Today, a trip from Portland to Government Camp takes about an hour. The road is paved, the grades are manageable, and the drive is routine. In 1903, it was anything but. The first car to Government Camp had a challenging trip.
The American Swiss Model Garden near Brightwood, Oregon, was once one of the more unusual roadside attractions along the Mount Hood Highway. Built in the early 1950s, it offered visitors a miniature alpine village set in the woods—complete with trains, gardens, and carefully arranged landscapes.
Prosser was described simply as a pioneer of Government Camp, a long-time Oregon resident, and a man who had climbed Mount Hood more than 50 times. But behind those few lines was a life that stretched from England to the forests of Oregon, and from the earliest days of the mountain to the beginnings of its transformation into a destination.
Every now and then, a piece of historical material surfaces that doesn’t need to be rewritten or interpreted—it simply needs to be preserved and shared. This list has no source but is only a clipping that was found in a scrap book.
By the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Mount Hood corridor had its own rhythm. Weekends weren’t quiet. They were loud, crowded, and alive with music. And more often than not, that music came from the Bo Cody Band.
