The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1904-12-08
THAT AWFUL DUST
ON TRIP TO HOOD

i
A writer in the Brooklyn Eagle has
the following to say of Hood River
apples and Hood River dust:
1t is not as much fCn to raise straw
berries as it is to eat them, but it is
more profitable at Hood River. Last
year 10000 24-pound crates which
brought the growers $l50,000 were
shipped from Hood River. As much as
500 TO $500 is often realized from an
acre Of berries, though 5000 is the more
usual sum, of which at least two-thirds
is net profit. Knowing this 1t is not
surprising to hear that good strawberry
lands sell here for $500 an acre; but it
does rather make one open his eyes to
learn that apple lands with bearing
trees are held at $1,000 an acre,
For Mount Hoods banner crop is not
Strawberries but apples. The most
wonderful tales are told here Of Mount
Hood apples, and believed by everyone
who has ever seen the orchards and the
apples they bear. The orchards are
young, but they yield $500 10 $500 worth
Of large, bright, wormless apples Of fine
favor, TO the acre. II is of record that
one man sold $500 worth Of apples
from eight acres one season, and anoth-
er Sll2l worth from three acres.
The arid west is the best adapted to
fruit growing OF any country known.
Theie are no off years, for irrigated
orchards bear full crops every year.
What full crop is, only those who have
seen the trees weighted down with
incredible quantities Of fruit can under
stand. Apples, peaches, pears, plums,
grapes and small fruits all thrive and
produce fruit superior in size, flavor
and appearance to anything grown east
Of the Mississippi.
There is one greatplague which afflicts
all the arid west and that is dust. Some
places are more dusty than others, but
no one ever heard of place that was
less dusty. But Of all the dusty roads
upon, the one up Mount Hood is the
worst. The soil on Mount Hood is of
volcanic ASH which may be good to
raise strawberries upon, but it is
mighty poor stuff to breathe. 1t is
worse than any other dust ever invent
ed, for it is ground finer, is lighter,
more penetrating and more irritating
1t is worse than irritating, it is madden
ing. Every step of the way the dust is
from four to six inches deep. The
horses seem to take delight in dragging
their feet 80 as to stir it up as much as
possible. Whenever they get good
chance they plant their hoofs squarely
upon an unusually impalpable heap,
sending great umbrella-like rings of the
stuff circling up their legs and back into
your eyes. The stage is constantly
enveloped in a great gray cloud in which
you cough and choke and sneeze and
gasp and darn the luck to thunder. You
try TO fan a little hole in the cloud
so you can get at least part Of breath;
but fai ling in this YOU try holding your
breath until you have to let go or stop
breathing for keeps. Then you find you
have made things worse, for after hold
ing the breath one involuntarily inhaIes
more deeply than usual for several
respirations. This sends the dust into
the remote recesses of your lungs that
have hitherto escaped the general
asphyxiation and the result is a parox-
ysm of sneeZing that nearly brings on
apoplexy. At rare intervals puff OF
air will roll the dust few inches away
from your eide of the stage. You open
your lips to snatch quick breath of
relatively pure air before the clouds roll
back and the hind wheel flirts a pint or
so of the heavier dirt into your mouth.
Even If you can contrive to get breath
occasionally, it is jolted out of you
before you have q chance to enjoy its
possession. For you advance by climb
ing up on a rock and falling off on the
other side and then repeating the proc
ess ad infnitum.
This sort OF travel is considered too
severe for the horses, so they are
changed half way up the mountain.
But no mercy is shown the passengers;
they are not even given chloroform.
In the innocence Of your heart you
may have imagined you would get some
grand views in going up this mountain
At the rare intervals when the dust
cloud is lifted for an instant by wan
dering zephyr you get an enhancing
vista OF chaparral and chinquapin bushes
for several inches on either side of the
road and that is absolutely adj. For
the road is single track cut through
underbrush so thick that chipmunk
couldn't get through it. This concen-
trates the dust within a narrow space so
the passengers can breathe it all without
waste.
After eight hours Of mortal agony you
may expect to hear relief party from
Cloud Cap Inn, Guides meet the stage
below the inn, lift the helpless passen-
gers out and shovel them off.