Dee, Oregon

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; 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

The area's fruit orchards lie between the east and west forks of the Hood River in an area known as Dee Flat.[7]

Economy

Oregon Democratic State Senator Wayne Fawbush operated a blueberry farm in Dee for 20 years, which is still in operation.[8]

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References
  1. "Dee". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. November 28, 1980. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
  2. McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0875952772.
  3. Friedman, Ralph (1990). In Search of Western Oregon (2nd ed.). Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd. pp. 343, 594. ISBN 0-87004-332-3.
  4. "Nikkei Farmers of the Hood River Area". Discover Nikkei. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
  5. Carlson, Linda (2003). Company Towns of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 219. ISBN 0-295-98332-9. Archived from the original on 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2010-01-14.
  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.
  7. "Dee Flat". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. November 28, 1980. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
  8. "Team—Wayne Fawbush—Program Officer—New York". Ford Foundation. Archived from the original on 2010-06-17. Retrieved 2010-08-16.

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