Photo Courtesy Tom Iraci
MT HOOD'S 1st RANGER
Marmot.
the Story of a Town and a Family
In 1883, as he settled his homestead near the Sandy River on Mt. Hood, Adolph Aschoff asked the locals what had made so many burrows on his property. They told him marmots were responsible. By the time he discovered mountain beavers were the real culprits, the name had stuck. When he opened a post office at his settlement three years later, Adolph called it “Marmot,” and so the area remains to this day.
Adolph wouldn’t have seen either critter as a boy in Germany, where he was born into a high-ranking family in 1849. He is said to have been a baron. In a way, his journey to Mt. Hood started when he was seventeen and defended some local townswomen from two military officers. As a result, he was unfairly accused of being a political agitator, and had to flee Germany. He came to America in 1871. He lived in New York for several years, making his living as a woodcarver. He then moved to Kansas, became a cowboy for a while, and married his wife Dora. In 1880 he, Dora and their children (they would have nine) moved to Oregon.
By the time he purchased his 140 acres complete with beaver burrows, Adolph deeply loved Mt. Hood’s beauty. Not wanting to keep it to himself, he built a hotel called the Aschoff Mountain Home. Advertisements at the time invite guests for “Fishing and Hunting, the Best in Oregon,” and “Mountain Guides who Know Every Trail and Road.” The hotel had 23 rooms when first built. Adolph and his family ran the hotel as well as everything else in town – the post office, a general store, and a museum. Meanwhile, Adolph found time to explore the area he loved, and became the first forest ranger for the Mt. Hood National Forest in 1889. In 1906 he became forest supervisor.
Marmot had been a stop on the Barlow Road, a place where weary pioneers could refresh themselves for the next leg of the journey. In 1915 right of way was willed to the State of Oregon, and new highways were then built that didn’t go directly through town.
Then, in 1918, Dora Aschoff died. Adolph’s grief kept him from maintaining the Mountain Home, and the hotel closed in 1922. He spent more time at his forest cabins, but his health declined. In 1930 Adolph sold his house to a family friend and moved to the city with a daughter, but not for long. He died three days after the move. People from all over the world came to pay their respects to this hard-working man and his generous spirit.
Mercifully, he didn’t live to see the fire that consumed Aschoff’s Mountain Home on July 4th, 1931. The museum and the land itself were all that was spared. Still, Adolph might be happy to know people still visit and live in Marmot, appreciating the area’s beauty as he did.