"Parker and Banfield Company built this 404-foot, 3-arch bridge across the Hood River in 1918. It cost $49,300.66. The destruction of this bridge prompted a movement to save the remaining segments of the historic Columbia River Highway."

Historic Hood River: HOOD RIVER FROM EAST SIDE, CIRCA 1920 (05-25-2011)

This image of Hood River from the east side loops of the Columbia River Highway comes to us courtesy of the Oregon Department of Transportation. It is a cropped detail from a hand painted glass lantern slide which was used to publicize the newly completed highway. Of course the beautiful 1920 bridge over the Hood River was the focus of the image, but there is so much else to look at.

We can see downtown Hood River in exceptional detail, though it's possible artistic license was exercised in the choice of colors. You can pick out many of the sites in previous Historic Hood River posts, such as the livery, the Mt. Hood Hotel, and the Union Building. Almost dead center is the industrial building in an earlier Mystery Monday photo.

Tomorrow I will be posting a matching image I took from the same location last October.

Historic Hood River: HOOD RIVER FROM EAST SIDE, 2010 (05-26-2011)

I took this photo on October 18, 2010 in an attempt to match the location and perspective of the beautiful ODOT lantern slide published yesterday. You can open both images in browser tabs to flicker back and forth between them. Our downtown has aged gracefully in the past ninety years. Many of the classic buildings are still present, and more modern additions blend in well. The newer bridge across the Hood River-- well, isn't it nice how well the trees are growing to obscure it? If you're having trouble comparing the bridge routes, the new bridge uses the same west landing, but its east landing is considerably higher in elevation and south of the 1920 bridge.

For those of you interested in the technical details: the modern image was taken slightly lower on the (now) Historic Columbia River Highway due to vegetation blocking the original photographer's spot. Since lens characteristics are not identical, there is some distortion as you move away from the center of the field. I did my best to match the downtown district, with the First National Bank Building and the Heilbronner Buildings on Third Street, location of the Doll Buggy Parade as the registration point.

Western Approach to Old Bridge

Eastern Approach to Old Bridge

CLICK HERE to continue exploring the highway