Mrs Pierce of Welches Killed a Bear With a Hoe – I have spent a lot of time talking with old timers and family members of those who have lived up here in the Mountain Community for quite a few years now. In one or two conversations I’ve heard tell of a woman who gained local notoriety for killing a bear that invaded her space with a garden hoe. That’s right a woman killed a bear with a hoe.
This afternoon while perusing newspaper archives I happened across this newspaper clipping. Well what do you know? It’s a true story.
The Oregon Daily Journal (Portland Oregon) 20 March 1915
“Gresham Outlook: When Mrs. Pierce of Welches killed a bear with a hoe last Saturday she set an example for all the people of the mountain country. The usual plan of warfare on bears is a good dog and a trusty rifle, but it has been proved that they are no longer needed. The sport should become popular now, because everyone can afford a hoe, and bears are plentiful.”
Welches Oregon Bear Hoe Portland Oregon Daily Journal 20 March 1915
Jul 21, 2016 … You’re more likely to die from a tick bite or a bee sting than to you are to be killed
by a grizzly bear in Yellowstone park, but here are a few tips …
Reliance Mt Hood Stages – First Autos to Mount Hood
Reliance Mt Hood Stages – In the early days of the road to Mount Hood, after the immigrant era, the road allowed the burgeoning new city of Portland to access the mountain for recreation. Mountain climbing and hiking the trails in the foothills in those days was the primary activity in the area. Skiing had yet to become an activity on the mountain.
Reliance Mt Hood Stages advertising
Automobiles were starting to become a practical means of transportation, but was still primitive. Most people didn’t own a car which gave stage companies an opportunity to carry fun seekers to and from the lodges and roadhouses on Mount Hood. This also gave inn keepers an opportunity to host these people because a trip to Mount Hood wasn’t a simple day trip. Many times a trip to The Mountain was a week minimum investment in time.
Lodges such as Arrah Wanna, Welches Ranch, Tawney’s Mountain Home, La Casa Monte, The Rhododendron Tavern and the Government Camp Hotel all sprang up due to a need to recreational lodging.
The flyer below gives a great representation of the mileage, the lodging available and cost of a trip to the mountain.
Those days were primitive and simple and difficult compared to this day and age, but the life that was lived seems much more fun and adventure filled than the way we live today.
Mt Hood By Motor Stage Mt. Hood – South Side Reliance Mt Hood Stages Mountain Division “The Mt. Hood Line” 10th Season of Reliable Service
Owned and Operated by Irvington Garage and Auto Co. Inc. J. L. S. Snead, Pres,-Mgr. Phones: East 0135 East 3410 Tickets, Reservations and Waiting Room at Stage Depot Park and Yamhill Streets Phone Main 8611
Mt Hood Area Sightseeing Carriage – Early Oregon Tourism
Six Horse Mt Hood Area Sightseeing Carriage – SIX-HORSE TEAM AND SIGHT-SEEING CARRIAGE IN MOUNT HOOD AREA IN 1893 –
Before the days of automobiles sight-seers were taken over roads at the base of Mount Hood in equipages such as this. The late E. S. Olinger, known as one of Oregon’s most noted drivers is holding the reins.
This six-horse team pulling its crowded carriage of a summer-Sunday sightseers was photographed in 1893 in the Mt. Hood area. E.S. Olinger, one of top drivers, handled the reins.
Six-horse sight-seeing carriage in Mount Hood area in 1893
The Oregon Trail is a 2,170-mile (3,490 km) historic East–West, large-wheeled
wagon route … on the California Trail (from 1843), Mormon Trail (from 1847), and
Bozeman Trail (from 1863), before turning off to their separate destinations.
Vintage Photograph of Mt Hood from Lookout Mountain
“On Lookout Mountain with Mt Hood as a background.”
Not a lot has changed in the last 100 years once you hit the trail… well, maybe the clothing but we still get the same feeling of freedom when we stand on a place like this with Mt Hood as a background.
Lookout Mountain is on the east side of Mount Hood and was once the location of a fire look out. The look out building has been gone since 1966 but the foundation is still there.
Back when this photo was made there was no fire look out like we’re familiar with. There was most likely just the alidade, or triangulation device, and a log cabin in the field below.
You can get to there two ways. The hard way or the easy way. You can either catch a trail near Robinhood Campground on Highway 35 and hike about 6.5 miles with about a 3000 foot elevation gain, or you can drive up to High Prairie off of the old Dufur Road and walk a gentle old road for about a mile and a half.
A Message from William “Billy” Welch from the grave.
A signature of William “Billy” Welch from 1902. This was prior to the establishment of Welches as a town. Billy seems to have been in a grim mood when he wrote this. Sadly his wife Mamie Kopper would die soon after.
