The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1918-03-07
TWENTY YEARS IN
M0SIER, 1S93-l9l3

currenceS as / remember them, 1 shall
attempt 10 give them In ten year
periods thus telling them IN two let
ters. No doubt | VIII overlook many
things of more or less Importance
known o. Others but which | had no
opportunity of knowing Ur perhaps
may have forgotten.
Landing in Mosier july 18th. lSy3.
as a humble empioye Of the o. r. a
y. Co., beheld the then town -
Mosier. called hT most of the peop q
from the surrounding country the
"Station
As 10 buildings the town consisted
of the railroad depot, section houses,
tiv main part Of the store building
now owned by E. NJ Strauss. which at
thabtime faced north, oemall building
vhirh had been used Jas store OPP
posite the depot on the railroad loading
track and known as the Lynch store.
a small residence located about where
the MosieEo Fruit Growers Association
warehouse row stands, the Mosier res
idence, and hidden away among the
trees TO the west the residence Of
Ihos Harlan. Quoudam editor of many
papers and 0ne-time colleague of
AnraR1m lincoln
A tOwnsite had been surveyed and
MAPPED before my advent, | believe
in 30 or 1892, and al least one con
tract negotiated for sale of lots. On
such contract, a Mr.. Holmes erected
the Strauss store building. For reasons
not necesAgy to mention here, this
was moved Oh, TO railroad property in
1899 and again rack to about its first
location when the present toWnSlte
va dedicated in 1904 Mr.. Holmes
soon after the completion Of his build
ing and laying In light stock, was
succeeded by Flaherty & Coo the
members Of the firm being Jas.
, Elaherty and r. A. Power, Mr.. Power
taking over the business late in ls93
/ or possibly the following spring. Mr..
Power was from Texas and while of
a gep.rous disposition especially u
those in needDof assistance, was quick
} to resent an insult rejecting on bis
honor or integrity or an attempt Il
/ take advantage of his generosity by
deadbeating their store bills. Being
somewhat on the FitZsimmons moGeE
/ be usually attempted to settle such
differences 10y swing Of his good
right and gained the title of Fight.
/ ing Dick Mo Power was succeeded
/ in April, 1896 bT the writer. In the
later months of this wear Mrs Mosier,
/ Sr, and her son, joS j. lewis, built
a st0ge building Hshr the present site
Of thp residence of Mr.. Strauss anC
stocked it, placing in charge j. j.
/ Lynch This building rs now the /
and IL Garage.
The plat of town Of 1891 or 1892 hav.
ing never been recorded, lapsed anc
except the little Improvement as noteC
ahort. the place remained much the
safcD except for about one year, 1900
when the O. K. q n. Strengthened
their track, reducing and eliminating
curves from east of Hood River tC
Tunnel No. 3. The contractors foi
this work. making Mosier heBdquar
ters,o employed 900 men and erected
a large commissary and office buidiGl
ond another building, now owned by
/ {. g. Grahap. two other saloon build
ings were erected and thus Mosiel
passed from a strictly dry" town tt
an extremely wet One, for periC,
of about . months. al time checks
be 1e payable only after endorsement
at tie headquarters office by the heaC
/ bookkeeper and paymaster, thes,
checsS were shaved from to 10 pei
cent except when the emplove wa.
known to be gocJ customer Of The
/ saloon, when the discount was waiveC
I and # he left there with enough none,
Us carry him to another Job he was al
exception. 1t gould be j safe wager
that the employees left n per cent O
their earnings in the three saloons dur
ing the period covering this work.
Il During this ten year period Mosie
=. was Ike unto ancient cities In that il
was a walled tor ferced) town, with
gate on the east and a gate on rh
west The Dalles and Sandy wagol
road was abult on the present location
Of Third avenue 3om in front of tn,
Mosler residence to somewhere nea
the Bulletin office, from thence mean
derl9p through the brush and tree
down to somewhere near the pDsen
road east of Mrs. Harlan S residence
Following along this road and to tht
nortp of it was a rail tence. entirel,
fencing in the depot afA any othe
business in the then town, the nnr
ineress or egress being through th
tWoofates which, for some reasoI
known only TO the Almighty and th
owners of the gates, were kept locke
/ much Of the oime
lAring much Of this ten year perio
business was good fully believ
i equal in &lume to the business don
7 by the Business houses at this time
1G9s you would, naturally, hardly be
| liey8 Where did 10 come from Ev
| cry available l10 acres had either
| family or a bachelor homesteader o
| it, as far back as there has been or
nov any settlement. Some Of thes
| people had means enough to renal
| continuously on their claims. Thos
lNho had not the means to do so live
and worked them part Of the time an
earned the 'wherewith' at mills dow
the river or other places. All of ther
spent their dollars in Mosier.
| The money that vas sent out to ma
| order houses q spent in other town
was negligible. Nosier people in thos
days We're truly Loyal to business a
the Station " Mony Of these home
steaders in clearing land, worked u
The timber into A foot wood, haulin
| it into the "Station" when not other
| wise employed and, as the timber o
some Of these claims were within 3 t
! miles it did not cost so much to Ian
| it. The price for wood at that tim
| ragelv exceeded 81 per cord. but on
| cord at that price would buy sack
| of flour You can answer how man
h sacks Of flour one cord at ST now buy,
| Alex Stewart,
| Portland, Ore