Snow Saga of Lige Coalman

Intro: This is a story that was transcribed from the retelling by Victor H. White in 1972 of a story from the life of Mount Hood legend, Elijah “Lige” Coalman. In 1972 Victor H. White took transcripts of Lige Coalman’s life as they were recorded by Lige himself. He also had the opportunity to interview Lige to help fill in some blanks. In his own words; “I re-wrote Lige Coalman’s own manuscript, condensed it, re-phrased it, and edited it. I shortened it and omitted repetitious and non-essential material. I did not add, change or exaggerate anything.”

The following story is one of the stories that Victor White left from the book, but felt that it was worthy of retelling in a subsequent publication. The story really does exemplify just how wild and primitive the area from Sandy to Mount Hood really was.

Snow Saga of Lige Coalman

Adventure, danger and unusual happenings along the old Oregon Trail west of The Dalles to Portland were limited neither to the early days before 1860 nor to the fork of the trail that used the Columbia River as a highway.

Westward from The Dalles, the overland route of the wagon-driving immigrants turned first south, then westward south of Mount Hood over Barlow Pass. This route across the Cascades became a toll road with specific charges for each wagon, horseman, cow or sheep which used it and, because of existing government land use laws at the time, there was one man who did something in that locality no one else ever attempted before or since. His name was Dr. Herbert C. Miller, then Dean of the Northwest, Dental College located in East Portland. Doctor Miller established a large farm at Clackamas Meadows directly at the summit of the Cascade Range, some fifteen miles south of the toll road, where snow might fall ten, twelve or fifteen feet deep and there was no access save a mountain trail impassable for several months except on snowshoes. 

There was then a roadhouse at Government Camp which was also, then as now, the jumping-off place for the start up Mount Hood by the way of the timberline where the ski lodge is today.  This accommodation was a mile or so north of where the original Oregon Trail had passed.

On one particular December night in 1914, four men, one woman and two children, the entire winter population of Government Camp, were all sleeping peacefully in the hostelry building when Lige Coalman was awakened by a noise that sounded like something scratching and clawing at the door and moaning or shouting feebly. There was nine feet of snow on the ground and the temperature was near zero. 

Lige Coalman was thirty-three at the time and perhaps the most capable and experienced mountain man in all Oregon. Those with him in the building, besides his wife and his two children, were a foster brother, Roy Mitchell, and an old timer from Oklahoma named Lundy. 

Lige got out of bed and went to the door. His movement and the continued unfamiliar pounding at the door roused the others. Lige opened the door and a man’s body that had balanced against it, fell into the room. This man’s head was completely bound and covered with a wool muffler, although he had evidently arranged a slit for his eyes as he had beaten his way through the storm and finally fallen against the roadhouse door at almost the exact moment of complete exhaustion. 

Coalman dragged him forward, closed the door and called to his wife and the others, “Get a fire going; this man’s nearly frozen.”

But warmth already had the fellow able to half sit up and he was desperately trying to explain, “Man, woman and baby… two miles… in snow… will freeze…” He pointed shakily down the mountain in the direction of Rhododendron and Portland.

As soon as the muffler was off the man’s head, Lige Coalman recognized Doctor Miller, Dean of the dental college, who owned the farm at Clackamas Lake. Lige also personally knew the man, woman and one-year-old child who were down the road in danger of freezing. They were the Andrews Family, who had been helping to run the butcher shop in Sandy, Oregon, about 30 miles to the west and below heavy snows. 

The three men got Miller into a bed with warm blankets over him. Mrs. Coalman had hot chocolate in brief moments and got busy massaging circulation into Miller’s frosted limbs. Mitchell and Lundy immediately bundled up and started for a frozen location known in the summer as Big Mud Hole on the Laurel Creek Road. Lige spent a few moments helping his wife feed and partially restore Doctor Miller’s circulation, then followed the other men down the mountain. 

In the early 1900’s tuberculosis was perhaps the most common cause of death in the Northwest among both Indians and whites. It was commonly believed that a high, dry, clean atmosphere was imperative to recovery. Thousands of persons went to Arizona for possible cure but limited finances made this pilgrimage merely a mirage of hope for the wealthy. Nearer to home, high and, if possible, dry hills were often specifically chosen for tuberculosis hospitals and sanitariums. It had come to Doctor Miller’s attention that a particular spot in the Cascade Range at Clackamas Lake seemed to have definite benefits of nature that could serve both as a means of profit and as a boon to mankind as a site for a tuberculosis sanitarium because it was true then as it is now that Clackamas Meadows, situated at the very top of the Cascades, enjoyed a prevailing easterly wind almost as uniformly as the summit of Mount Hood has a never-changing southwesterly wind.

