Historic Hood River
Wipers? Swipers?
Notes
Notice the primitive windshield wipers on that Model A? That’s the only real connection between this image and the real purpose of the post, which is to talk about “image swipers”. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been working develop better html code to compare the classic “then and now” views we’ve seen on this site. My previous code was clunky and didn’t work well on mobile devices, so it was time for some coding. I’ll share two results today. These are best viewed on large screens, but you can get the basic idea even on a phone.
The first exhibit is the 1904/1921 panorama of Hood River, Bingen and White Salmon taken from near the White Salmon Hospital.
The second exhibit is a “three way” comparison with aerial views of the Columbia River near Hood River from 1935 (just before the Bonneville Dam), 1939 (as the Bonneville Pool filled), and 2025 (after all the landfill projects, removal of the Condit and Hood River dams).
Let me know what you think of the image swipers. If you see any bugs make sure you tell me what device and browser you’re using. Oh, and this image is from an antique car tour in September 2007. It looks like mostly Ford Model A’s, and I’m betting the lead driver is an Oregon State alumni.
Dale Nicol
Arthur, the image looks good on my monitor!
As a side comment, the first 2 years of Model-A production used a 6 volt DC electric wiper motor and then in 1930 switched to a vacuum wiper motor. I would guess the electric motor suffered from water intrusion and failure. Vacuum wiper motors solved this issue.
Both Ford and DM used vacuum wiper motors well into the ’50’s.
BethH
That’s very cool! Good job, thanks, Arthur!
Pat A
Magical.
Works well on my IPad.
I’ve used the 1935 Ariel photo determine that the original 1883 transcontinental railroad went through the Columbia Gorge discovery center parking lot and possibly where the building sits.
This format is perfect for sleuthing out many questions.
Excellent work, thanks.
Arlen L sheldrake
thank for remiding me how much I disliked our 1948 chev vaccum wipers…..hadn’t thought of it in some 70 years