The Sunday Oregonian, Portland, OR., June 25, 1916, section 4, page 2

HOOD RIVER AND WHITE SALMON REALIZE SCENIC ASSET
Great Fruit Been Neglected and Many Are Coming For Outingsfore
by Joe D. Thompson

     Hood River, Or., June 24 -- (Special.) -- While nature was providing soil elements and climatic conditions in the mid-Columbia region of Oregon and Washington that have been found second to none in the production of fruit, she was incidentally establishing countless points of awe-inspiring and charming scenic interest. A Summer weather condition that makes for good fruit is also beneficial to human beings, and the Summer nights of the Hood River and White Salmon valleys, even of the lower altitudes, are rarely too warm for comfortable sleeping beneath a blanket. Nature has been ages, even eons, engaged in her task of building these two play and work places of the Northwest. As recreation centers they are just being discovered by the people of the Northwest and their visitors. The Columbia River Highway has been the key that unlocked the door of the scenic treasure-house.

TOURIST STREAM IS WELL STARTED

Already this Summer, the season scarcely yet begun, it is probable that more people have motored through the Hood River and White Salmon valleys than during any entire single season of the past years. The citizens of the Hood River and White Salmon communities are awakening to the asset they possess in the appeal of their cascading mountain streams, their snow peaks, Hood and Adams, and the fir-fringed surrounding ranges. It may be safely predicted that the Summer-resort business in the two sections is just beginning and that in future years, not so far distant, thousands instead of hundreds will make annual Summertime pilgrimages here to drink in the magnificence of nature's prodigality while they fill their lungs with pure, bracing mountain air.

EACH VALLEY HAS PEAK

The topography of the Hood River and White Salmon valleys is similar. Each has its guardian snow-capped mountain peak -- Hood looming 11,225 feet at the south end of the Hood River Valley, and Adams piercing the skies at an altitude and forming the north barrier of the White Salmon country. The two mountain peaks are approximately 75 miles apart, equidistant from the Columbia River. From the river to the base of each the altitude of the country gradually rises. A traveler in an automobile may leave either the local station of the O.W.R. & N. Company of the North Bank station at White Salmon and in a few hours, although it be the hottest July or August day, be tossing snowballs at a companion. Purple lupine that blossoms in May on the lower levels is just beginning to add vivid color to fields on the high mountain sides late in July. But on the high mountains in the late Summer the blossoms of other varieties of wonderful flora, not to be found elsewhere, give an interest to travels there. Thousands of the fragrant, delicately tinted blooms of Mount Hood lilies, attracting innumerable humming birds, perfume the great forests.

EACH ALSO HAS RESORT

For two decades past comparatively small numbers of travelers have come to Hood River and White Salmon to visit the two mountains and stop at the region's pioneer resorts, respectively, Cloud Cap Inn, at a mile altitude in the last timber line of the base of Mount Hood, and the Guler Hotel, situated in a more pastoral region on Trout Lake, near the base of Mount Adams. The former was visited for the views of Mount Hood at close range, for the hostelry is built at the side of Eliott Glacier, and the Guler Hotel held an appeal because of the delightful fishing in Trout Lake and its outlet stream, Trout Creek, and the numerous side trips to parklike pine forests, lava and ice caves and a sight of "The Sleeping Beauty," the perfect silhouette outline of a reclining woman, sculptured by mountain range and forest.

AUTO LINE RUNS TO PEAK HOTEL

The Trout Lake resort was formerly owned by Christ Guler, a native of Switzerland, who declares that he was attracted to the district because of its similarity to some of the meadowland regions of his home country. Mr. Guler several years ago disposed of the property to G.E. Reynolds, who continues to operate the hostelry. The Guler Hotel has been recently improved and enlarged. A second Trout Lake Summer resort, Mountain Brook Inn, has been operated for several years by a Mrs. M. Billings. Mountain Brook Inn is a homelike place, and because of the excellence of Mrs. Billings' meals has become popular. It is within easy access of Trout Creek and a glorious view is obtained of Mount Adams. Mrs. Billings operates an automobile out of Portland weekly, leaving each Saturday and returning Monday. Mrs. J.M. Filloon has a string of tents in the meadows along Trout Creek and Thode Bros. have a number of small Summer cottages for lease to Summer vacationists.