This dry wind swirls air from Eastern Oregon into the high Cascades as happens in no other spot of those mountains. But unlike the southwest wind on Hood, the Clackamas wind does shift in winter to bring in heavy snows from the west. 

Doctor Miller’s problem arose from the fact that Clackamas Meadows was within the boundaries of the Mt Hood National Forest which was withdrawn from homestead entry unless proven to be adapted to agriculture. It was this agricultural adaptability that Doctor Miller proceeded to prove in order to claim ownership and build a sanitarium. 

He built a log dwelling, barn and other outbuildings, all strongly constructed with roofs that could uphold the possible fifteen feet of winter snow. He plowed several acres of meadow, dug drainage ditches, planted a family orchard and arranged a garden plot. Then he brought in a team of horses, milk cows, pigs and chickens. He truly established what amounted to a Siberian or Canadian home-site. He even went to the extent of panting the meadow to wheat, oats and barley and a variety of timothy which he actually did import from Siberia. A young German named Meyers, with two of his cousins, was employed to run this farm as caretaker during the winter season, when they also picked up several hundred dollars additional income by trapping fur bearing fox, lynx, pine marten and wolverine. Their traps also yielded beaver, otter and mink along the Clackamas River. 

Several winters of this, however, had proven enough for the three young Germans. When Meyers was offered a job by the city street car company in Portland, all three farm workers asked Doctor Martin to relieve them and this was why the arrangement had been made to hire the butcher’s helper and his family from Sandy.

That night about midnight, Mitchell and Lundy found the butcher, with his wife and baby, crouched around a fir twig fire they had managed to start on the snow. Partially sheltered by a toboggan loaded with household goods and personal effect, they were nevertheless in critical condition. The baby, having been best protected by the mother, was the only one not suffering frostbite by the time Lige Coalman arrived and they were then able to complete their trip back to Government Camp where they arrived at daybreak. It took four days of warmth, rest and food before they party dared venture on. Then, with Lige Coalman and Mitchell accompanying Miller and his new employees, the party of five adults and the baby undertook the remaining fifteen or sixteen miles of snowshoe and toboggan travel toward Clackamas Meadows. 

The strenuous first day of struggle through glaresnow, sometimes ice-encrusted, brought them up about fourteen hundred feet of elevation by noon. They had pulled the toboggan to Frog Lake by two o’clock and Mrs. Andrews and the baby were able to ride the remaining two miles of slight downgrade to an old cabin on Clear Lake by early evening. 

Part of the cabin roof had caved in. All but the baby fell to work, using boards as shovels. Thus they cleared the snow from the part of the frozen bare ground, which was still roofed. They felled a dry cedar snag with an axe from the sleigh, got a fire going and then cut fir boughs, which were partially dried to make a mattress, upon which their complete exhaustion enabled them to sleep intermittently for a few hours before dawn. 

By 6 a.m. a new wind started snow sifting down on the weary sleepers. By 7:30 they had finished the breakfast they had planned and, after running into a new snow storm at nine, they pressed in and won the relaxing comfort of the snug Miller log house by noon. 

Lige Coalman and Mitchell planned to bring the three farmer caretakers back to Government Camp in a fast one day sprint. Before noon, however, one of the Germans, who thought that he had fully recovered from a recent bout with the flu, began suffering a relapse. Before nightfall, he was running a high fever and had to be placed on a toboggan with additional blankets and medicine. By the end of the second day, the sick man was brought to Government Camp suffering high fever and delirium. His life was nip and tuck for almost a week and it was the middle of February before he had recovered sufficiently to go on in to Portland. 

Indeed, the hazards and hardships of winter travel in all of the Oregon Trail Country through the Cascade Mountains in 1914 had changed little in sixty or seventy years. Although a doctor was available in Sandy, the means of hisd getting to a sick man at Government Camp through ten feet of snow was hardly a practical undertaking. Even today a sudden snow storm can close the modern highway for indefinite periods while the most modern equipment struggles around the clock to keep things moving between Barlow Pass and Sandy. This can happen most any time from November 1st until the middle of March or even later. 

For some twenty miles eastward from Barlow Pass modern man seems to find no use for any kind of highway at all and only a toilsome dirt roadway marks a course for a few intrepid tourists and fisherman who venture for pleasure down Barlow Creek up which the early immigrants struggles to reach the rich agricultural promise of the Willamette Valley and the new world trade center of Portland. 

Lige Coalman
Elijah “Lige Coalman” on Mount Hood

Lige Coalman | WyEast Blog
Jul 30, 2020 Known informally as the Little Sandy Glacier, this small body of ice is perched on the rocky shoulder of Cathedral Ridge, near the Glisan Glacier.

Government Camp Oregon
Government Camp Oregon The History of Government Camp Oregon, on the south side of Mount Hood.

