The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1915-10-21
UPPER VALLEY
MAKES PROGRESS
MANY NEW HOMES BEING BUILT
Citizens Of Thriving District Would Cap
itallze Scenic Assets Around Hoods
Base Rogers Active Booster
Continued from Last Week.

Continued from Last Week. /
The Upper Valley district has two
Mount Hood aud Parkdale.
The former was the center of the early
settlement of hOmesteadcTs. Within a
radius of two OF three miles of the spot
located for the early postotice ana
store building were the attractive areas
of natural meadow land. These were
easily cleared and all were quickly
taken more than 25 years ago. Here
was found the valleys French colony, |
me Dumas family and the Mex family.
Some of the thrifty Frenchmen sold
their holdings for orchard land several
wears ago and returned to their native |
country with snug fortunes. NJ. Du-
mas, who won fame in the community |
in the early days for the excellent |
wines from his Mount Hood vineyard, |
returned to Paris to enter the mercan- |
tile business.
Others of these Frenchmen who have
kept their land, have practiced unique
methods to obtain funds for its devel-
opment. Louis Mex and some of his
neighbors are fav0Tite walters in the
cafes Of Seattle. However, they spend
only the winter months on the Sound,
From the work OF . garcon. as soon as
early spring suuhslne comes, they turn
to that of ranchman, and the wages
and tins of a winters S work are spent
in purchasing supplies and hiring labor
for the spring ana summer farm de-
veopment These Frenehmen grow
excellent straw berries, and their fruit
is often shipped to the Seattle restau-
rants, where a few months before they
were walters.
While the larger of the two Upper
Valley villages. Parkdale, the terminus
of the Mount Hood Railway Company
line, is but five years old. The ranch
homes of the newcomers have sprung
up around 1t.
When the railway line, built primari-
Iy to haul the regions logs to the Ium-
Der mill of the Eccles interests, the
Oregon Lumber Co., at Dee, was con
structed to the point in 1910, the town
boasted of bnt two buildings, the
schooIhuuse and the storehouse of X. j.
McIsaac q Co. The two story com
biued station and hotel of the company
was soon completed, and in the five
years of its existence the village has
enjoyed steady growth. More than a
score of residences have sprung up. A
! ParkdaIe addition, which already has
three modern residences on it, has been
plated by j. f. Thompson. The
/ schooIhuuse is no longer that of the
day when the railway line was COM
uleted. Ii has been enlarged to accom-
modate the increased population OF
children. Two churches have been
built one a handsome structure for the
union services of Upper Valley Protest
ants and the other neat little Catho-
! lie chapel, where masse are said by a
| mission priest from Hood River.
And today the Upper Valley has 3
rural high school, one Of the few insti-
tutions of its kind in the state. The
school districts Of the Mount Hood and
Parkdale communities combined to
make possible this institution. Five
acres Of Wooded land have been pur-
chased, and a $1,000 building has been
| built.
One may ask what has been the in
centive to draw all these new people to
the Upper Hood River Valley. The
fame Of Hood River caused their quest
for land in this region, and the tower
ing peak of old Mount Hood was the
charm that kept them, when they
came. Ask any one of the members OF
the 90 families of former city residents
h of this community, one of the most
|! beautiful of Oregon, and he or she vii
! tell YOU that the mountain did 1t. he
| snowline of the mountain is not more
than 10 miles from ParkdaIe, and wheI
davs are clear the peak fairly looms
above every home in the district. Th'
oldest pioneer of the district neve
tires of watching the ever changing
shadows and the scintillatlng ice point
of pIacres on Hecd's side. Under Ger
tain atmospheric conditions the snow
fields of the montair fairly dazzle on,
looking at ttem from the Upper Val
lev. At other times, when gray mis-
hangs over the land the mountain
seems TO recede to a distance. IL
when the peak is Veiled in clouds. 1t !
lsaid, that the ranchers and orchards 0
tbis district are attacked by blues. N
saatter how severe may have beel
their attack of depression, however
Vhen the sunshine dissspates the mist
and the mountain looms above them
| cheer comes quickly again.
| While a large percentage Of the new
| er residents of the Upper Valley haV
possessed sufficient funds to deVelo
their places and have not been caues
WORRY over returns for interest money
for the most part they have not bee
prodgal in the expenditures. IN
places have been conducted on a payln
basis. and where orchards are in beal
ing they have Jared as well as grower
of any district. The Upper Valley al
ple, which because of the extreme alt
1 tude, is of an excellent keeping quality
Y has been given a boost in the reductlc
| in freight rates made by the Union II
i cifc lines and the Mount Hood RalIWa
| ca. Heretofore, il has cost the Upp'
Valley grower, whether he shipped q
rect or first shipped to Hood River al
/ then reloaded the cars. nearly $50 moi
| TO get carload of apples to poln
= east of the Mississippi river than Il
grover of the Lower Valley. The mo
II of the local charge has now been
II surbed, where shipments are rout'
H through over the two lines, and as U
Ill per Valley young orchards come 10
iii bearing Parkdale Will, 1t Is preulcte
Ill have its own apple storage and war
iii houses.
III Today, however, the Upper Vail
III residents are capitalzing their scene
Ill at greater figure than their orchard
HI 'The Mother of Streams, MOu
Ill Hood. not only because Of her source
Ill waters with which to irrigate the IL
W tile acres, but because of the spell S
HI casts over all who come to pay b
II homage, is considered the regior
iII chiefest asset.
HI Homer A. Rogers, Yale gradual
III who has spent five summers III the
iii pine regions, having climbed all OF
III principal peaks of the European mot
HI tains, tells the story w.l. Ms hog
HI who now operates Mount HoUu Lon,
Ill when asked why be located in thes
i'll per Valley said: