Hood River County is one of the
36 counties in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
. As of the
2020 census, the population was 23,977.
The
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
is
Hood River.
The county was established in 1908 and is
named for the
Hood River, a tributary of the
Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...
. Hood River County comprises the Hood River, OR
Micropolitan Statistical Area. The Hood River Valley produces apples, pears, and cherries. Situated between
Mount Hood
Mount Hood is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the Pacific coast and rests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located about east-southeast of Portlan ...
and the
Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...
in the middle of the
Columbia River Gorge
The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to deep, the canyon stretches for over as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range, forming the boundary between the sta ...
, Hood River County is a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts, such as windsurfers, mountain-bikers, skiers, hikers, kayakers, and many more.
History
The first permanent settlers in present-day Hood River County filed a
donation land claim
The Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, sometimes known as the Donation Land Act, was a statute enacted by the United States Congress in late 1850, intended to promote homestead settlements in the Oregon Territory. It followed the Distribution-Preem ...
in 1854. The first school was built in 1863 and a road from
The Dalles
The Dalles is the largest city of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The population was 16,010 at the 2020 census, and it is the largest city on the Oregon side of the Columbia River between the Portland Metropolitan Area, and Hermiston ...
was completed in 1867. By 1880 there were 17 families living in the valley. By the latter part of the nineteenth century farmers of Japanese, Finnish, German, and French ethnicity had settled in the valley.
At the turn of the twentieth century, the people of the Hood River region in the northwest portion of
Wasco County
Wasco County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,213. Its county seat is The Dalles. The county is named for a local tribe of Native Americans, the Wasco, a Chinook tribe who ...
expressed a desire for political separation from the parent county. The passage of a statewide initiative established Hood River as the thirty-fourth county of the state. It was made official by a governor's proclamation on June 23, 1908. The
Columbia River Highway was completed in 1922 from
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
to The Dalles, improving access between both those cities as well as to Hood River.
In response to controversy surrounding county approval of locating a
destination resort
A resort hotel is a hotel which often contains full-sized luxury facilities with full-service accommodations and amenities. These hotels may attract both business conferences and vacationing tourists and offer more than a convenient place to stay ...
at
Cooper Spur ski area
Cooper Spur ski area is a ski area located on northeast Mount Hood, Oregon, United States. The resort has one double chair ski lift serving ten runs, and a vertical drop of 110 meters (350 ft). There are of cross-country skiing trails. T ...
on
Mount Hood
Mount Hood is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the Pacific coast and rests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located about east-southeast of Portlan ...
, on November 5, 2003 62% of the voters approved a
measure
Measure may refer to:
* Measurement, the assignment of a number to a characteristic of an object or event
Law
* Ballot measure, proposed legislation in the United States
* Church of England Measure, legislation of the Church of England
* Mea ...
requiring voter approval on residential developments of 25 units or more on land
zoned
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
for forest use. Opponents claimed that this measure was not enforceable and would end up in court.
Geography
Hood River County is , of which is land and (2.1%) is water.
It is the second-smallest county in Oregon by area. Elevation ranges from above sea level at Cascade Locks in the northwest to at the summit of Mount Hood, the highest point in Oregon.
The County lies in a transition zone in the
Columbia River Gorge
The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to deep, the canyon stretches for over as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range, forming the boundary between the sta ...
between the temperate rain forest of the Cascade range and dry desert of eastern Oregon. Precipitation varies considerably by longitude and elevation. Annual precipitation averages over 76 inches in Cascade Locks, but is less than 31 inches in the City of Hood River.
At the highest reaches of the County on Mount Hood precipitation can be up to 150 inches annually.
The Gorge can have a moderating effect on air temperatures in the County near the Columbia River when maritime air moves in from the west. Major easterly flows, however, can occasionally cause extreme cold conditions as cold air moves west through the Gorge. Winds are generally from the west in the summer, resulting in strong and consistent winds on the Columbia River at Hood River County, making Hood River a world-renowned wind surfing location. Winter winds can blow from either the east or the west and can be of sufficient force to result in widespread damage.
Hood River County contains the entirety of the Hood River watershed, which covers nearly two-thirds of the county. This watershed includes four main sub-basins: the West Fork Hood River, the Middle Fork Hood River, the East Fork Hood River, and the Hood River Mainstem (the lower river and its tributaries).
Sixty percent, or , of the County is federal land managed by the Mount Hood National Forest.
Another , or 8.8 percent, is forestland owned and managed by Hood River County.
The State of Oregon owns within the County.
Weyerhaeuser Company became a major private landowner in 2013 after purchasing Longview Timber LLC, including its forest holdings in Hood River County.