Government Camp Oregon

Government Camp Oregon

Government Camp Oregon

The History of Government Camp Oregon, on the south side of Mount Hood.

Government Camp is located on the south face of Mount Hood at 4000 feet in elevation. By tradition Government Camp is a “ski town”. Even before the ski resorts people used to make their way to Mount Hood in the Winter to snowshoe and ski in the winter and hike in the Summer. Government Camp is home to the famous Timberline Lodge. Timberline Lodge was built during the Great Depression as a WPA Works Progress Administration project and is an Historic Monument and national treasure.

In May of 1845 the United States appropriated $75,500.000 to mount and equip an army regiment to establish posts along the Oregon Trail. It was later decided to divert the effort to the Mexican war. In 1849 Lieutenant William Frost brought an immense wagon train through from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. 429 wagons, drawn by 1716 mules arrived at Fort Dalles with 250 tons of freight. A part of this contingent traveled by boat to Vancouver, as planned. While the rest were waiting for available boats, someone up high in command decided to send the remainder up and over the Barlow Road to Oregon City. Mules, in poor condition, were pulling heavily overloaded wagons. Many literally starved on the trek over the Barlow Road. As usual, it was late in the fall, with winter threatening. About 45 wagons had to be abandoned, before the train descended Laurel Hill. For many years the vicinity was known as “the government camp on Still Creek”. Later, capitalizing of the names indicated that the title Government Camp had gained full acceptance. An actual community was not developed until the advent of O.C. Yocum, Francis C. Little, and William G. Steel, all of whom filed for homestead rights. Some travelers used Summit Meadow.
Mount Hood, A Complete History, Jack Grauer

Yocum platted parts of his claim in blocks and named the North/South streets 1st, 2nd and 3rd. He spelled his name on the East/West streets, Yule, Olive, Church, Union and Montgomery. The plat was called Pompeii. He later called his town Government Camp and tried to establish a Post Office with that name but the government objected to the two-word name. So he changed it to Pompeii and was granted a post office with that name. But the name of Government Camp Oregon had stuck and the post office was eventually changed to Government Camp.

OC Yocum built the Mountain View House hotel in 1899, and Lige Coalman bought it in 1910. Lige built the Government Camp Hotel the next year. He sold his hotels and the both burned in 1933.

George Calverly built a café at the East end of town and his wife operated it. Everett Sickler and Albert Krieg built the Battle Axe Inn in 1924. It burned on November 7, 1950. Charlie Hill built and ran Hills Place across from the Battle Axe Inn from 1932 until it burned in 1969. The Rafferty’s built and ran a hotel next to the Battle Axe Inn. It changed hands and names, the Tyrolean Lodge and the Mountain View, several times before it burned down in 1954.

Government Camp, Oregon
Government Camp, Oregon Census-designated place Center of business district in Government Camp Government Camp Location within the state of Oregon Show

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon’s History

Marmot Oregon is a place more than it is a town. It is located along the last stretch of the Oregon Trail, the old plank covered Barlow Road. Between 1883 and 1930 it was a destination for many people that came to experience the great outdoors and to launch their adventures on Mount Hood. Located in the forested foothills in the west side of Mount Hood about six miles east of the town of Sandy, Marmot is situated on a ridge with the Sandy River to the south and the Little Sandy River and Bull Run to the north. It was a wilderness when Marmot was established. 

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
The Barlow Road – Marmot Oregon 1920

The story of Marmot is less about a town or a place than it is about a man. Marmot’s pioneer and developer of the town’s commercial ventures, such as its store, hotel, stables and museum were owned and operated by Johann Adolf (Adolph) Aschoff. There were no other businesses there. Aschoff was even Marmot’s postmaster when the post office was established in 1890, where he kept meticulous records in perfect penmanship. Adolf Aschoff was a German immigrant who has cemented his name into the fabric and history of Mount Hood and the south side towns between Sandy and Government Camp and indeed, the whole Mount Hood National Forest.

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
Dorotea “Dora” Gein & Johann Adolf Aschoff

Adolf Aschoff was born in Celle, Hanover, Germany, May 21, 1849. He was the son of a shoe manufacturer who was said to have descended from Russian royalty. He was educated for the clergy but his love for the outdoors led his path in other directions. Adolf’s father wanted his children to be educated and cultured and not have to work in the factories like he had. Adolf’s education covered language, history, theology, art, music and physical sciences. He worked with the Royal Forester when he was 16, an experience that will serve him well in his life. Adolf became a very talented musician, artist and storyteller and one of Mount Hood’s earliest photographers. 

