Historic Hood River
Waiting For the Steamer
1-16-2014
Notes
This image is labelled “Strawberry pickers waiting for the steamer”. I wish we had more information on it. The water level must have been high, because these folks are perched uncomfortably on the edge of the railroad tracks just north of the train station.
charlott
If these are strawberry pickers, I can only assume they came from Portland. I can see on the far right what appears to be bedrolls, so they must have sort of camped throughout the season.Seems like there are a lot of finely dressed on lookers. Makes me wonder why they would all be there. Could be waiting for other things to arrive via the boat?
I also wonder if the boxes in the right side of the photo are crates of berries waiting for the boat?
Yes, wish there was more information, but a very interesting photo.
Horse and wagon…where is the road?
l.e.
I thought this might be same time as what we saw the other day,
https://www.hoodriverhistorymuseum.org?showimage=664
but, the barge is different.
If they were from Portland, why would they take a steamer and not the train? Were they from across the river?
Definitely an interesting photo!
l.e.
Lack of Native Americans puzzled me, because they were known for picking the strawberries.
There is one sitting off by herself to the left.
The tracks were washed out in the 1894 flood. I wonder if it could be then.
Longshot2
What station is this? Doesn’t look right for Hood River to me. There are cars on the train for both the Great Northern and the OR&N so it could be either side of the gorge.
Arthur
Definitely the old OR&N station at Hood River. I checked against several views– the building matches perfectly, as does the position of the river relative to the tracks. In the 1894 flood the water here came right up to the tracks, and the ships docked right at the spot we’re looking at here.
Longshot2
So it looks like this station would have only been in use from from 1882 to 1906 according to Railroads of the Columbia River Gorge.
Wonder if it was moved and is stll standing somewhere as a private residence?
Longshot2
If the station was only there up to 1906 and the railroad wasn’t built on the north side of the river until 1908 that would explain why they needed a ferry or steamer to get to any strawberry fields on the north side of the river.