, over seven percent of the County, is managed as private farmland. As of 2012 there were 554 farms, with a medium farm size of .
Adjacent counties
![Hood River County](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Hood_River_County.gif)
*
Skamania County, Washington
Skamania County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,036. The county seat and largest incorporated city is Stevenson, although the Carson River Valley CDP is more populous. The ...
- north
*
Klickitat County, Washington
Klickitat County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 22,735. The county seat and largest city is Goldendale. The county is named after the Klickitat tribe.
History
Klickitat County ...
- northeast
*
Wasco County
Wasco County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,213. Its county seat is The Dalles. The county is named for a local tribe of Native Americans, the Wasco, a Chinook tribe who ...
- southeast
*
Clackamas County
Clackamas County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 421,401, making it Oregon's third-most populous county. Its county seat is Oregon City. The county was named after the Native ...
- southwest
*
Multnomah County
Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland–Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Thou ...
- west
National protected areas
*
Badger Creek Wilderness
*
Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness
The Mark O. Hatfield Wilderness is a wilderness area located on the northern side of Mount Hood in the northwestern Cascades of the U.S. state of Oregon, near the Columbia River Gorge and within Mount Hood National Forest. Prior to Wilderness des ...
*
Mount Hood Wilderness
The Mount Hood Wilderness is a protected wilderness area inside the Mount Hood National Forest, in the U.S. state of Oregon. The area, covering , includes the peak of Mount Hood and its upper slopes, and ranges from temperate rain forests at the l ...
*
Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area
Columbia may refer to:
* Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America
Places North America Natural features
* Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...
Demographics
2000 census
At the time of the census 11.8 percent of a total of 9,271 housing units were vacant. Of the 8,173 occupied housing units, 62.9 percent were owner-occupied.
Median household income was $51,307 and median income for a family was $57,644.
As of the 2010 census 2,235 persons, or 10.1 percent of the population, lived in
poverty
Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
.
Of the 20,258 people in the population that are five years and older, 25.6 percent speak
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
or
Spanish Creole
A Spanish creole, or Spanish-based creole language, is a creole language (contact language with native speakers) for which Spanish serves as its substantial ''lexifier''.
A number of creole languages are influenced to varying degrees by the Spa ...
, and 69 percent of this group speak English less than "very well."
2010 census
As of the
2010 census, there were 22,346 people, 8,173 households, and 5,659 families residing in the county.
The population density was . There were 9,271 housing units at an average density of .
The racial makeup of the county was 83.1% white, 1.4% Asian, 0.8% American Indian, 0.5% black or African American, 0.2% Pacific islander, 10.9% from other races, and 3.2% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 29.5% of the population.
In terms of ancestry, 16.7% were
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
, 10.6% were
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, 9.8% were
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
, and 3.8% were
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
.
Of the 8,173 households, 35.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.4% were married couples living together, 9.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 30.8% were non-families, and 23.8% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.14. The median age was 38.0 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $51,307 and the median income for a family was $57,644. Males had a median income of $37,901 versus $31,516 for females. The per capita income for the county was $23,930. About 7.5% of families and 9.5% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
, including 9.6% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.
Communities
Cities
*
Cascade Locks
Cascade Locks is a city in Hood River County, Oregon, United States. The city took its name from a set of locks built to improve navigation past the Cascades Rapids of the Columbia River. The U.S. federal government approved the plan for the l ...
*
Hood River (county seat)
Census-designated places
*
Mount Hood
Mount Hood is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the Pacific coast and rests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located about east-southeast of Portlan ...
*
Odell
*
Parkdale
Unincorporated communities
* Clifton
*
Dee
*
Lenz Lenz may refer to:
Places
* Lenasia, Gauteng Province, South Africa, a township often called Lenz
* Lantsch/Lenz, Canton of Grisons, Switzerland, a municipality
* Lenz, Hood River County, Oregon, an unincorporated community
* Lenz, Klamath County, ...
* Oak Grove
*
Pine Grove
* Rockford
* Summit
* Trout Creek
* Winans
*
Wyeth
Wyeth, LLC was an American pharmaceutical company. The company was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1860 as ''John Wyeth and Brother''. It was later known, in the early 1930s, as American Home Products, before being renamed to Wyeth in ...
Historical communities
*
Bloucher
* Conway
* Dukes Valley
* Holstein
* Viento
Government and infrastructure
Hood River is a home rule county with an administrative style of government. The county is governed by an elected board of five commissioners. Four commissioners are elected from four geographic districts, and the Chair is elected at large.