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
Adolf Aschoff pen drawing

In 1866 at the age of 17, while still in Germany, he organized a club of enthusiastic young men called “Maybugs”. Their activities varied from studying to fun making, and perhaps a little political activism. It seems that this group became involved in trouble with a group of Prussian officers. This was during the Austro-Prussian War and, although Hanover tried to maintain a neutral position, in June of 1866 Germany mobilized troops against Prussia which ended up dissolving Hanover and its subsequent annexation by Prussia. That Summer saw 17,000 Prussian soldiers cross over the Hanover boundary line. Adolf was involved in taunting the invading soldiers as well as plastering violent posters all over which made him very unpopular with the Prussians. One night the “Maybugs”, said to have been a bit tipsy, bumped into several Prussian officers. There was a tussle and three of the officers were knocked down. As a result of this he was forced to flee. He claimed to have escaped and ran to a lake where he stayed submerged, except for his face, for a day and into the night. He made his way to the home of a female benefactor, said to be Princess Fredericka, who provided help to facilitate his escape to Austria, then to France and eventually to England where a forged passport allowed him passage to America, entering as a political exile. 

Adolf arrived in New York in November of 1869 on the steamer Nebraska. He made a living for some time as a wood carver and engraver but New York was too crowded for him. He went to New Jersey, then to Illinois and finally to Kansas in 1871 where he and his brother Ernest took up a homestead. In 1872 Adolf Aschoff married Dorotea “Dora” Gein in Rush County Kansas. Dora was born in Germany November 21st, 1853 and had immigrated to America with her parents when she was 14 years old. Adolf and Dora had a farm while in Kansas where their first four children were born. His time in Kansas provided much material for stories that he’d tell the rest of his life. He told tales of his adventuresome days as a pioneer and cowboy and how he had met the likes of “Calamity Jane” and was hired by “Buffalo Bill” Cody hunting buffalo to supply meat to the railroads. 

While in Kansas Aschoff watched as wagons of people heading to Oregon passed by his farm and in 1882 he and Dora decided to do the same. They left their homestead and moved to Portland, Oregon where they lived near Mt Tabor. They raised and sold vegetables around town for a living. Adolf was described as looking like a nobleman with a trim little goatee, elegant manners, a strong German accent and, with his gift for storytelling as well as his artistic and musical talents, found it easy to gather influential friends while living in the city. These friends and connections proved to be invaluable in the following years as he developed his resort in Marmot. 

The road to Aschoff’s Mountain Home – Barlow Road near Marmot Oregon

Adolf and Dora moved from Portland to Marmot in the Spring of 1883 where they paid $900 for 240 acres of land located along the last section of the Oregon Trail known as The Barlow Road. It was located between the little town of Sandy and Mount Hood and was situated on a ridge the settlers used to call “The Devil’s Backbone”. The land was beautiful forestland with the Sandy River to the south side and the Little Sandy River and what would become the Bull Run watershed to the north. At that time it was the only road to Mount Hood from Portland and the travelers to and from the mountain passed by his land, and in 1883 it was the furthest east outpost between Portland and Mount Hood. Marmot became a regular stop along the way for travelers.

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
A log cabin at Ashchoff’s, Marmot Oregon

Immediately after acquiring the land Adolph started work on a log cabin for him and Dora, but it soon became clear that many of the friends that he made in Portland were interested in coming to the Aschoff’s to stay or launch adventures to Mount Hood. Adolph was quoted as saying, “I never really intended to run a resort, but my friends importuned until I had to, and I have had as many as 200 guests at one time.” Many climbing parties started from Marmot with Adolf acting as a guide. He built guest cabins and started entertaining borders and guests at 50 cents per day or $3/ week. Business was so good that he built a hotel and by 1902 had expanded to 23 rooms. The hotel was named “Aschoff’s Mountain Home”. It was a large two story building with balconies surrounding both levels with ornate trim that reflected its owner’s artistic abilities. The main level contained a large dining room which could seat 100 people, a kitchen with a huge wood burning stove and a zinc covered sink board as well as a sitting room and a bedroom. Upstairs held seven bedrooms.

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
Aschoff’s Mountain Home Marmot Oregon

In 1890 Adolf built a post office and became the postmaster for “Marmot Oregon”. It’s an interesting story about how he chose the name Marmot for his town. When he arrived there he noticed burrows which some locals had told him were made by marmots but he later discovered them to be mountain beavers. When the post office was established Aschoff and two of his friends decided to name it “Marmot” in spite of this error.

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
The town of Marmot Oregon

Adolf built a store where he sold essentials to guests and travelers. He also built a museum on the site where he displayed relics of the past, his artwork, photographs as well as mounted displays of animals that he had hunted. The animals were featured in a display at the Lewis and Clark Exposition in 1907 in Portland, Oregon.

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
Museum and Post Office at Marmot Oregon

On May 19, 1897, he was appointed the first Forest Ranger for the Cascade Range Forest Reserve, which became the Mount Hood National Forest and was soon appointed as Supervisor in charge of many Rangers. Adolf is credited with blazing the Skyline Trail between Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson. His service lasted until 1906 when he left due to disagreements with supervisors and the bureaucracy of the job. He resigned from the Forest Service. 

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
Adolf Aschoff Mt Hood’s first Forest ranger

Adolf and Dora had nine children. The first four were born while he and Dora still lived in Kansas. Operating a hotel, a post office, being a guide as well as his position as the Mount Hood National Forest supervisor was a lot of work and so having a large family helped. 

“Marmot Ore. Pony Express Rider”
Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
“The good old Summer Time – Boys on “Juicy” in the orchard – Aschoff’s Mountain Home”
  • Mary Sophia Aschoff (1873–1914) 25 Sep 1873 • Pioneer Township, Rush, KS
  • Ernest John Aschoff (1876–1954) 21 May 1876 • Pioneer Township, Rush, KS
  • Amelia O Aschoff (1878–1939) 29 Oct 1878 • Pioneer Township, Rush, KS
  • Otto Ernest Aschoff (1880–1958) 13 Aug 1880 • Pioneer Township, Rush, KS
  • Henry Aschoff (1882–1961) 4 Nov 1882 • Marmot, Clackamas, Oregon
  • Emma Margaret Aschoff (1885–1973) 29 Apr 1885 • Marmot, Clackamas, OR
  • Margarette Aschoff (1887–) Mar 1887 • Marmot, Clackamas, OR
  • Karl Aschoff (1889–1931) Apr 1889 • Marmot, Clackamas, OR
  • Gustav Adolph Aschoff (1895–1914) 08 Jan 1895 • Marmot, Clackamas, OR
Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
The Barlow Road near Marmot Oregon

A part of running his hotel entailed stabling and feeding relief horses for freight wagons that operated on the old Barlow Road. Adolf was often involved in driving wagon loads of vacationers to Government Camp where they would enjoy the sights and activities found there including hiking and climbing Mount Hood. This allowed Adolf to become acquainted with Will Steel, best known for his campaign to create Crater Lake National Park and for the creation of the Mazama climbing club, and O. C. Yocum, famed Mount Hood pioneer guide, and was soon climbing and guiding tourists on Mount Hood himself. This led to his participation in the organizational climb of July 19, 1894 when the Mazama climbing club was created, where he became a prominent and active charter member. 

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
A Mazama hiking party at Marmot Oregon 1920

Through his association with the Mazamas he hosted many events at Aschoff’s Mountain Home where he would have up to 200 people come out at once. They would come up from Portland to Troutdale where they would board the train that would take them to the Bull Run powerhouse where a freight and passenger depot was located. From there they would hike to Marmot. It’s told that it was a common sight to see Adolf walking down the road to meet his guests and accompany them back to Marmot. 

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
Adolf Aschoff and a Mazama hiking party at Marmot Oregon 1920

Life at Marmot was good. With the activities centered on his involvement with the tourist trade, including accommodating and entertaining guests, those must have been some wonderful times. They weren’t easy times but business was good and the Aschoff family did well in the venture. Guests were well taken care of and at meal time the table was filled with good things to eat and was a large family affair. After supper the tables in the room were pushed aside to make room for games, dancing and singing. Adolf enjoyed entertaining his guests. After supper he would entertain his guests by telling tall tales or playing his piano. He told his stories in his thick German accent and in such expressive ways that sometimes it was hard to tell truth from fiction. To the delight of his guests he would bring out his tiny Sheffield scissors and cut silhouettes of birds and animals from paper, some as small as postage stamps.

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
Scissor paper cutting art by Adolf Aschoff

Adolf told a lot of stories but few were recorded or saved but a couple of examples have survived. One was when he was discussing the hazardous local roads one day when he told of how he and his wife were coming home from Gresham in a high box wagon when a grouse flew up from the side of the road spooking the horses causing the wagon to hit the ditch. They both were able to duck and were spared from harm but were trapped under the wagon. “Belief it or no, he stated, “I had to walk a quarter of a mile before I found a fence rail so I could pry up the wagon and get Mama out” One of the listeners reminded him that he too was trapped under the wagon. “Ach,” Snorted Adolf, with a twinkle in his eye, “I forgot all about dot.”