WAY HEADS THROUGH FORESTS

From White Salmon to Trout Lake resorts one may choose one of three different routes, all of them passing through dense fir forests. Two of the routes may be considered somewhat roundabout to the man in a hurry, but he will not regret the additional distance. They pass up the east side of the White Salmon river to the Camas Prairie section of Klickitat County to Glenwood and thence northwest again through a pine area of the Columbia National forest. In dropping down from the rim of surrounding ranges that envelope Trout Lake Valley the visitor obtains a superb panorama view of the pastoral scenes of the valley floor, broad fields of luxuriant alfalfa and many herds of cows feeding, handsome country homes and big substantial barns. The white ribbon of the Upper White Salmon bisects the fertile district. The third road passes up the west side of the White Salmon river. In the White Salmon community, proper, are two Summer resorts, "The Eyrie," on the bluffs of the Columbia, operated by C.W.J. Reckers, and The Jewett Farm place. Both are accessible, being readily reached from North Bank trains and the Columbia River Highway via the Hood River-White Salmon ferry service. On a high promontory at the mouth of the White Salmon river, "The Eyrie" commands a number of unsurpassed views. The orchards of the Hood River Valley lie before the eye of the visitor like the opened map of a landscape gardener who would charm you with his designs. For 20 miles to east and almost as many to the west may be seen the Columbia as it cuts its way through the Cascades. Aside from the main inn, individual cottages and modern tents, completely and most comfortably furnished, have been provided. An up-to-date tennis court, croquet grounds and comfortable lawn swings await the guest. Ample accommodations for housing private automobiles are available, and a competent auto livery service may be had on call. Saddle horses may be secured for those enjoying this recreation.

HOOD RIVER NEGLECTS RESORTS

In the Hood River Valley, probably because the residents have been too busy growing apples, only one Summer resort, The Cottage Farm of Mrs. Alma Howe, has been in continuous existence for the past ten years. The Wau Guin Hotel, at the head of a beautiful water falls of that name was formerly operated by Robert Rand, who, however, retired from the hotel business four years ago. He continues to make the place his home, and attracts the attention of all motorists over the Columbia River Highway with his uniquely laid out and old fashioned gardens. Cottage Farm is in the midst of West Side orchards, a mile from the city on Belmont road. The main building of the resort is surrounded by fruit trees and flowering shrubs and apple, peach and other fruit trees grow around the tent cottages Mrs. Howe has found it necessary to erect to accommodate her increasing guest list. Virgin fir and pine trees grow in the ample backyard. While her neighbors were uprooting all trees, Mrs. Howe stood alone an exponent of conservation on a small scale. Mrs. Howe, formerly a trained nurse in Portland, purchased the tract on which she now operates her Summer resort in pioneer days. The place was opened primarily on a small scale for the accommodations of patients needing a rest in the region of scenic and pastoral appeal. For a decade her visitors from Portland, and elsewhere, have become her close personal friends and have been gradually increasing. Thomas W. Larson has made several pilgrimages to the Hood River Valley, seeking the seclusion and quiet of the Cottage Farm. Henrietta, a pure blood, enormous Berkshire sow, presented to Mrs. Howe by the noted Bostonian and writer of "Frenzied Finance," changed her residence from the Prineville stock farm of Mr. Larson to Cottage Farm, and now she and her children in clean, well-kept sites, form an attraction for the many children who spend the Summers at the orchard resort.

HOMES ENTERTAIN SOME

Mrs. F.C. House, another West Side resident, whose place is on Avalon Way, a little more than a mile from this city, has begun to keep Summer boarders, and accommodations have been provided for a limited number by Mrs. E.E. Gould at "Homewood," an attractive place in the Odell community. When the days of the orchard boom was at its height, a young Yale graduate, Homer A. Rogers, attracted by the scenery of Mount Hood, purchased a place at the summit of China Hill in the very southern end of the Upper Hood River Valley. Mr. Rogers spent a portion of five years in the Swiss Alps. He has climbed all the principal mountain peaks of the Alps. Mountaineering has become his life study.

