300 East Port Marina Drive
Hood River County History Museum on June 10, 2009
The Hood River County History Museum originated with the Pioneer Society, which started collecting artifacts in 1907. It led to the incorporation of the Hood River County Historical Society in 1949. The current museum building opened in 1978 and had approximately 11,000 artifacts. Below are the largest artifacts, which are displayed outside.
Steam Engine on June 10, 2009
This steam engine powered an early river boat on the Columbia River east of the Cascade Mountains in the 1850s. During the 1856 Indian Uprising it is believed to have powered the river boat Mary when she brought settlers from Cascade Locks. The engine later powered the first flour mill at The Dalles, Oregon. Later it was purchased by the Oregon Lumber Company and was used at their sawmill near La Grande. In 1959, Anton Lausman, its last owner, presented it to the Hood River County Historical Museum.
Crapper School Bell on June 10, 2009
In 1893, Dorsey Crapper donated the land for Hood River's first school, and the school was named after him. In 1893, the school had 16 students taught by a single teacher, Miss Graham. This bell was made by American Bell Foundry and was placed in the bell tower at Crapper School.
Historical View of the Crapper School
(HRCHM)
By about 1910, there were too many students for the school and it was torn down to make way for the Oak Grove School. The bell was saved and installed in the new school, where it remained in use until the school closed in 1968. The following year, Hood River County took ownership of the grounds and Oak Grove Park opened in 1974. The Oak Grove Schoolhouse survives today as a private residence and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. This bell was donated to the Hood River County Historical Museum by descendants of the Crapper family in 1980.
Paddle Wheel from the Henderson on June 10, 2009
When the Cascade Locks were completed in 1896, steam-powered paddlewheelers became the primary form of transportation in the Columbia River Gorge, able to carry passenger as well as cargo like timber and produce between The Dalles and Portland in about six hours on a good day.
The Henderson
(HRCHM)
The M.F. Henderson was a 160-foot sternwheeler built in 1901 by the Shaver Transportation Company as a freighter and tow boat. During a 1911 overhaul, the name as changes to simply Henderson. The Henderson enjoyed a long career on the Columbia River pulling and pushing log rafts and grain barges and escorting ships to their docks. By 1950, Henderson was one of only two wood-hulled sternwheelers still working on the river.
The Henderson racing the Portland in 1952
(Columbia River Maritime Museum)
In 1952, the Henderson was used in the filming of the Jimmy Stewart film Bend of the River, carrying the name River Queen, and that same year participated in the last sternwheeler race on the Columbia River, against the Port of Portland's new steel-hulled Portland. After falling behind early due to a loss of steam, the Henderson's crew quickly built the pressure back up until the paddlewheel approached 30 revolutions per minute, and the Henderson, carrying Jimmy Stewart and other cast members of the film who came along to cheer, came from behind to win the 3.6-mile race. In December 1956, the Henderson was towing a steel-hulled grain ship upriver from the mouth of the Columbia towards Portland when heavy winds and waves repeatedly smashed the Henderson's wooden hull against the more substantive tow and the crew was forced to beach the Henderson near Columbia City. The Henderson was declared a "constructive total loss" and was abandoned on the beach until 1964 when it was burned to recover scrap metal, but not before Hood River orchardist and boat builder John Hounsell obtained permission to remove the paddlewheel, which he brought to the museum and restored in 1977.
Aviation Beacon on June 10, 2009
The 30 mile section of the Columbia River Gorge between Hood River and Beacon Rock was one of the worst sections of the transcontinental airway for navigation. This aviation beacon originally stood on Anderson Point 16 miles west of here, one of nineteen low-level (250 feet above the river) beacons installed in 1931 by the Federal Aeronautics Administration and its predecessor the Airmail Division of the Post Office Department to guide airmail pilots through this section of the Columbia River Gorge. This is believed to be the only survivor of the nineteen beacons. It was purchased, flown to Hood River by helicopter and donated to the Hood River County Museum by Betty Jean and John Hounsell in July of 1982.
Morning Monument on June 10, 2009
On this monument is a poem called Morning, written by Shizue Iwatsuki, a Japanese woman who settled in Hood River with her husband in 1916. It was read at the annual poetry reading ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan in January, 1974. The poem reads:
In the light of the morning sun
on the Columbia River
a wheat-laden tugboat is sailing.
Look! A Japanese ship is anchored.
Columbia Gorge Sailpark Pedestrian Bridge on June 10, 2009
Connecting to the museum grounds is the Columbia Gorge Sailpark Pedestrian Bridge. It was designed by Haner Ross & Sporseen Engineers and built by Custom Aluminum & Ironworks for the Port of Hood River in 1985.
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