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
Aschoff’s Mountain Home – Marmot Oregon

Another was when some Marmot friends were complaining about a sudden change in the weather. Adolf said, “Gentlemen, let me tell you about Kansas. I was driving along in a light one horse wagon on a lovely Spring day. The sky suddenly turned black as night, the rain fell so hard that I could not breath, water filled the wagon box and ran over the top of my shoes. Then the cold wind started to blow. In two minutes my hands were so numb I dropped the reins and had to call to the horse to take me home. When the horse stopped at the barn door I yelled for my wife to bring the axe and chop my feet loose from the ice in the wagon box. Just then the sun came out and melted the ice before my wife could find the axe. Marmot weather is not so bad”.

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
Aschoff’s Mountain Home – Marmot Oregon

A man of medium height but quite stout in stature, he had amazing strength. Witnesses tell about seeing him hold a 100 pound flour sack at arm’s length with either hand. One time Adolf was demonstrating his strength when he lifted a 200 pound man with his neck. He put his head between the mans legs and lifted him right off the ground but when he was finished Adolf’s head drooped onto his chest and he was only able to raise it by using his hands. He was taken to St Vincent’s hospital in Portland where they found a broken vertebra and a torn tendon. His head was put into a brace and he was inactive for three months until his neck healed. He was eventually able to get full use of his neck back.

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
Aschoff son Gustav on a prize race horse

Sadly in June of 1914 Adolf and Dora’s youngest son Gustav went missing. It is said that he had a quarrel with one of his brothers and Gustav threatened to take his own life and he left. A search took place and his body was eventually found in the Sandy River about a mile from home. The coroner returned a verdict from his inquest that Gustav had died of suicide. This event hurt the Aschoff family deeply.

On July 13th of the same year Adolf and Dora’s oldest child Mary died after a year long illness at 40 years old. Mary had married into one of Sandy Oregon’s pioneer families. She was married to Paul R. Meinig, Sandy’s second mayor, and first official mayor under the new charter of incorporation in 1913.

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
Sheep at Aschoff’s Mountain Home – Marmot Oregon

Four years later Adolf’s wife Dora died. Dora was the glue that kept Aschoff’s Mountain Home working. Adolf was the attraction and the entertainment and did the heavy lifting, but Dora and the children did a lot of the work behind the scenes. The table filled with food each night. The tidy rooms, all with their own clean linens and handmade quilts folded neatly on each bed. The garden and orchard that grew the fruit and vegetables that were used throughout the year. The feeding and stabling of the horses. There was a lot to operating a resort out in the countryside.

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
Cattle at Aschoff’s Mountain Home – Marmot Oregon

With Dora gone and the children getting older and starting families of their own, coupled with the new Mount Hood Loop Highway bypassing Marmot completely, the place started to deteriorate. Adolf was left alone except for visits from friends on a Sunday where he would, once again, become the happy entertainer that he’d enjoyed so much most of his life in his days that he spent at Marmot. 

Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon
Adolph at Aschoff’s Mountain Home with his wife Dora, a maid and his two year old German stallion.

Adolf resided at his beloved home until 1929 when he sold everything to Percy Shelley. At the time he was quoted as saying, “I cannot tell you how I feel giving up my place. My nine children grew up here and I have gone through all kinds of hardships, but only God and I know how much I have loved it here.” On May 16, 1930 Adolf Aschoff died in Portland. An era had passed and those that were still around to remember the glory days at Aschoff’s Mountain Home mourned his passing. 

Then on July 4th 1931 the old hotel burned. The Shelley family lost all of their belongings. The buildings on the south side of the road were spared but fell into disrepair quickly. Today there’s not much left of Marmot but if you use your imagination as you pass through you can still picture what it must have been like at the peak of popularity, and why Adolf Aschoff loved it so deeply.

Continue reading Adolf Aschoff and Marmot Oregon

Samuel Welch 1880 Welches Pioneer

Samuel Welch left Virginia at the age of 19 and traveled to Oregon via the old Oregon Trail in 1842. He travelled down the Columbia River and portaged around Celilo Falls. He settled first in Brush Prairie Washington but soon claimed land near Orient, east of the Gresham.

On February 20, 1865 Sam married Francis Culbertson and his son William “Billy” Welch was born on December 24, 1866. In 1882 Sam and his son Billy took donation land claims of 160 acres each and homesteaded in the Salmon River Valley near Mount Hood, eventually expanding their holdings to around 1,000 acres. Sam farmed his land and in 1893 he and Billy started the first resort in the area, which was a campground for travelers and vacationers. He was known as Uncle Sam to his friends.

Samuel died in 1898 and Billy continued the operation. Their land is where The Resort at The Mountain now lies.

You can read more about Welches at HERE.

The Welch’s Ranch Welches Oregon
Welches Oregon before tourists Back before Welches Oregon became a destination it was a ranch, Samuel

Welches, Oregon
after Samuel Welch, a homesteader from Virginia who settled near Welches Creek in 1882 with his son, William, after the death of Samuel’s wife. Samuel Welch

Welches Oregon Pioneer Homesteaders

Here’s a photo of the first Welches Oregon pioneer homesteaders. This is probably one of the earliest photos of the Welches area, certainly of the early residents and is an important piece of Welches Oregon history.

