The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1913-06-05
WASHINGTON SCENERY
LURES LOCAL FOLK

Each summer the communities ol
northwestern Kliekitat county become
more and more attractive and more ano
more the goals of Hood River valley
motorist. seeking outings in spots made
deligbtful because of their scenic beau
ties. Many local orchardists and busl'
ness men having been lead to the Cam
as Prairie country and the Trout Lake
valley at the south base Of Mount
Adams have purchased hay and STOCK
ranches in the districts.
/ One of the fsvorlte routes OF the
automobile owner is to take the road to
| Glenyood. On this highway, one is
enabled to see the huge fir, thirty-nlne
feet in circumference, that towers
above its fellows about a mile south oil
Gilmer valley. However, before pass
ing Husnm, where the road to Trout
Lake turns to the left and leads up the
west side of the White Salmon river,
the autoist has a wonderful view OF
the Hood River valley to the south and
tbe Underwood orchard district of to
the west. For several miles out OF
the city of White Salmon the road
leads through the most beautiful OF the
orchards in that district and the many
tracts Of Strawberries, where at this
season of the year hundreds OF plckers
are engaged.
The Gilmer valley corresponds in a
way. although it is smaller and less
watered, to the Middle Valley of the
Hood River disrtict. Here the Mount
Adams Orchard Co. has already plant
ed a tract of several hundred acres
to apples, The earlier residents devot-
ed their energies, as did those in the
Middle Valley, to the raising of hay
and stock. Leaving Gilmer the car
threads through dense fir forest and
rises to the summit of the divide of
the watersheds of the White Salmon
and KIickitat rivers. Then the descent
into the Camas Prairie country is be-
gun. After one has become accustomed
to the rolling lands of the Hood River
valley and its rugged border of noun
tain ranges and after journey through
the mountains and forests he is amazed
at the great tract of level land that
spreads out beneath him, when the
Camas valley is first sighted. Hood
River people have been going into the
Camas Prairie from Hood River for
the past two years until at present a
large acreage of the fertile soil that
once formed the bottom of C0nboy
Lake is owned by local people. B. E
Duncan, of this city, was one of the
first of the Hood River men to become
attracted to the new region. He saw
the possibilities of reclaiming the great
area of land that formerly remained
under water a great part of the year
and he urged the hasty completion of
the Camas Prairie drainage system.
which has now been completed, its
main canal extending across the prairie
and lateras reaching off to gather up
the waters of the four creeks that for
merly spread over the entire area.
Formerly the ranchers there were
able to harvest only one crop of wild
grass hay each year. Now they can
cultivate the fields and plant grain or
lay crops which produce bOuntifully.
The wild hay lacked nutriment. 1t
grew so fast in the wet soil that stock
'ailed to fatten on it. Now, however,
be grain and hay raised lack none of
he qualities that go toward producing
excellent beef and butter fat.
Since the canals of the drainage sys-
em were cut the country has shown
marked improvement. New houses
lave been built and new tracts put un-
Ter the plow. A number Of years ago
| cheese factory was in operation in
e valley. However, it soon went out
4 commission because of the price
'ffered for the rich cream by Portland
ealers. Carriers called each day for
he cream and transported it by wagon
o White Salmon. Last year the price
# cream had dropped to such an ex-
ent that the ranchers decided to in
tall cooperative creamery. The val
ey has more than 400 cows and the
.reamery is now tlourishing institu-
ion. The Portland dealers have felt
he need of the cream and are again
,iferng inducements in an effort to Sc
,ure some of the rich product. How
aver, the ranchers do not care to pass
through the same experience resulting
from the closing of the cheese factory,
and have decided to stick by their
creamery.
The Camas valley, as is the Trout
Lake valley, is land of little houses
and big barns. The ranchers store huge
quantities of hay each winter, and the
hay m0ws are very large.
No stranger is ever allowed to leave
the Camas district, or for that matter
the Trout Lake valley, without hearing
the plea of the residents for a railroad.
A branch line leading out from White
Salmon to the district has long been
However, the construction
work, because of the steep range of
hills that must be crossed, would make
the task expensive. 1t is thought by
many that not many years will pass
before a branch of one of the main
lines of the transcontinental systems
will be extended down from the Yaki-
ma valley.
The motorist to the Camas country
should never fail to travel to the brink
of the Klickitat gorge about seven and
half miles northeast of Glenwood
Here the waters of the turbulent noun.
tain stream have cut a chasm almost
thousand feet deep. In places the
canyons sides are almost perpendicu-
lar. On every hand they are very pre-.
cipitous. The klickitat forks at the
bottom of this wild gorge and the two
branches of the cleft extend off in diff.
erent directions through the forest
land. The top of the promontorv in
the fork of the "Y" is Jagged and
sharp, like saw teeth, for long dis.
tance. A short distance back from
the confluence of the streams a giant
hole pierces the promontoTy, reminding
one of window that might have been
cut by nature for a Titan monster of
prehistoric days.
The road, leading over new route
from Glenwood to Trout Lake is lit.
tie more than l6 miles IN length. II
has been carefully surveyed and in M
place does the grade exceed ten per
cent. The stranger is filled with nd.
miration for this wonderful little val.
ley set like a yeritable fairvland he.
tween the ranges of hills at his feet as
he begins to drop down from the sum.
NIT and as the car, if he is in an auto.
mobile, and begins TO wind around the
graceful curves of the rOaA NJ, -