The Hood River County Sun, Hood River, OR., March 15, 1939, page 8
ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF 1878 RECALLS DAYS BEFORE HOOD RIVER WAS SETTLED
An illustrated book, entitled "Portland and Vicinity,"
published in 1887, was being shown in Hood River recently by W.F. Rand. As
well as many illustrations of the city of Portland and the Northwest in those
days, the book shows Multnomah Falls, Rooster Rock, and the primitive site
of the city of Hood River, with the Union Pacific railroad crossing and only
seven buildings in what is now Hood River.
In a paragraph entitled "Hood River Crossing," the following
appears:
"The trestle and bridge at the crossing of Hood river,
form one of the landmarks of the route of the O.R. & N up the Columbia.
The stream flows directly from the northern base of the kingly Mt. Hood,
and its clear, icy waters are formed by the melting snows that drape the
mountain's sides, as well as the milky product of the eternal glaciers, which,
with resistless might, steadily push their way down its deep canyons. Just
before the river loses itself in the broad Columbia, it is crossed by the
railroad. Hood River Valley, lying along the stream for a number of miles
inland, is one of the most beautiful and fertile of the mountain valleys
of Oregon, and it is famous for its fruits and vegetables. The stream itself,
nearer its fountainhead, has been whipped for years by enthusiastic sportsmen.
This is the usual route taken by visitors to Mt. Hood, who go up the valley
to the base of the mountain. The upper end is a favorite summer resort, and
many a sportsman makes it a headquarters while hunting the bear and deer
of the mountains, or being hunted, as is sometimes the case, by a mountain
lion."
Mr. Rand, the came to Hood River in 1884, three years
before the book was published, was this week telling of the primitive nature
of the Hood River region at that time. His uncle had a 40-acre homestead
on the hill across Hood river stream, just east of town. The uncle and his
two boys were cutting wood on the place one day when one of the boys looked
up to see a cougar, only a few feet away creeping up, ready to spring. The
uncle picked up the axe and started for the big cat, which beat a hasty retreat
into the woods.
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© Jeffrey L. Elmer