MT HOOD'S QUIET VILLAGES
Touring Mt Hood Culture.
The History of Alder Creek, Marmot and Sleepy Hollow
Today you can lose yourself in the trees around Sleepy Hollow Road, but if you were a stagecoach passenger of the mid-1800’s, you could lose your wallet. The road, two miles past Alder Creek on the north side of Highway 26, traveled through a densely forested patch that made for perfect holdups of the coaches and freight wagons using the Barlow Road in those days.
This didn’t stop intrepid pioneers from establishing homesteads and towns in the area, including Adolph Aschoff, who among other things was the first Pony Express mail rider to Government Camp. By the 1880’s the highway robbers must have moved on, for tourists began heading up to the mountain communities for vacations and recreation. They came to Marmot, where the Aschoff Mountain Home was first established in these years, and to nearby lodgings such as the Cherryville Hotel and the Wysteria Farm Inn.
None of these hotels exist today. Neither does Alder Creek’s original Ivy Bear, a wooden sculpture about two stories tall with one paw raised in a wave. Over the years a thick ivy “fur” coat grew over him, and a hand-lettered sign called him the “Largest Bear in the World”. Other ivy-covered sculptures stood there too, and an enclosure contained a real black bear. Tourists liked to feed the “Bear at Alder Creek” till it was moved to Oaks Park sometime in the 1930’s or 40’s. Ivy Bear is gone too after falling down in 1985. He gave his name to the pleasant, friendly restaurant and inn next to his old post.
If it seems that Alder Creek and Marmot are mostly about things that are gone, there’s one more on the list that will make you think twice. Marmot Dam, built in 1913 as part of Portland General Electric’s Bull Run hydroelectric installation, was decommissioned this summer. Someday visitors to Mt. Hood will wonder that such a large landmark is gone, but instead they -- and we – will have a “new” wild river for whitewater rafting, fishing, and hiking. Who knows, we might see another “Ivy Bear” or two move back into the neighborhood!
(Most of the stories) in this issue were written by Andrée Larson. Andrée grew up in the Portland/Vancouver area. She earned an MA in Art History at the University of Oregon, and writes about the history and culture of people and communities. She’s spent time in Europe and on the East Coast, and says the Pacific Northwest is hands down the best place to live. She currently lives in Tacoma with her husband, an artist.
