Historic Hood River
The Hook
Notes
This aerial view from February of 1968 is the perfect image for the definitive discussion of the “The Hook” at the west end of the Hood River waterfront. The Hook was the last phase of the dredge and fill operation started in 1962. The Hook actually shows how the fill operation worked. The first step was to create a rim of rock with material brought in from elsewhere. That’s what The Hook is. The next step was to use a dredge to suck up sand from the river bottom and deposit it behind the rock, creating dry land. That never happened at The Hook, because environmental regulations had changed substantially by the time the Port sought the permit to complete the project. In this post we learned how Forrest Moe and others fought the permit to the Oregon Court of Appeals , which in 1977 blocked the filling of “the West Cove,” as it was then known.
This image shows the early Hood River Wastewater Treatment Plant, which stands on a high point of land which predates the fill around it. In fact a 1935 map indicates this was the spot in the Hood River slough where pipes dumped “chemical waste” from manufacture of lead arsenate (“Corona Dry”) near the current Waucoma Center.
If you draw a line due north from the WWTP (to the right) you can see a cluster of rocks which marks the location of the outflow pipe from the plant. Those rocks are still visible, though the outflow pipeline was moved 10-15 years ago to comply with a new discharge permit that required a better mixing of the outflow with Columbia River water. The pipeline now runs under the waterfront trail and ends halfway between The Hook and Wells Island.
You can also see two railroad spurs which were intended to serve the industrial uses at the new waterfront area. The southern spur still exists, and I understand it gets occasional use when Hood River Distillers gets tanker car deliveries.
I never realized the very tip of the Hook is an island which predated the Bonneville Dam, but it’s pretty clear in this view. You can also see the line of pilings left over from the Jaymar mill which survive to this day between the tip of the hook and the railroad tracks.
It’s long irritated me we have such uncreative names for the features at our waterfront: ‘The Event Site”, “The Hood River Waterfront Park”, “The Marina”, and “The Hook.” Some of you may remember about 2010 I sponsored an unofficial contest to suggest a new name for the equally uninspired name “The Sandbar” which had been attached to the feature created at the mouth of the Hood River by the Election Day flood in 2006. The winning entry? “The Sandbar.”
At least I tried.
JEC
The third building from the west end of the string of buildings along the railroad tracks was known as the “spray plant”, probably the source of that “chemical waste”.
Jeffrey Bryant
I remember finding a chunk of sulfur near the railroad tracks near the building mentioned by JEC. I wonder what happened to it.
We used to catch carp down there before the Hook was built (not for eating though).