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.
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. Dee was also a station on the Eccles-owned Mount Hood Railroad. 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.
Dee had a population of 250 in 1915; 200 in 1919, and by 1940 the population had declined to 100.
Dee was sold to the Edward Hines Lumber Company in 1958 and they dismantled the town.
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. The first Japanese in the area were hired as laborers on the Mount Hood Railroad. 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.
About 35 Nikkei families lived in Dee in the 1920s and they founded the Dee Japanese Community Hall.
Geography
The area's fruit orchards lie between the east and west forks of the Hood River in an area known as Dee Flat.
Economy
Oregon Democratic State Senator Wayne Fawbush operated a blueberry farm in Dee for 20 years; it is still in operation.
References
- "Dee". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. November 28, 1980. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
- McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) . Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. ISBN 978-0875952772.
- ^ Friedman, Ralph (1990). In Search of Western Oregon (2nd ed.). Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd. pp. 343, 594. ISBN 0-87004-332-3.
- ^ "Nikkei Farmers of the Hood River Area". Discover Nikkei. Retrieved January 14, 2009.
- ^ 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 February 22, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2010.
- 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.
- "Dee Flat". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. November 28, 1980. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
- "Team—Wayne Fawbush—Program Officer—New York". Ford Foundation. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
External links
- Historic images of Dee from Salem Public Library
| Municipalities and communities of Hood River County, Oregon, United States | ||
|---|---|---|
| County seat: Hood River | ||
| Cities |  | |
| CDPs | ||
| Other communities | ||
| Indian reservation | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
45°35′17″N 121°37′36″W / 45.588173°N 121.626742°W / 45.588173; -121.626742
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