By ADAM LAPIERRENews staff writer

The county’s oldest buildings arescattered around the Hood River Val-ley in the hundreds; some in clearview, others tucked away; and allpacked full of history and character.Many have been around since beforethe county was established in 1908,playing an important role for residentswho cleared forests, planted orchardsand started farms that turned the val-ley into what it is today.Barns of Hood River County are the

last-standing remnants of a relativelyrecent but quickly fading history. Someare solid and still in use; some areshowing clear signs of old age andmany are falling apart: leaning, creaky,dusty and run-down after years ofweather, wear and tear.These legacy landmarks won’t be

around for long, and, until recently,their stories have been fading awayalong with the paint and right angles.

Longtime Hood River residents Nickand Pam Bielemeier have embarked ona journey back in time; on a mission tocapture some of the county’s oldestpieces of history before they are lostforever.For the last few months Nick, a pho-

tographer, and Pam, a writer, have beenscouring the valley, searching for oldbarns and their dusty old stories. Withthe help of The History Museum ofHood River County, the couple isputting together a database, which theyplan to turn into a coffee-table book.

“It has been our lifelong dream towork together on some type of scenicphoto book that would include histori-cal details and stories,” Pam said thisweek. “Living in the beautiful sur-roundings of the Columbia Gorge andthe Hood River Valley, of course, gaveus a lot of subject matter to consider.When The History Museum wanted tofeature some of the old barns in thevalley for its 2011 “Treasure Keepers”exhibit and asked Nick if he would beinterested in photographing them, weknew we had found our project.”Nick, the man behind the camera of

Nicholas Photography for decades, hastaken a step deep into the realm of dig-ital photography for the project. Usinga technique called High DynamicRange (HDR) photography (see sidebarpage B12 for details), Nick has createdextremely vivid, often surreal imagesof more than 100 barns around thecounty. He hopes to photograph as

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 B1

Inside: B2, Local news� B3, Happenings � B4, Medical Directory � B5, Yesteryears � B6, Neighbors,

Couple embarks on barns of Hood River County project

historySeeking

historySeeking

Photos by NICK BIELEMEIER

HAVE A BARN?The Bielemeiers and The History Muse-um of Hood River County are looking forbarn owners, property owners and any-one with information or stories on localbarns. Many they have already pho-

tographed aren’t owned by the originalowners, and others around the county sit

with histories waiting to be told.Have an old barn tucked away where it’sdifficult to see; know the history of abarn on your property; know what it

was used for long ago? Now is the timeto share and preserve your little piece of

Hood River history before it’s gone.�

Contact Nick and Pam at 541-386-2662or nicholasgb@gorge.net or The History

Museum at 541-386-6772 orhistorymuseum@hrecn.net.

Lage barn, 2280 Eastside RoadThe year was 1875 and Ulysses S. Grant was President

of the United States. The U.S. was still in the “Recon-struction Period,” working to solve the political, socialand economic ravages of the Civil War. All the while, ournation was preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversarywith a Centennial Exhibition to be held in Philadelphia in1876. Within the year, Alexander Graham Bell andThomas Edison would exhibit their inventions of the tele-phone and the electric light bulb. In a German colony inDavenport, Iowa, 28-year-old Hans Lage had a decision tomake.He and his wife, Lena, were raising their children there

when they received news from the Suksdorf family whohad left Davenport just one year earlier to settle and farm

PAM AND NICK Bielemeier (top), on location in Pine Grove, havetaken on the project of chronicling barns around Hood River Coun-ty. Pictures he has already taken include (top to bottom) the LageBarn in Pine Grove, the Monahan barn in Mt. Hood, the Sheirbonbarn in Odell and (below, left) the Barrens’ barn on Barrett Drive inHood River.The Bielemeier, with The History Museum of Hood River County,have begun a year-long project to photograph, document and findthe history of barns around the county.When completed they planto turn the project into a colorful coffee-table book.The images andtext will also be archived at the museum as a record of some of thecounty’s earliest structures.

Sheirbon barn, 4200 Summit DriveIt was early in 1920 in Alexander, Iowa, where Wilbur H.

