History Mystery June 2

Gary Conley, Russ Brown, Michael Houser and Terray Harmon contributed to this report.

Last week’s History Mystery, above, was scanned from a 4- by 5-inch black and white negative from the archives of The Dalles Chronicle.

Information on the envelope states, “Concrete Products, T.D. Co.” The negative was made in 1956, but is a photographic copy of an undated print.

The Dalles concrete plant was located at the current location of the Discovery Center and Wasco County Museum.

Conley noted that you can see golf course and Highway 30, the railroad tracks and even a bit of the river in the photograph. He said the picture appears to be quite old: “I don’t ever remember an orchard out there, but that looks like one on the left.”

Harmon said the only other place in the area where the railroad track runs along the base of the cliff is west of The Dalles near Hood River, which Houser confirmed.

Russ Brown also recognized the location, and said it was the original site of The Dalles Concrete, where the interpretive center is now. It was owned by Merl Henkle, he added.

20 years ago – 1999

The ball is in Dan Obrist’s court now. Obrist, who lost out on a bid to demolish the downtown grain elevators, sent a letter to the city threatening legal action if the city didn’t re-bid the job following the May 15 fire at the granary. He contended the fire, which destroyed the wooden portion of the elevators, changed the job’s scope so much that it had to be re-bid under state law and city rules.