Historic Ephemera Archives - Page 2 of 2

Mt Hood from Lookout Mountain

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.

And what a great view of Mount Hood you’ll get.

Reliance Mt Hood Stages

Reliance Mt Hood Stages – First Autos to Mount Hood Reliance Mt Hood Stages – In the early days of the

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?

Billy’s Milk Shed – Welch’s Ranch Tokens

Billy’s Milk Shed and his Welch’s Ranch Tokens.

In the day and age of quick trips to the store for a gallon of milk as well as refrigeration to preserve the milk we sometimes forget that our ancestors didn’t have those conveniences.

Billy Welch was a resort proprietor. He ran the Welch’s Ranch in a way as to include most supplies that the visitors, hotel guests, cabin dwellers as well as campers might need during their stay. He had a dance hall, restaurant, post office, was a notary public and operated a store, much like convenience stores of today, that had everything from candy for the kids to food for meals as well as other items of necessity.

In its early stages Billy’s store had no refrigeration. In lieu of coolers or or ice chests he had a cold shed down at the Salmon River where he had diverted the cold water from the river through the shed. It kept the shed chilled and things such as jars of milk could be preserved by sitting in the cold water bath.

To purchase your milk you would buy aluminum tokens at the store and then, as you needed milk, you would go to the cold shed and drop your token in the can and take your jar of cold milk. Billy had two denominations. One pint and one quart. On one side it read WELCH’S RANCH. On the other it read GOOD FOR 1 PINT or GOOD FOR 1 QUART.

Today these Welch’s Ranch Tokens are quite scarce.

American – Swiss Model Garden at Brightwood, Oregon

At one time there was the American – Swiss Model Garden Brightwood, Oregon.

This is only one of many small businesses and tourist themed stopping spots along the highway to Mount Hood in the 1940-1960’s. This is an old flyer advertising the American – Swiss Model Garden at Brightwood, Oregon.

If anyone reading this can positively identify the location of this place I will revise this article and add that information. Thank you.

“Open from Dawn to Dusk. Open early April until the end of October. Bring you camera along.

Nowhere is there anything like it and this is certainly true for the American – Swiss Model Garden. It is a lovely combination of a lovely rock and flower garden, featuring small water-pools, rustic looking bridges, miniature waterfalls, as well as miniature Alpine houses and castles. Through the greater part of the garden a miniature railroad is running, fascinating young and old. Three trains (freight, passenger, and express), all Swiss styled, alternate in running through the garden. A picturesque alpine village, miniature size, containing the railroad station, church, castle and a number of Swiss Alpine houses, amazes all visitors.

Flower lovers also will be thrilled by the variety of the many flower beds, just to mention the American and Swiss flags done in flowers. Beautiful hanging baskets add much to the beauty and atmosphere of this garden. Edelweiss and Alpenrosen are among the outstanding rock plants. Of special interest is the rose garden section, containing rose bushes, climbing roses, tree roses, and miniature roses.

The garden is placed in a natural setting and its atmosphere is very informal and relaxing. As you admire and enjoy it, music, mostly Swiss Alpine (accordian (sic) and yodeling), will accompany you.

A truly beautiful garden… a place worthwhile to visit.”

It’s certainly a shame that we no longer have such a simple culture to support such businesses as the American – Swiss Model Garden Brightwood, Oregon.

To Mount Hood – Through Oregon’s Lolo Pass Road

Ford Times August 1958 – To Mount Hood Through Oregon’s Lolo Pass

Here’s a great story from 1958 about driving through Oregon’s Lolo Pass Road back when it first opened. It tells about how, after it was determined that the area was not a part of the Bull Run Lake watershed, the road was built in 1955 opened to the public from Spring until Fall for fantastic views of Mount Hood’s west side.

