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 …
Roadhouses on The Mt Hood Loop – The Wistaria Farm Inn
The Wistaria Farm Inn, near Cherryville Oregon east of Sandy on the old Mount Hood Loop Highway (Highway 26 today), was only one of the many roadhouses located on the Mount Hood Loop Highway popular during the motor age. Continue reading The Wistaria Farm Inn
Cross and Dimmit Postcards of The Columbia River Gorge and Historic Columbia River Highway.
Cross and Dimit were two of the most successful photographers in Portland back in the first part of the 20th Century.
Crown Point and Vista House
Arthur B. Cross opened his photography studio in Portland Oregon in 1909. Five years later Edward L. Dimmit began working at Cross’s at his studio and two years later became partners with Cross, naming it “Cross and Dimmit”.
The Historic Columbia River Highway was dedicated in 1917 and quickly became a huge tourist draw. All along the new road built through the pristine and deeply beautiful Columbia River Gorge, roadhouses, restaurants and gift shops sprung up to supply the needs of the tourist traffic.
And around that very same time postcards became extremely popular due to the fact that one could buy a package of cards and forego lugging their own camera long, or to allow those without ne to have photos of the views, streams and waterfalls along the road. All of these factors came together to provide the new Cross and Dimmit venture with a steady stream of potential customers via the souvenirs shops as well as from the running boards of their Model T Ford. In time they had their own gift shop located at Crown Point near Vista House.
Cross and Dimmit created real photo postcards in large quantities and sold them individually as well as packs of a variety of scenes. Most everyone who toured the gorge back then bought some. Cross and Dimmit sold scenes from other areas, but the photos of the gorge are their most iconic photos. Today they’re some of the best photos of the Columbia River Gorge and the historic Columbia River Highway from that era, and because of the quantities that they made, are still easy to find.
This is a series of their most common cards of the Columbia Gorge. They start from Chanticleer Point, today referred to as The Women’s Forum near the town of Corbett. They then go along the highway from Crown Point and Vista House to the Rowena Loops near The Dalles Oregon.
Arthur Cross died in 1940 and Dimmit lived until 1963.
View From Chanticleer Inn
Chanticleer Inn at Chanticleer Point
Mrs M E Henderson’s Crown Point Chalet
View of Crown Point
View of Crown Point
View of Crown Point
Columbia River Highway at Crown Point Prior to Warrenite
Columbia River Highway Dedication
Vista House New
The View from Crown Point
Aerial View of Crown Point and Vista House
Crown Point and Vista House
Crown Point and Vista House
Crown Point and Vista House
Vista House
Vista House
The View from Vista House
Crown Point
Cross and Dimmit Columbia River Highway Postcard Crown Point
View East from Crown Point
View East from Crown Point
View west from Crown Point
Fish Cannery at Rooster Rock
Historic Columbia River Highway Before Warrenite
Latourell Bridge
Cross and Dimmit Columbia River Highway Scene at Latourell Postcard
Falls Villa at Latourell
Latourell Falls
Bridge at Latourell
Shepperds Dell Bridge
Shepperds Dell Bridge
Shepperds Dell Bridge
Shepperds Dell Bridge
Bishops Cap near Shepperds Dell
Bishops Cap near Shepperds Dell
Bridal Veil Falls
Pillars of Hercules
Wahkeena Falls
Rotary Wheel at Waukeena Falls
Fairy Falls
Multnomah Lodge at Mist Falls
Multnomah Falls Lodge
Multnomah Falls
Multnomah Falls
Multnomah Falls
Multnomah Falls
Multnomah Falls in Winter
Columbia River Highway Viaduct near Multnomah Falls
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.
Views of Portland Oregon and the Columbia River Gorge – Antique Postcard Set
20 Assorted Views of Portland Oregon.
Here’s a great assortment of views of Portland Oregon and the Columbia River Gorge circa 1950. They’re printed using an offset printing process on canvas textured paper. Printed by the Angelus Commercial Studio in Portland, Oregon. The cards are the same as the postcards that the company printed but are half the size.