“Purl” and Della Sheirbon lived with their two youngdaughters, Leona and Lois. Purl had just graduated fromthe Sweeney Automobile and Aviation School in KansasCity, Mo., the same school whereWiley Post had learned tofly.Purl’s mother, brother, sister and other family members

were already living in Hood River, and the news of thebeautiful valley and the fertile soil encouraged them tomove west, even though they estimated the trip would costthem nearly $900.Chartering a freight car for all their worldly posses-

sions, Purl rode the freight train for 14 days in the middleof a very cold winter, crossing the Rocky Mountains and

Uncovered: Two barns, two very different storiesPam Bielemeier gives readers a sneak peek at two stories she’s found so far

Please see BARNS, Page B12

Please see LAGE, Page B12 Please see SHEIRBON, Page B12

sleeping close to his Shetlandpony to keep warm. Della andthe girls would arrive soonafter in the comfort of a pas-senger train.They were able to purchase

the 37-acre Netherby Ranch,formerly an English estate,owned by the Livingstonefamily. On this site still stoodthe small cabin where MiltonOdell, the first white child inthe area, was born. The ranchboasted two creeks, betweenwhich many Indian artifactswere found, substantiatingthe belief that the acreagehad once been an Indiancampground.With his mechanical train-

ing, Purlmademany pieces ofequipment to help with thefarm work, though he neverpatented any of them. Duringthe laying of the concrete forthe Odell Highway, Purl andDella served as many as 86meals a day to the workers. In1927, they adopted brothersJoe and Leonard MelquistfromParkdale after theywereorphaned.When young Joe graduated

from Odell High School, hepurchased 10 acres from theKroeger family and beganfarming, working for andlearning the orchard busi-ness fromHarry Plog. In 1941,he married Gertrude Moorefrom The Dalles. Joe andGertrude eventually pur-

chased Andrew Wein-heimer’s farm, which includ-ed the big barn, moving intothe house in 1946. BecauseGertrude always wanted tohave a view of the barn fromher kitchen sink window,there were no orchard treesplanted between the houseand the barn. Beginningtheir family in 1947, Joe andGertrude were kept busywith the farm and the chil-dren’s activities for the next20 years.Although most of the farm

wasplanted in fruit trees, theyalways had plenty of chick-ens, pigs, milk cows and cattleto supply the family needsand for use in trading at thelocal mercantile. The barnhas been well-used sincebeing built in early 1900, hous-ing as many as 30-40 head ofcattle on the lower level, witha fruit packing area on theeast side, and milk cows sup-plyingMayflower Farmswithdairy products. The beautifulwood floors of the hayloft hadbeen used many times duringthe 1920s and ’30s for barndances.The family had two teams

of horses, the uses of whichwere being phased out by thetractor, so Joe hung the har-nesses in the barn as a re-minder of his faithful andstrong team of horses. Theharnesses still hang today inthe spot where he last putthem to rest.Joe died in December 2009,

and the property belongs tothe Joe C. and Gertrude E.Sheirbon Estate.

many as possible, during avariety of seasons andweather conditions for thebook.“We are having a great

time finding barns and see-ing what’s in, on and aroundthem to photograph,” Nicksaid. “It is such fun to findout that many of them be-long to people we know,some of them third-genera-tion owners.“We are becoming pretty

barn-savvy as we do moreand more online research tolearn about barn styles, usesand activities, Oregon agri-cultural history of farmsand orchards and somememorable stories and folk-lore.”In addition to a visually

stunning and intriguingbook, the project has openedimportant missing link for

preserving local history.“The History Museum of

Hood River County is excit-ed to be part of this veryspecial project,” said ConnieNice, museum coordinator.“The beautiful and artisticimages that Nick is creatingthrough this endeavor willbe a lasting legacy and trib-ute to our local agriculturalheritage. In addition, the in-terviews that we are work-ing together to gather andpreserve will ensure that thestories of the families thatlived and worked in thesebarns will never be lost.”Nice noted that the muse-

um will store images andtranscripts of the project inits archive database, to beavailable for future genera-tions.“This is a project that

truly embodies the missionof The History Museum andwe applaud Nick and Pamfor the work they are doingto make this happen,” Nicesaid.

B12 Hood River News, Wednesday, April 13, 2011

What is HDR imaging?HDR or High Dynamic Range imaging is a digital photogra-phy technique used to create images with a higher range

and luminescents of tones between light and dark.Don’t understand what that means? Don’t worry; it makes

more sense once you undestand how it is done.An HDR image is a combination of several images, each ofwhich is progressively exposed through the spectrum (fromunder- to overexposed). Each individual image — with dif-ferent exposure settings — captures light and dark tonesdifferently. When combined into a single image (using acomputer), the images cover a higher range of lights anddarks where a single image would be under- or overex-

posed, in shadow or too bright or too dull.