Lolo Pass, Mt Hood Oregon – AllTrips

Rugged, scenic Lolo Pass crosses visitors over Oregon’s Cascade Mountain Range near breathtaking Mt. Hood on a route once traversed by Oregon Trail …

Climbing Mt. Hood “Back in the day”

Climbing Mt. Hood “Back in the day” – Today I thought that I would post a great story about a typical climb from the 1930’s. I’ve been lucky to have been able to meet many historic figures, or their relatives since I started to pursue my interest in learning the history of Mt. Hood.

This story was forwarded to me through a conversation that I had with Anne Trussell (Harlow) from Sacramento, Ca. Anne is James Harlow’s daughter.

I hope that you enjoy this story.

Gary =0)

James Harlow’s journal entry and photos.
Saturday and Sunday, September 19-20, 1931
James Harlow, Curtis Ijames, Cecil Morris, Everett Darr, Dr. Bowles and Ole Lien

Ole came for awhile at noon, and we made definite plans for the climb up Mt. Hood over this weekend. Then I packed up and went over to Ole’s where we were to meet the fellows from Camas with whom we were going up. They were due at 7:30 but didn’t show up by 9:00 so we made arrangements to go up with Everett Darr and two of his friends. They came by after us by 10:30 and we started by 11:00 PM. Ole and I rode in the rumble seat. Everett’s two friends were Cecil Morris and a fellow named Bowles, a doctor. The car, a Chevrolet Coupe, belonged to Cecil Morris. We were at Government Camp by 12:45 AM Sunday. We didn’t stop at the hotel as Raffertys had gone to bed.

It was very foggy from Laurel Hill to Timberline but was mostly clear at Timberline with a 38-degree temperature. The mountain showed up white with a fresh coat of snow. We started on the climb about 3:00 AM with a fellow from Portland, Curtis Ijames by name, making a party of six.

We ran into snow a half mile above Timberline, and put on crampons half way to Triangle Moraine. The snow was well frozen and we hardly sunk in. There was a very heavy west wind and clouds were rapidly blowing across the mountian. The summit was obscured by the first streak of dawn. On Triangle Moraine there was probably an average of fourteen inches of snow piled into drifts, sometimes four or five feet deep. When the sun came up, we saw some beautiful cloud effects, the most wonderful colors I have ever seen.

When we got to Packs Rocks, we were in the fog and the wind tried its best to blow us off into White River Glacier. Upon reaching the first hot rocks, the wind was so hard we could barely move. At times, we just lay down in the snow and anchored ourselves with our ice axes. It wasn’t bad going up on the Crater Rocks drift until we got on the top of it. Then the wind was so bad it took us ten minutes to go 100 feet. The snow was soft, making the going hard. It was foggy most of the time and ice froze on our clothes. It took us quite a while to go the last 1000 feet because of soft snow.

It cleared up before we got to the top of the Summit Ridge. We looked down on a sea of clouds below 8,000 or 9,000 feet on the south and west and scattered clouds on the north and east. Fleecy strings of fog were blowing across the summit with tremendous velocity. And the gusty wind was so strong as to be dangerous. The rocks were ice-covered and the going was very treacherous. The last 200 feet over to the cabin was terrible.

We finally got to the cabin and went in, as the door was unlocked. It was very cold and the fire we lit in the kerosene stove did little to warm things up. We had arrived at the cabin about 11:30, and stayed about an hour. The shack swayed, creaked, and groaned crazily in that wind. The noise was terrific. Leaving about 12:30, we got down the chute okay but got lost in the fog below Triangle Moraine. The snow had softened and made the going very tiresome in the three and four foot drifts.

We finally got on the right path and got down to Timberline by 4:00 PM. Everett, trying to crank Cecil’s car, which started hard, punctured the radiator. We got it started down the road and he could coast nearly all the way to Rhododendron. Ole and I rode into Portland with Curtis Ijames in his Model T Ford delivery. We stopped at Government Camp and got a bite to eat at Rafferty’s so home by 7:30 PM, thus ending a great trip.