Historic Hood River
Timeless Vista
7-17-2026
Notes
There is little to date this view of W. F. Laraway catching up on the news while relaxing on the beach other than the format of his news. Not only is his news source still paper, it looks like it is a broadsheet, a newspaper format which is no longer very popular. You can read here about the origin of the broadsheet. The broadsheet arose in an era when papers were taxed by the page and printing press economics favored fewer larger pages. I remember my father teaching me how to fold a newspaper so I could read it on a crowded train. Newspapers which are still distributed in print tend to favor tabloid formats for convenience.
Thorn
Wow! I’m sure many folks recognize this place. To me it’s amazing, and I think I can help date it Arthur. First, this is the north end of what we call Cannon Beach, just south of Ecola Creek entering the ocean, approximately in front of the Whale Park statue, during a fairly high tide in the cold season. This is precisely where we think Clark, York, a few other expedition members and Sacagawea met with the Clatsop Tribe in early 1806 to negotiate for whale meat and blubber. Surprisingly, Tillamook Head Lighthouse, aka Terrible Tilly, is just out of view or shrouded in the fog, but we easily see Sea Lion Rock Arch (furthest left) and today’s Chapman Beach and dune (furthest right). The secret gap to Crescent Beach is deep in waves. But amazingly, I think we can see two of the mansions on the cliffs of what is now the Ecola Park Viewpoint–possibly the homes owned by the Chapmans, Flanders, Glisans, or Minotts. Those properties, primarily owned by widowed women, as well as the environmental efforts of John Yeon, were donated to the park property in the 1920’s. Today, it’s not only the most famous viewpoint on the Oregon Coast, with Haystack Rock behind today’s photogrpaher, but it represents some of our best philanthropic Environmental, Women’s, and Native History, Even more amazing, recent landslides last winter at the Ecola Viewpoint have exposed a section of white shell tailings that could represent 12,000 to 18,000 years of food processing and habitation by the Indigenous People–approximately right above the gap, where the house on the cliff is in today’s photo. Obviously it’s forbidden to approach, but you can see it to your left if you stand at the tip of the viewpoint today. If anyone wants to add more about any of these threads of history, I’d love to hear it!
L. E.
Thank you Arthur for the link to newspaper history. Of course I have heard the expression “broadsheet” and “tabloid”, but never learned about the fascinating history. Even down to politically.
Also, thank you for your memory of being taught how to fold a broadsheet.