The set, labeled 20 Views of Portland Oregon and the Columbia River Gorge, takes one on a tour from Portland Oregon east through the Columbia River Gorge on the Historic Columbia River Highway to the Hood River Valley and then south on what is now Highway 35 to the south side of Mount Hood and the iconic historic Timberline Lodge.
This very same tour can be taken today via modern cars and improved highways in a day; A very full and satisfying day. The only things that have changed since the era that these cards were made are that the Columbia River Highway, Historic Highway 30 has been replaced with the more modern Highway 84 through the gorge. Also the old Mitchell Point Tunnel was demolished in 1966 during construction of Hwy 84, but there are efforts through the restoration of the old highway to consider restoring the tunnel by boring a new tunnel through Mitchell Point.
All of these Views of Portland Oregon and the Columbia River Gorge are available for your enjoyment today, but these old photos bring back a more bucolic era in the Portland and the Mount Hood countryside. One where tourism was more slow and laid back. One where the trip was about the ride and not the destination. One that allowed us to stop along the way and send a postcard or two.
20 Assorted Views of Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon, “The Rose City”, Mt. Hood (Altitude 11,225) in background. Population 500,000.
Portland, the largest city in Oregon, has varied industry and is one of the nation’s foremost fresh-water ports and ports of entry.
Four transcontinental railway lines use this terminal for trains operating in and out of Portland, and a traveler going through Oregon passes some of the finest scenery in America.
The St. John’s Bridge was completed in June, 1931, at a cost of $4,250,000, and its span of 205 feet above the Willamette River is sufficient to allow any type of vessel to pass under it. The Bridge is 3,833 feet in length.
Crown Point 25.5 miles from Portland, Oregon. A view of 35 miles both East and West can be seen from Vista House.
Probably no scenic Highway in America, except the 1600 mile long Oregon Coast Highway, offers such magnificent scenery in concentrated variety as that which borders the Columbia River Highway in Oregon.
Probably no scenic Highway in America, except the 1600 mile long Oregon Coast Highway, offers such magnificent scenery in concentrated variety as that which borders the Columbia River Highway in Oregon.
Beautiful Latourell Falls on Columbia River Highway has a sheer drop of 225 feet.
Bridal Veil Falls, Columbia River Highway, Oregon are considered by many a masterpiece of beauty.
Wah-Kee-Na Falls is considered by many the most beautiful and picturesque of all falls along the Columbia River Highway.
Multnomah Falls height 620 feet. The highest falls in the U.S. that runs water year ’round.
Lovely waterfalls leap from the Columbia River Highway gorge’s towering crags into the river below. Horsetail Falls hurtle through the air from a height of 205 feet.
Forty-two miles east of Portland on the Columbia River is the famed Bonneville Dam, rected at a cost of $65,000,000 sand completed in 1940.
Mitchell Tunnel has five openings or windows out of which a beautiful view of the mighty Columbia River may be obtained.
Portland, the largest city in Oregon, has varied industries and is one of the nation’s foremost fresh-water ports and ports of entry.
Mt. Hood and Hood River Valley where the best apples in the world are grown.
Mt Hood, Oregon, altitude 11,225 ft, “The Most Beautiful Mountain in America,” from the new “Loop” Highway. Mt. Hood is the only major peak in America that can be completely encircled by an automobile.
Mt Hood, Oregon, altitude 11,225 ft, “The Most Beautiful Mountain in America,” from the new “Loop” Highway. Mt. Hood is the only major peak in America that can be completely encircled by an automobile.
Timber Line Lodge, Mount Hood National forest, Oregon. Erected by the Federal Government at a cost of $1,000,000. Elevation 6,000 feet.
Mt Hood, Oregon, altitude 11,225 ft, “The Most Beautiful Mountain in America,” from the new “Loop” Highway. Mt. Hood is the only major peak in America that can be completely encircled by an automobile.
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
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. Continue reading The Rhododendron Inn