Front row from left – Billy Welch and Firmer Walkley. Standing from the left – August Hornecker, Sam Welch, John Copper and Ira Welch.

Photographed at the Walkley homestead near the junction of Welches Road and Bridge Street. The Walkley homestead was where Tawney’s Mountain Home was located. Tawney’s was built in 1909 and was a destination for many visitors to the area until 1949 when it was closed. The old hotel finally fell into the ground and was demolished sometime around 1955.

The Brightwood Museum and Novelty Shop

The Brightwood Museum and Novelty Shop. Many locals who remember this place in its heyday still call this the Snake Pit. In its lifetime it was several things, including a church and a home. The building was constructed by renowned Mount Hood cabin builder Henry Steiner as a roadside tourist souvenir shop along the way to Mount Hood. This was his last log structure project. At one point it was even a reptile garden.

Back before cars were developed into the high speed vehicles of today, and Highway 26 was blasted into straight line four lane route that allowed everyone to move at speeds in excess of 55 miles per hour, a trip to Mount Hood was more of an easier pace. Post World War II was a time when families took to the highways on days off and vacations to camp and to recreate. The tourist industry was a big deal, with roadhouses and unique roadside attractions. Many people called these places “tourist traps”.

In our area here on the south side of Mount Hood there were several businesses that provided both lodging and meals. A couple of the tourist traps that were here, included this business, the Brightwood Museum and Novelty Shop, the Swiss Gardens and the Mt Hood Indian Pageant.
This old building is a cultural treasure to our area but sadly it’s falling into ruins. You can still see this old structure at the intersection of Bridge Street and Brightwood Loop Road in the parking lot of the Brightwood store.

Rhododendron Oregon Centennial and History

100 Years of Rhododendron Oregon and Mount Hood Tourism

I produced a video to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the little Mount Hood village of Rhododendron Oregon. It’s a collection that consists of photos that I’ve collected through the years and have added to my collection. There are a couple that are in the video that are copies of photos from the Welch Family as well as the family of Dr Ivan Wooley.

Rhododendron, Oregon | Things to do, hotels, & attractions
Located along the Mt. Hood Scenic Byway on a 19th-century pioneer wagon route, Rhododendron nestles into the western flank of the craggy peak. The terrain.

The Welch’s Ranch in Welches Oregon

And how it became a town and a tourist destination

In 1882, before Welches Oregon became a destination, it was a family homestead ranch. Samuel Welch, an emigrant from Virginia, homesteaded in the valley in 1882. His son William, as well as Edward Kopper, Billy’s first wife’s father, homesteaded in the valley in 1889.  

Welch's Ranch
Welch’s Ranch Welches Oregon

Samuel “Uncle Sam” Welch and his son William “Billy” Welch homesteaded adjoining 160-acre sections of the Salmon River Valley on the southwestern foothills of Mount Hood. Samuel Welch’s deed was signed by Benjamin Harrison on April 19, 1889, and was recorded in the Clackamas County Courthouse on April 27, 1893. The deed to Billy Welch’s place was signed by President William McKinley, June 11, 1897, and was recorded August 23, 1898.  

Samuel and Billy bought up other homesteads in the valley until they owned approximately 1000 acres covering the whole valley floor from Walkley’s homestead on the south to “Dutch Fred’s” Homestead to the north (Near present Fairway Av) and extending up the slopes of Hunchback Mountain to the east and Huckleberry Mountain to the west.  

The ranch had pastures, corrals, and barns for livestock, including a herd of dairy cows, a few head of beef cattle, some sheep, and several pigs. It had an apple orchard and a large vegetable garden. Also available were an abundance of fish in the river and creeks and hills covered with deer and elk. There were stables and a blacksmith shop. As time passed it became a stop for stages and then motorized coaches that carried passengers along the old road to Mount Hood.  

In 1889 Samuel died and deeded his property to Billy. Billy’s first wife, Mamie Kopper Welch, died in 1902. Tourists used to come to the valley in the summer to camp. In 1905 Clinton Kern and a Mr. Wren leased the property and opened it as a hotel resort, which they operated until 1909. The old dance hall was razed, and a large dining hall was erected behind the hotel near the banks of the Salmon River.  

To compensate for the loss of the dance hall Billy enlarged his store, which he maintained control of, and added a room in back with a pool table and a second story that was used as a dance hall. It had an east facing balcony where perspiring dancers could get fresh air and, especially on a moonlit night, a view across the pasture toward Hunchback Mountain.  

