1900 — 120 years ago Great Britain is buying large numbers of horses in eastern Oregon for use in the war against the Boers. The strawberry yield in Hood River Valley is not as good as in former years; some think it is the recent frost, others think that the Clark seedling is running out. Local prices remain at $2 a crate. Hood River city council reduces saloon license fee to $600 a year from $1,000.
1910 — 110 years ago The raise in telephone rates announced by the Home Company June 1 is meeting with strong protest from Hood River businessmen and also private users of phones. A raise in the rate has been anticipated, but it is stated by many subscribers that it was not thought that it would be as sweeping as announced. It is pointed out that while the number of phones has doubled, there has been but little increase in the number of lines and that therefore the company is getting the benefit of a large additional income without a corresponding additional expense.
1920 — 100 years ago In order to meet the requirements of their growing business, Duckwall Bros. are going to build an addition to their warehouse at Odell. The addition will cover an area of 36x50 and will be of hollow tile, with loading porch and office. When the warehouse is competed the company will be able to handle 20 additional carloads. Prices paid by the company last season were as follows: Jonathans, $1.80; Ortleys, $1.88; Spitzenbergs, $2. Deduct 15 cents for net to growers; average all sizes and grades.
1930 — 90 years ago Plans were completed last week for the big service station and storage to be built on the corner of First and Oak street, Hood River, as soon as the land is vacated by Yasui Brothers, to whose order a three-storied concrete building is now being erected by Contractor Krieg, at the east end of the tract.
1940 — 80 years ago A rainstorm, as short and sudden as it was, throughly drenched all sections of Hood River Valley on Thursday afternoon of last week and was the nearest thing to a cloudburst that this area has known in many years. The rain was accompanied by vivid lightning and rolling thunder. Some idea of the intensity of the rain may be gleaned from the record at Hood River Experiment station, where a quarter inch of rain fell in 10 minutes, which was the duration of the storm in the east Barrett section.
1950 — 70 years ago For the first time since 1941, a bobcat was spotted inside Hood River city limits.
1960 — 60 years ago A lady with an experienced finger punched a button that sent four cubic yards of concrete cascading into a bucket Saturday afternoon and soon the first bucket of concrete was dumped at the John Day Dam 35 miles east of here. She of the practiced finger was Mrs. Paul Gianola, wife of an operator of the batch plant serving the prime contractors. (The Dalles Chronicle)
1970 — 50 years ago Port budgeters, after focusing attention on next year’s river area, passed a $400,000 program for the 1970-71 fiscal year. During the next year, the port anticipates $360,000 from bridge tolls — a figure based on the total expected by the end of the current fiscal year. There will be no district-wide vote on the budget, because the tax levy in the county is minimal — about $8,000. Income this year will pay off $115,000 in bridge bonds, and another $32,000 in interest.
1980 — 40 years ago Thursday shoppers in Hood River will find a different atmosphere in business areas of town. A little bit crazy, maybe. That’s because merchants will be staging the program many think is the biggest sale of the year, labeled “Crazy Days,” from Thursday through Saturday.
1990 — 30 years ago Just a few years ago, backers of a plan to reconstruct the Natatorium believed they had $465,000 they could count on, putting themselves as little as $69,000 short of what was needed. But the news coming out of a meeting Thursday afternoon changed all that, and now the amount of money that can be counted on has dropped to $185,000, or possibly only $85,000. For all practical purposed, the effort to raise money for the Natatorium is back to the starting point. (The Dalles Optomist)
2000 — 20 years ago Hood River county officials this week forced the owner of an abandoned orchard to removes his fruit trees.
2010 — 10 years ago After nine months of negotiations, Columbia Gorge Community College gave birth to a new classified staff contract Tuesday night. (The Dalles Chronicle)
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