The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1921-06-09
ROAD BONDS
HAVE CARRIED
THE VOTE 1857 FOR, S9S AGAINST
Upper Valley Precincts are Unanimous
And Lower Town Electors Roll
Up Big Majority

Hood River county by votino bond
issue of $3.50, 900 at Tuesday'5 lection
forged the last link in thes nain of
events that will lead TO tn Mount
Hood Loop Highway encircli1 2 Mount
Hood. The local bond issue !, voted
on an invitation from the Stai y High
way Commission asking the (Ts lty to
join on $3.50 basis with the Z te in
constructing 2O.S mile trunk Z Id 10
the East Side of the Hood Ri :. val
ley. over Booth Hill and third . the
Upper Valley orchard section, -<3Aect-
ing the Columbia River Highway with
the Loop road at the bounds of the
national forest. The estimated cost of
the trunk. work on which will begin at
once, is S632, 600. Hood River made
available extra funds for the possible
cost of rights of ways, but orchardists
for the most part have already signi-
fled, their intention of donating rights
of way, and W. A. Langille, who has
been engaged by the county to canvass
growers whose places are traversed by
the survey. estimates that the total
cost of rights will not reach SIS, 900.
Hood River voters, who supported
the bond issue. considered the trunk
road from a market standpoint as well
as from the point of its Importance as
a tourist trunk route. The highway
had its greatest support in the two
Upper Valley precincts, the voters
realizing the benefits they would de-
rive from a trunk market route that
will enable them to reach Hood River
on five per cent grade. The new
trunk will eliminate tortuous grades of
the old road, which is fairly impass-
able in the winter months. Parkdale
precinct of the Upper Valley gave the
road bonds 235 TO 8 against, and vote
in Mt. Hood precinct was SO for and
only against. The opposition was
noted in districts remote from the
trunk road and from the 0dell section,
where voters expressed dsapproval
beause the survey passes a mile to the
east of the marketing center. Gen
eral rejoicing prevails in the Upper
Valley sections. The business popula-
tion of Hood River, too, recorded a
strong majority for the bonds.
While the opposition to the bonds.
casting aspersions at the honesty of
the State Highway Commission, con-
Quoted an organized last moment cam
paign against the bonds, the efforts of
were never as strongly
organized as in the road bond cam
paign of 1914, whfn the county voted
an issue for dpening impassable
of the Columbia River High
way. Several meetings were arranged
and held by j. II. Fredricy and an ac-
tive part for the bonds was taken by
5. Benson, ex-chairman of the State
Commission, who is now
making his home here. Mr.. Bensons
is recognized to have had
a strong influence on voters.
The vote on the bond Issue by pre-
cincts for and against respectively was
as follows: Baldwin, SO and A. Bar
rett, 81 and l07; Center, 80 and 49,
Dee, 20 and 81; Falls, q and 67; Park.
20 and 60; North lS0 and 46 Odell, SO
and 1T; Oak Grove, 80 and 63;
Heights, II and Az Parkdale. 235 and
8; Pine Grove, 1853 and 1903; Waucoma,
1913 and co. West, 35 and 35.
IL am exceedingly pleased with the
result of the election" declared Mr..
Benson yesterday. My observation of
Hood River valley folk leads me to say
that you can trust them to do the right
thing in the long run. Everybody ulti-
mately is going to be proud of the
action taken Tuesday,"
The Loop Highway was first brought
before the public in 1916. when, at the
instance of j. Q. lIannum, then county
a horseback trip over
the proposed route of the road was ar
ranged by I. ii. Sherrard, state forest
The following participated
in the ride: Mr.. Sherrard. Rufus Hol-
man, Leslie Butler, Mr.. and Mrs. w.
l.. Clark, Engineers Finch and Schuy-
Ter, of the United States Forestry Ser
vice, G. A. Bell, Mr.. Hannum, Mrs.
Anna K. Baker. Dee Worglett. Warren
Cooper and Ed Spencer. The party
the forests June 25, 1916 near
Mount Hood Lodge and spent the night
at Elk Meadows. Mr.. Sher-
rard had had trails slashed over por-
tions of the route and an elaborate
camp was provided. The snowfelds of
Mount Hood and snouts Of glaciers
were within easy access Of the party
much of the time they rode around
the east base Of the peak.
The stories Of high praise for the
mountain scenery, the
acres of wild flowers, including huge
expanses Of fragrant Mt. Hood lilies
and the wild grandeur found there
resulted in early agitation for the
Loop Highway. and the constantly in
creasing agitation resulted in the pro-
gram considered at Tuesdays election.
NEICUQ0RC M W000