In April 1911 Billy Welch and Jennie Faubion were married. Jennie’s family homesteaded the little settlement of Faubion, just a couplie of miles east of Welches. Together they ran the resort, the store, post office and the dance hall above the store. 

In 1905 the Welches post office was established. It was named Welches because the postal service didn’t allow apostrophes in a town name. Billy Welch served as the postmaster from 1905 until 1940. After Billy’s death in 1942 Jennie Welch carried on the responsibilities of postmaster until 1960 when she retired. After Jennie retired the Welches post office was closed and moved to Wemme where it served the community for 17 years when a new post office was built in Welches.

Back then community bonfires, taffy pulls and roasting marshmallows on long sticks were popular. The children were sent out to drag back wood for the fire, which the adults would pile, wigwam style, in piles over 10 feet tall. Campers would sit around the fire and sing songs. Sometimes the festivities were helped along with a little “fortified cider”. The children enjoyed singing “old standards” such as the folk song “Ninety-Nine Blue Bottles,” which was first published in 1910. (Similar to 99 Bottles of Beer). There were several good story tellers that would entrance the folks around the fire with fascinating stories. They would usually end the evening.  

And then there were the dances. There were dances in the dance hall every Saturday night. Back then most everyone would come to the dances. Parents of small children would bring blankets and tuck the little ones in the corners of the hall. Billy Welch and one or more other local fiddlers would provide the music. Billy, with his eyes half closed, would pump out “old tunes with a lively beat” while dancers shook the building as they whirled and danced two-steps, schottisches, and the Paul Jones, interspersed with an occasion square dance and a waltz to allow the dancers to catch their breaths. 

The valley was becoming a popular spot for summer vacations. In 1910 Tawney’s Hotel, about a mile south of the Welches Ranch at the end of the road, was entertaining guests. Other lodges were being built including the Arrah Wanna Lodge, about a mile down the Salmon River and the Rhododendron Inn in Rhododendron.  

Billy slowly converted the ranch to an outdoor vacation resort with a hotel and facilities for campers, hikers, hunters, anglers, and their families. Tent cabins were added when there were no longer enough rooms to meet the demand for lodging. Campers were arranged throughout the area around the hotel and along the Salmon River.   

Billy allowed people to camp along the Salmon River, with many of the people returning each year to the same camp spots. After a while Billy subdivided a portion of his property to allow those people to purchase their plot of land. Most of the people built small family cabins and the era of vacation cabins began.  

The first vacation cabin south of the Welches Hotel was put there by the Kaderly family. Mr. Kaderly arranged with Billy to move Uncle Sam’s original homestead cabin to a location about 300 feet south of Billy’s home. Except for the hand-hewn foundation and stringers, the whole cabin was constructed of all hand split cedar. In time more cabins were constructed by other families to the south of the hotel facing the meadow along the road toward the Walkley place.  

The stage to Mount Hood leaving Welches.

In about 1885 Sam sold 5 acres to Mr. and Mrs. John Roberts of Gresham. They built a cabin on the property. Their son Ed helped Billy in the Welches Store for several years. In 1903 Ed married Dora Owens and in 1910 they built their home on the original Roberts property. In 1913 Ed opened a small photo and candy shop that developed into Roberts Country Store. It was located not far south of the Welches Hotel. Ed died March 29, 1963, at the age of 84.  

In 1928, Mr. Ralph Waale leased the Welch pasture with an option to buy. They constructed a nine-hole golf course and operated it until 1939, when they relinquished it to the Welch’s. Billy and Jennie continued operation until 1942, when Billy Welch died. It went through several owners before it was sold to Mr. Eugene Bowman. 

CLICK HERE to read more about the development of the Mt Hood Golf Course, Rippling River and the Resort on The Mountain.

Mrs Pierce of Welches Killed a Bear With a Hoe
Mrs Pierce of Welches Killed a Bear With a Hoe – I have spent a lot of time talking with old timers and family

A Harley on the Columbia River Highway

Photos of a Harley on the Columbia River Highway

Here’s a series of photos from 1927, ten years after the opening of the Historic Highway, showing a young man and his Harley Davidson motorcycle. It must have been in the Winter as there seems to be snow and rock fall in the photos.

One of the photos clearly shows road signs with familiar destinations – Portland, Sandy, Bull Run, Gresham, Troutdale and the Columbia River Highway. The best part of the photo is the additional temporary sign that reads “Columbia River Highway Closed To Through Traffic” placed in on top of one of the road’s stone and concrete guard rails. The second one shows some stone rubble along a roadway which looks much like a winter day at unstable spots along the old road today.

Views of Portland Oregon and the Columbia River Gorge
20 Assorted Views of Portland Oregon. Here’s a great assortment of views of Portland Oregon and the