe with a sluice which protected the facility from surges in water pressure.
Our old friends at Snow and Upson Blacksmiths provided the bands and iron rods to construct the pipelines.
l.e.
Were they prepared or have an idea of what would happen when the winter cold arrived?
Dan
I wonder how many times a week they had to make trips up to the pipeline headgate to make adjustments. And how often they didn’t make it up in time during high water events.
l.e.
Arthur, I would like to give a special thanks for allowing all of us to enjoy and participate in HR and surrounding area history.
44 years ago, as a young wife, I moved with my husband to the community of Glenwood. The valley is known as Camas Prairie. There was a Camas Prairie Pioneer meeting scheduled and with my love of history, I attended. The first thing that happened was that one of the very old gentlemen, born and raised in the valley made the comment that new comers couldn’t be members. Talk about wanting to crawl under the table and hide!!!
I’ve never been back. But, this Sunday is the yearly Camas Prairie Pioneer Association meeting. I am no longer shy, timid and quiet.
I am planning on attending. History belongs to all of us.
Longshot
Ain’t modern technology great? Love the tin siding and battens on the building.
There appears to be a wire running from the building to the post at the bottom of the sluice and off to the right of the picture as well, it may be tied in with a rope or wire running up to the top of the surge pipe. Some kind of warning system?
Wonder when this power system met it demise.
Arthur
l.e., one thing we learn from studying these photographs is that most of the people building the power stations, bridges, orchards, buildings, and roads which created our modern era were newcomers themselves. If you look at some of the first pioneer association photos– you’ve lived here longer than any of them at that time.
longshot
Guess what I took for battens are really just tarred joints.
Lesa
Uncle Amos Rouget and his wife, Carrie Zimmerman, came out from Edgar, Wisconsin, to Hood River, to be a part of this project, Auntie Carrie, as she was known, was sister to Mae Zimmerman-Roberts, who was mother, of my grandmother in-law, Wanda Dale Roberts-Scearce. Amos and Carrie, were the reason our branch of the family came out from Edgar to Hood River, in 1914. I have pictures of the tar paper shack, Uncle Amos & Auntie Carrie, lived in, as well as some of their salmon catches.