The County operates two campgrounds at Toll Bridge Park and Tucker Park. The Forestry Department manages the 31,000 acre County Forest for timber sale revenue and to develop and maintain recreation trails. In fiscal year 2014 gross revenue from County timber sales was $3,851,646 while Forestry Department expenses where $1,049,648. Property taxes generated $3,071,038 in revenue in the same year.
The Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facility (Norcor), a short-term jail, serves Hood River,
Gilliam,
Sherman
Sherman most commonly refers to:
*Sherman (name), a surname and given name (and list of persons with the name)
** William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891), American Civil War General
*M4 Sherman, a tank
Sherman may also refer to:
Places United St ...
, and
Wasco Wasco is the name of four places in the United States:
Places United States
* Wasco, California, a city in California
** Wasco State Prison, located in Wasco, California
* Wasco, Illinois, a former hamlet (unincorporated town) in Illinois, now pa ...
counties.
[Norcor Home]
." Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facility. Retrieved on November 22, 2011.
In presidential elections, while formerly a Republican-leaning county, Hood River County has been reliably Democratic since 1988.
Presidential elections
Economy
![Mount Hood 3233](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Mount_Hood_3233.JPG)
Health Care and Social Assistance was the largest major
NAICS industry sector in Hood River County in 2013, with 14 percent of earnings. Manufacturing, at 12 percent, was the second largest sector. Farm Earnings combined with Forestry, Fishing and Related Activities represented nearly 11 percent of earnings. The Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services sector, while accounting for seven percent of earnings in 2013, was the fastest growing sector between 2002 and 2013, growing at an average annual rate of over 11 percent, and increasing its relative share of total earnings by 6.45 percent. Earnings in the Health Care and Social Assistance sector grew at an average of over five percent per year during that period.
Despite a relatively small share of total earnings, farming, forestry and tourism are all important economic drivers in Hood River County. In 2013, Farm Earnings and Forestry, Fishing and Related Activities had
location quotients of 8.57 percent and 12.09 percent, respectively, indicating an outsized concentration of these sectors within the County. The Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation industry, while comprising less than four percent of total earnings, had a location quotient of 3.27 percent, the highest of any county in the State of Oregon, indicating a highly concentrated tourism sector.
Agriculture, timber, lumber and recreation are important sources of revenue and industry. Fruit grown in the fertile valley is of such exceptional quality the county leads the world in Anjou pear production. A 1997 census recorded of commercial orchards growing pears, apples, cherries and peaches. Hood River County also has two ports and two boat basins, one serving local barge traffic, a steel boat manufacturing firm and Mid-Columbia yachting interests.
The
Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...
, which runs right by the city of Hood River, has become a premier
windsurfing
Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...
destination, attracting windsurfers from throughout the United States and around the world. Cool, moist coastal air is drawn through the
Columbia River Gorge
The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to deep, the canyon stretches for over as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range, forming the boundary between the sta ...
as the desert to the east heats up on warm days, creating winds between 15-35 knots most days in the summer. With the current in the Columbia River flowing from east to west, and the wind blowing from west to east, large swells are created on the river that windsurfers enjoy riding like waves. Windsurfing has affected the local economy in many ways: windsurfing-oriented businesses and upscale restaurants catering to visiting windsurfers have reinvigorated the downtown area, many people who first visited Hood River in search of wind and waves have settled in the area and become an integral part of the community, and the local economy has been infused with much needed tourist dollars.
The Mount Hood Railroad provides freight service, connecting with the Union Pacific at Hood River, Oregon, and operates excursion trains and dinner trains on a rail line running from Hood River to
Parkdale. The line was completed in 1909, and operated as an independent company until acquired by
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
in 1968. In 1987 a local group of investors purchased the line for $600,000, naming it the
Mount Hood Railroad
The Mount Hood Railroad is a heritage and shortline freight railroad located in Hood River, Oregon, east of Portland, Oregon, United States.
The majority of the railroad's revenue is generated from passenger excursions although a few small ...
. In 2008 Mount Hood Railroad was acquired by
Iowa Pacific Holdings
Iowa Pacific Holdings was a holding company that owned railroad properties across North America and the United Kingdom, as well as providing services such as railcar repairs, leasing, management and consulting services to other operators. The comp ...
, based in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
. The company leases storage on its lines for excess freight cars, in addition to, or at times in place of, operating recreational rides.
See also
*
Notes
External links
Hood River County, Oregon(official website)
Hood River Countylisting in the
Oregon Blue Book
The ''Oregon Blue Book'' is the official directory and fact book for the U.S. state of Oregon prepared by the Oregon Secretary of State and published by the Office of the Secretary's Archives Division.
The ''Blue Book'' comes in both print and on ...
References
{{authority control
1908 establishments in Oregon
Populated places established in 1908
Columbia River Gorge