BARNSContinued from Page B1

SHEIRBONContinued from Page B1

in the White Salmon, Wash.,area.The Suksdorfs told of the

beauty of the area, the fertil-ity of the ground and the cli-matic conditions especiallybeneficial for fruit growing.Anticipating the unknown

future ahead, it would takecourage, determination anda true pioneer spirit to leavethe German colony they nowcalled home. Hans and Lenaand the children, togetherwith her parents, Mr. andMrs. Claus Hoek, made thedecision to venture west andso boarded the Central Pacif-ic Railroad with all their pos-sessions, headed for Sacra-mento, Calif.From Sacramento, they

took a steamer to San Fran-cisco and began their jour-ney up the Pacific Coast toPortland. They rode a steam-boat from Portland up theColumbia River to WhiteSalmon, landing there onNov. 1, 1875.Hans made a trip to the

Hood River Valley in Febru-ary of 1876, where he foundthe property on EastsideRoad, 4 miles south of HoodRiver, that would become theLage home for many years tocome. He paid the owner, Mil-ton Neal, a sum of $300 forthe wooded 160 acres.After building a small

home there, Hans and hissons began the arduous taskof clearing the land of thetrees and brush to prepare itfor cultivation.Much energy, strength and

perseverance were needed tocut the immense trees andthen remove the stumps androots with a grub hoe. Hansplanted 2 acres in apple, pearand peach orchards and thusbegan the growth of whatwas to become one of thelargest orchards in the HoodRiver Valley. The man whohelped them move all theirpossessions across the rivertold Hans that the groundwas “full of gold.”After many years of toil-

ing in the soil, maintaining awillingness to try new ideasand daring to be inventiveand stay independent, thestatement proved to be true.In those early years, the fam-ily endured many physicalhardships as they werechanging the wilderness intoa growing, productive farm.There being no wagon

roads, supplies had to be

brought over the mountainson muleback from TheDalles or brought down theriver by boat, deposited onthe shore, and then carriedon muleback to the home inthe woods.As the orchards began to

grow, the farm also addedmore chickens, cows andhogs, the products of whichwere used to sell for readycash for orchard expenses, orbartered for other neededhousehold goods.In 1890, Hans saw the need

for a substantial barn, whichwould store grain and hay inthe upper level, house thecattle, horses and milk cowson the main level and have aroot cellar and frost-free stor-age on the lower level. Theconstruction team of JamesLangille and L.C. Baldwinwas commissioned to designand build the barn, usingwood from the old Neal Millon Dethman Ridge Road.With the help of farm

hands and neighbors thebarn was “raised” on July 4,1890, as is inscribed high upon the north side of thebarn. The big red barn wouldalso serve eventually as apacking house for the fruitfrom the well-producing or-chard.When in 1928 the family

began to concentrate onmore commercial growing offruit, one of Hans’ sons, Ed-ward, added a room to thebarn to house waxing andpolishing equipment to makethe apples more attractivefor marketing.Edward and his sons Rid-

dell, George and Charles con-tinued to clear the land andexpand the orchards. Riddellhad studied horticulture atOregon State AgriculturalCollege (now OSU) and re-turned to the farm to intro-duce a more scientific ap-proach to the management ofthe operation during theGreat Depression of the1930s.An additional 88 acres was

purchased, which included amore modern apple-packingbuilding, so the packinghouse was moved from thered barn to that facility.The red barn had a milk

room, operated by electricpower and with all the mod-ern facilities installed for theregistered Jersey cows.The barn has stood the test

of time and is still in use fororchard supplise and equip-ment. The LageOrchards, stilloperated today by the HansLage descendents, continue tobe a fine example of what oneman’s dream can become.

LAGEContinued from Page B1

BRIGHT AND SURREAL colors highlight the results of HDR pho-tography; a technique Nick Bielemeier is using for the project. Thephotos on this page are actually a combination of several expo-sures. Pictures are of the Vance barn in Odell, an old truck outsidethe Sheirbon barn on Summit Drive and (below) a sign atop theLage barn in Pine Grove showing the date the barn was raised.

Photos by Nick Bielemeier