Historic Hood River
“White Salmon Berry Acreage”
6-5-2020
Notes
This image is captioned “White Salmon Berry Acreage.” I could be wrong, but isn’t this basically the neighborhood around Spring Street?
The History Museum of Hood River County
Bringing the Rich History of Hood River County to Life
L.E.
Is this where the High School is now located? On the north side of Strawberry Mountain?
Melody Shellman
Yes, L.E. That is exactly where this is located. Many is the time I sat in class and stared out the window at that hill.
L.E.
Melody, I am having a bit of trouble placing N. Main Ave and Simmons Rd, which goes up to the High School gym. The hill doesn't look right for that.
Ralph Brown
Melody, I believe that L.E is right and she is referring to the new schools north of White Salmon. So the photographer taking this picture standing on the Loop Rd. I believe it is now called about 1/2 mile west of Gardners Funeral home looking north. Not being local to be able to drive around, I did a street view on Google Earth and the background looks about right. So the Spring street is not right either.
L.E.
We all seem to be on the same page for location. Spring St. is on Strawberry Mtn. I looked at the 1913 atlas. This area is chopped up amongst different land owners. One of the owners is E.P. Wray. 10 acres. Wray was a nurseryman from California. He is often mentioned in the early 1900 issues of the HR Glacier and is in contact with E.L. Smith. He says he would like to move to the area. In the July 29, 1909 HR Glacier: “E.P. Wray, who bought ten acres of the Fair View Fruit Farm, has improved his place with a lot of nice nursery stock.”
Historian Keith McCoy mentions Wray as an inventive horticulturist who developed the Wray Strawberry, resistant to root rot.
This photo appears to be before the land was divided and sold. I can't find anything about “Fair View Fruit Farm”.