Dee, Oregon

Dee is an unincorporated community and former company town in Hood River County, Oregon, United States, on Oregon Route 281, about 11 miles south of Hood River.^[1]

History

The Oregon Lumber Company built a sawmill at Dee in 1906 and named it for Thomas Duncombe Dee, a stockholder and business associate of board member David Eccles.^[2] Dee was also a station on the Eccles-owned Mount Hood Railroad.^[3] In addition to the large sawmill, Dee had a privately owned water works and electric lighting system, as well as a general store, shops, and a hotel.^[3][4]

Dee had a population of 250 in 1915 and 200 in 1919, and by 1940 the population had declined to 100.^[3][5][6]

Dee was sold to the Edward Hines Lumber Company in 1958 and they dismantled the town.^[5]

Besides logging, Dee's economy is also tied to the fruit-growing industry of the Hood River Valley. The area was one of the primary communities in the Hood River Valley farmed by Nikkei—Japanese migrants and their descendants.^[4] The first Japanese in the area were hired as laborers on the Mount Hood Railroad.^[4] They also worked at the mill and lived in the company housing on both sides of the East Fork Hood River, which passes through the town.^[4]

About 35 Nikkei families lived in Dee in the 1920s and they founded the Dee Japanese Community Hall.^[4]

Geography

Lost Lake is reached by a route that begins in Dee. The area's fruit orchards lie between the east and west forks of the Hood River in an area known as Dee Flat.^[7] The site of the old saw mill, of which only the foundations still exist because of a fire, can the seen on the edge of town.^{[citation needed]} Dee is characterized predominantly by pear orchards dotted with farm houses about every 1/2 mile.^{[citation needed]} The community is situated atop a small plateau unique^{[clarification needed]} in the immediate vicinity, with unobstructed views of Mount Hood from nearly every household or building.^{[citation needed]}

Economy

Dee has a fluctuating population of migrant workers, mostly from Mexico, that increases greatly during the annual pear and apple harvest.^{[citation needed]} Several families remain year round.^{[citation needed]} Oregon Republican Senator Wayne Fawbush operated a blueberry farm in Dee for 20 years, which is still in operation.^[8]

References

1. ^ "Dee". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. November 28, 1980. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1140779. Retrieved 2010-12-10. 
2. ^ McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [First published 1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. ISBN 9780875952772. OCLC 53075956. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Friedman, Ralph (1990). In Search of Western Oregon (2nd ed.). Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd. pp. 343, 594. ISBN 0-87004-332-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=4i1grNoMcWgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=In+Search+of+Western+Oregon&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Nikkei Farmers of the Hood River Area". Discover Nikkei. http://www.discovernikkei.org/nikkeialbum/en/collection/7219/list??from=0&. Retrieved 2009-01-14. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Carlson, Linda (2003). Company Towns of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 219. ISBN 0-295-98332-9. http://www.lindacarlson.com/historybook.html. 
6. ^ Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Oregon (1940). Oregon: End of the Trail. American Guide Series. Portland, Oregon: Binfords & Mort. p. 298. OCLC 4874569. http://www.archive.org/details/oregonendoftrail00writrich. 
7. ^ "Dee Flat". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. November 28, 1980. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1140780. Retrieved 2010-12-10. 
8. ^ "Team—Wayne Fawbush—Program Officer—New York". Ford Foundation. http://www.fordfoundation.org/regions/united-states/team/wayne-fawbush. Retrieved 2010-08-16. 

External links

• Historic images of Dee from Salem Public Library

Coordinates: 45°35′17″N 121°37′36″W / 45.5881729°N 121.6267416°W / 45.5881729; -121.6267416