“Salmon River
Jan 8, 1902
Think of me when this you see Though in this world I may not be But if my grave should be my bed Remember me when I am dead.
Yours Truly
W. Welch”
I wonder if he really thought that people would be thinking of him over 100 years later?
William Welch Epitaph Salmon Or 1902 -A signature of William Welch from 1902
Here’s a scene from the days before the Palmer Lift was installed of some classic Tucker Sno-Cats. The first two photos show a unique 20 passenger model 743 Transport Sno-Cat called “The Shoebox”. The third photo shows a traditional model 443 four track machine.
The shoebox carried multiple passengers up above the lodge past the Silcox Hut to Triangle Moraine and the Palmer Snowfield for Summer Ski before the Palmer Ski Lift was built.
Silcox Hut was the upper terminus for the original Magic Mile ski lift built in 1938. The Palmer Ski Lift was built in 1978.
The Tucker Snow-Cats have been used in some sort of capacity since the beginning of the ski industry on Mount Hood. They have a tradition on the mountain that is still celebrated in the form of a recently acquired meticulously restored Tucker Snow-Cat for display at the lodge.
The Tucker Sno–Cat is a tracked vehicle or a family of tracked vehicles for snow
conditions, manufactured in Medford, Oregon. Different models have been used …
Mud Lake in 1951 during the filming of Bend of The River with James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, Julie Adams, and Rock Hudson. Mud Creek will be dammed to become Trillium Lake about nine years later in 1960 during the development of camping and recreational facilities.
Trillium Lake was created for the perfect photograph. At times Mount Hood reflects perfectly in the surface of the water.
The Rhododendron Inn – In the early days in the communities on the south side of Mount Hood travelers on the old road to the mountain relied on the inns and roadhouses for a bed and a meal while they traveled through or played in the area.
Camper at The Rhododendron Inn
The roads were primitive and the automobiles were slow. It would take the best part of a day to drive from Portland, for instance, in contrast to the hour drive that it is today. As a consequence of the time that it took to journey to Mount Hood many roadhouses, hotels and restaurants sprung up along the old road. The town of Rhododendron had the Rhododendron Inn.
Rhododendron Inn
Henry S. Rowe, a Mayor of Portland from 1900 to 1902, had the Rhododendron Inn in built 1905 on 160 acres of land that he owned. A Portland Fire Chief that served during Rowe’s administration by the name of Lee Holden did the construction and design.
Henry S Rowe – Lee Holden
Holden took over the hotel in 1910, and it was this season that the post office was established under the name of Rowe. The name was later changed at the request of the Post Office Department to Rhododendron in 1920.
Rhododendron Inn Annex
Holden sold the hotel to Emil and Suzette Franzetti, hoteliers from Europe in 1912. The Franzetti’s added a 60’x100’ dance hall, a 50’x100’ concrete swimming pool, tennis and croquet courts, bridle paths and hiking trails. They also added an annex across the road as well as several cottages and tent houses scattered through camp areas in the woods surrounding the inn.
Rhododendron Inn
In 1916 Emil was killed when his car rolled in soft sand near the Zigzag Ranger Station. Mrs. Franzetti ran the hotel for seven years after that and finally sold the inn and 20 acres around 1924 to William Cash and his wife while the rest of the land was subdivided into lots, many containing Henry Steiner built log cabins. The annex burned down in 1932. The hotel was sold in 1943 (?) to Thomas Rex who changed the name to the Rex Inn. During a very cold snap in the Winter of 1949 the inn caught fire, supposedly from a blow torch being used to thaw pipes.
Rhododendron Inn and the old Zigzag River Bridge and The Rhododendron Inn through the trees.
The location of where the Rhododendron Inn once sat is on the south side of today’s Highway near where the pedestrian suspension bridge over the Zigzag River is located on the west side of town. All traces are lost today with no hint of its existence.
“All The Young Men” Movie Filmed on Mount Hood December 13, 1959.
Korea came to Mt. Hood when Columbia Pictures’ “All the Young Men” was filmed on the snow-clad slopes. Here Walt Aeppli, chief engineer at Timberline Lodge: Don Bar, member of lift crew,: desk clerk Warren Clancey and Brad Holt, lift crew member, appear as extras in war picture. (Photo by Dick Kohnstamm)
Transporting M-41, 26-ton tank from Fort Lewis, Wash., to Timberline Lodge, to be used in Korean war film being shot on location, this week provided side drama. Aboard a truck, the tank was stopped at the Oregon border as legally too heavy for Oregon highways. A bigger truck finally made transport.