At the very peak of Mount Hood once stood a fire lookout cabin — perched above the clouds and held together by grit, timber, and the legendary efforts of Elijah “Lige” Coalman. But in the summer of 1932, Summit the cat on Mount Hood became part of that story
In the 1920s and ’30s, tourists came to Mount Hood for snow, scenery, and rustic lodging. But for a short time, they also came to see the Government Camp bears.
Just east of Portland, along the winding curves of Highway 26, sits Rhododendron, Oregon—a place not quite a town, but more than a roadside stop. Nestled in the folds of the Mount Hood National Forest, it’s a patchwork of tall trees, weathered cabins, and the kind of tight-knit community where everyone knows your dog’s name.
In 2009, I sat down for an interview with Bob Gambell at the Brightwood Tavern. Bob was a longtime resident of our mountain community, and he had lived a full, eventful life. In this interview with Bob Gambell we talked about the businesses he bought and sold, the changes he’d seen in Brightwood, and his late wife Lenna, who had passed away just a few years earlier.
In the summer of 1911, the Friel case in Cherryville Oregon became one of the most disturbing stories ever told from the Mount Hood foothills. A suspicious death, a hurried marriage, a missing medicine bottle, and an armed grave watch pushed a grieving family to the brink of collapse.
