The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1904-12-29
TO UTILIZE POWER
PHELPS CREEK FALL

That Robert Rand is rustler is known
to all old timers in Hood River, and
that he makes a success OF whatever he
undertakes; but when Mr.. Rand bought
the property known as Wau-Guin-Guin,
from F. NJ. Amen and announced that
be would install a summer resort there
on, many of his intimates and others
not so intimate were inclined to give
him the "horse laugh" And when he
bought "Springdale" from J.W. Morton
they opened their eyes and exclaimed ::
"Well, what next! Is Uncle Bob going
to establish national park ouj at Frank
ton?"
When Mr. Rand made these purchas-
es, however, he had an eye open to
beauty as well as utility, and has been
constantly developing his well laid plans
until by the time the coming season
opens up he will have arranged the
the wild, tangled scrub oak corner lying
west of his new, splendidly equipped
hotel, into a most beautiful little park in
it is tiny lake in which are hundreds OF
trout that may be seen playing about in
the clear water. About the pond reach
ing out through the wooded parks are
paths leading in all directions to shady
hooks, bold, rugged, rocky points from
which one may look down hundreds OF
feet to the tops of the trees which line
bank of the Columbia. Up and down
this famous stream far as the eye can
reach may be viewed from a hundred
points at Wau-Guin-Guin beautiful
scenes of of mountain, valley and stream
each new view point bringing out other
beauties not beheld before. There are
in the park also rustic seats, fountains,
rockeries, mounds, huge moss-covered
boulders, in fact, everything calculated
to rest the eye and quiet the nerves of
the invalid, or recuperate the lag
ing mental forces of the victim of
'frenzied finance"
For such little Eden not the least in
importance is the water supply, Here
is where Mr. Rand displayed most eX-
celIent judgment in the purchase Of
"Springdale." On this splendid prop
erty Isl located an immense spring OF
the purest and coolest of water. This
spring, Mr. Rand has walled up with
concrete work and covered with neat
little house; which he keeps locked thus
keeping out all impurities from the
water, and has piped the water to his
hotel and has an abundance OF water for
both the hotel and for irrigating the
farming land belonging to the two
places This farming land Mr.. Rand
has leased to J. l.. Gordon for term Of
five years.
Mr.. Rand has given Alfred Boorman
and Warren Miller the contract of grub
bing and ditching the southern part OF
Springdale and they are doing excellent
work, and when their contract is COM
pleted will enable Mr.. Rand to put in
cultivation several acres of the best land
he possesses; it is just such land as has
made Beaverton, Oregon, and that sec
tion famous for its onions and MIR. Cor
don will be sure to strike it rich II he
plants the reclaimed land 10 onions
Returning to the hotel and watching
the water pouring over the cliff the
Glacier man began to wonder how many
horse power Of energy were wasting
their sweetness on the desert air" A
little figuring and a conservative esti-
mate of the amount Of water going over
the falls showed over 1000 horse power
going to waste, and to the printers re-
mark that it was too bad that some of
this energy could not be utilized by
some manufacturer, Mr.. Rand replied :
1T probably will be in the near future,
as | now have under consideration a
proposition from mill man OF Boise,
Ida, looking to the erection of Touring
mill below the falls for milling wheat in
transit. Another gentleman was here
few days ago and made estimates and
looked the ground over for a suitable
place to put in an electric light and
power plant. He thought it an ideal
place for plant Of this kind and will
probably take advantage of it. The fact
is" continued Mr.. Rand, "there is pow
er and room enough below the falls tor
several such establishments and some
wideawake man is going to snap it up
at no distant date" The old "print'
thought so too as he chased himself
along toward Hood River, and mar
yelled at the short sightedness of some
men which permitted them unconscious
ly to walk day after day over a fortune
Just begging them to stop and pick it up,
and still more at the "long-sightedness'
of other men which enables them to
squeeze the shining ducats abundantly
out of the most barren proposition. And
he is still maryeling.