HOOD KIVER-WHITE SALMON KIVER AREA. 9 



their resistance was confined largely to the harassing of lonely set- 

 tlers and prospectors in the more distant parts of the mountains. 



Agents of the Hudson Bay Co. explored the Northwest early in the 

 nineteenth century, but it was mainly through the expeditions of 

 Smith (1828), Lewis and Clark (1804-5), the Hunt (Astor) party 

 (1810-12), and Fremont (1843-44) that definite knowledge of this 

 part of the country was obtained. Settlement began in this area 

 late in the sixties, when a small village sprung up at the mouth of the 

 Hood River and became a stopping place for travelers on their way 

 to the coast. Wlien the Columbia was used for water transportation 

 this town became one of the regular stopping places for the steamers. 

 With the building of the railroad along the south bank of the Columbia 

 River, rai)id transportation became available, and the agricultural 

 development of the valley, which had been slow and irregular, pro- 

 gressed rapidly, the type of agriculture changing from the production 

 of hay and the grazing of cattle to the production of fruit. 



On the Washington side of the river settlement has been much 

 slower. Water transportation has been available for many years, 

 but the desire of the larger number of people to be near the railroad 

 has retarded the development of that section. In 1908 the Spokane, 

 Portland & Seattle Railway was constructed along the north bank 

 of the Columbia River, and railway connection with the commercial 

 centers of the Northwest is now available for that jjart of the area. 



The town of Hood River is the county seat of Hood River County, 

 and the principal business center of this part of the State. This town 

 has a population of 2,331, according to the census of 1910. Most of 

 the fruit-packing houses of the valley are located at Hood River, since 

 practically all of the fruit is shippetl by railroad from this point. 

 Hydroelectric plants furnish electricity for lighting and power pur- 

 poses, and the domestic water supply of the city is derived from a 

 number of springs in the Cascade Range. The main line of the Ore- 

 gon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Co. connects the town with 

 the eastern and western business centers, and a local line, the Mount 

 Hood Railroad, owned by a lumber company, traverses the Hood 

 River Valley, connecting Hood River with the town of Parkdale, 

 a small settlement in the upper valley. Van Horn, Lentz, Odell, 

 Summit, Bloucher, Winans, Dee, Trout Creek, and Woodworth are 

 intermediate stations along this line. Oak Grove, Fir, and Mount 

 Hood are crossroad stores. Ruthton, a station in the western part 

 of the area on the Oregon- Washington Railroad & Navigation Co.'s 

 line, is the site of an important lumber mill, which receives the lumber 

 from the nearby mountains. 



The towTi of White Salmon, ^vdth a population of 682, is the 

 principal commercial center of the White Salmon River Valley 

 section of the survey. This town is located on a sloping bench sev- 

 96828°— 14 2 



