Six Horse Mt Hood Area Sightseeing Carriage Photo

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
Six-horse sight-seeing carriage in Mount Hood area in 1893
Oregon Trail – Wikipedia
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

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.

A signature of William “Billy” Welch from 1902

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
William Welch Epitaph Salmon Or 1902 -A signature of William Welch from 1902