FOUR PEAKS VISIBLE

Mr. Rogers made a poor orchardist. He admits it, and three years ago he conceived the idea of turning his home into a lodge where the man or woman seeking thrills of the wonderful sights of the Cascades might come and be entertained. The visitor to Mount Hood Lodge, as Mr. Rogers has named his place, may spend an entire Summer visiting surrounding points of interest, and still not have seen them all. From the porches and lookouts at Mount Hood Lodge one can glimpse, in addition to Hood, which looms at his very back, three other Northwestern snow peaks, Adams, Rainier, and St. Helens. Mr. Rogers has added to his attractions the sport of horseback riding. Not a gallop over smooth country roads, yet good roads are available in the floor of the Upper Valley orchard districts, if this is desired. The lodge benefice, philosopher and guide takes his patrons on the most alluring trails through the Government National forest, at the edge of a thousand-foot chasm, over brawling mountain torrents, to the feet of glaciers, the birthplaces of Northwestern rivers and even over the snowfields of old Mount Hood. Cloud Cap Inn heretofore has been the only point to which the visitor approaching the snow peak of Mount Hood from the north side could travel to find hotel accommodations. Some of the best times for the accent of Mount Hood come in September, after the first rains and the smokey haze has cleared from the atmosphere. Mr. Rogers has discovered a new passage to the top of Hood, by way of Rocky Butte. His lodge is open at all seasons of the year. Indeed, from Mount Hood Lodge parties from Portland set out to enjoy the thrill of coasting and skiing on the vast snowfields in Wintertime. Because it is the hub of a diversity of mountain scenery, giving opportunity to the man of woman of almost any temperament to gratify his or her desires, whether they be for the more strenuous rides through the dense forest and over the rough trails, or simply to enjoy a rest in the rural district, Mount Hood Lodge is winning great popularity.

HIGHWAY TO REACH SNOWLINE

Hood River County authorities sided by the citizens of city and orchard district are promoting the construction of a new highway to the snowline at Cooper's Spur. When this route, connecting the old steep toll road to Cloud Cap Inn, has been completed, it may safely be predicted that a new and imposing mountain hotel will arise on Hood's side. Hood River folk and Government forestry are also working toward the end that an automobile road may be built to Lost Lake. Scenes here, according to W.T. Andrews, logging engineer of the Forestry Department in Portland, are not surpassed in splendor by the famous Crater Lake and on the northwest shore of Lost Lake, some enterprising man is someday going to erect a hotel that will draw thousands of tourists. Since the opening of the Columbia River Highway, local commercial establishments, the Hotel Oregon and the Mount Hood Hotel, both excellently equipped for the purpose, have become to a great degree resort hostelries. Numerous motor parties visit the hotels, spending several days and journeying each day in their cars to surrounding points of scenic interest. Hood River and White Salmon are winning renown as being the hub cities of the scenic Mid-Columbia Cascade Region. All roads in Hood River County are in fair condition, and even the most remote resorts are easy of access. The Mount Hood Railway Company, operating a rail automobile carrying comfortably 30 passengers, connects with local O.W.R. & N. trains and conveys passengers for Cloud Cap Inn or Mount Hood Lodge to Parkdale, its Upper Valley terminus. The Mount Hood line itself operates a well-equipped Summer resort hotel at Parkdale, within easy reach of which are the middle and east forks of Hood River, where trout fishing is excellent. Husum, at the junction of the Trout Lake and Camas Prairie roads, the former leading up the west side of the White Salmon River, and the latter piercing the fir forests of the east side, is making a bid for Summer tourist travel. The Husum Hotel has been enlarged and improved by Kreps & Cole, merchants of the village.

Also included were 7 photographs of places mentioned in this article. They include:

Mt. Hood Railway Company's Resort, at Parkdale.
Mt. Hood from Rocky Butte.
Mt. Adams, from Trout Lake.
Scene at Guler, Wash.
Horsebacking riding in National Forest.
White Salmon-Trout Lake Road.
Columbia River, from the Eyrie.

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©  Jeffrey L. Elmer