Locals knock it out of park on local history: New Port of TD Docks 1938
The low water level on the Columbia River near the Union Street underpass reveals pilings from the past this Sunday Morning, Oct. 25. Their symmetrical placement and sheer number beg the question of what stood here at one point. If you know, please tell us about them in our new forum feature. This post made possible by Brown Roofing, preserving history one roof at a time.
Jason Springston and Scott McMullen found this photo of the site
Coralene K. Busick Lindhorst : Maybe from the 1960's when the Navy ships came up the river. I think they used to moar there.
Susan Dornbusch: That close together would be a wear house storage see the same at Astoria
Ryan Bond: I’m pretty sure it’s the old cannery.
Kirk Walston: I remember this building. In my younger days it was a warehouse used for storage.
Mike Lorang: There was a big tin covered building with an outside dock for large ships to pull up to but I don’t remember what it was used for! At 10-12 years old we would go climb up to catwalks running underneath the building above the water to hunt pigeons for food. We used Beebee guns and did this until the birds started getting poisoned or so we heard. This would never be allowed today as it was dangerous and probably violated some laws. But we were kids growing up in the 60,s different times!
Dale Klindt: These were the pilings that supported the port dock. Initially used to moor riverboats that carried passengers and supplies to The Dalles.
Amber Miller: I took a few photos of this myself the other day!
Monica Perryman: It was a Wharehouse on the water when I was a kid. I wish our city would have capitalized on it instead of tearing it down. It could have been a restaurant & souvenir mall of local talent. What a great view the diners would have had! It takes much cash… See
Allan Sullivan: What remains of the Stadleman's warehouse.
Mary Jo Larsen: Remains of 2 huge port buildings
Matthew Seckora: think we used to go down there for work at the grain elevator?
Camden Lindsay: Used to be warehouses out there on the river, not 'that' long ago. I'm sure someone could dig up some pictures...
From: Camden Lindsay
Allan Sullivan: It would have been destroyed when the grain elevators exploded.
Mike Olson: It was a storage building. It was also where the grain barges would tie-up. You could park a car, boat inside for a rental fee. It was run by Mr. Runndel.
Lisa Joe Seckora: Loaded many a grain barge off that dock
MaryCarol Wallace: Hugh warehouse there at one time.
Mike Courtney: Scene of the great pineapple war.
Lloyd Eakin: I remember going out on that pier into the huge warehouse. We delivered wheat to the grain elevator which was onshore across from the Baldwins saloon. The railroad was between the river and the elevator.
Lisa Joe Seckora: At one time the railroad had a spur line out there so they could load and unload ships. The railroad was on the shore side of two long warehouses.
Georga Morris Foster: The Answer
Crystal Huskey: A big dock and building. Big ships used to come in and we could go on them! In the 60s
Diana Compton: Are they the buildings that School District 12 used for shop classes in the '70s?
Norman Miller: I have a vision of a beautiful park, more parking if the mudflat were filled in. Then clean up the spit of land just to the east to be a part of the park. Never say can’t...
Jean Jones Hockman: We held our 8th-grade graduation party out there. (When there was still a huge building.)
Camden Lindsay: A few more links for anyone that cares to see.. apparently it was called the seaport when it opened.
Greg Weast: They were hoping to use those buildings to ship wheat overseas, but the one and only ship to make the trip up the river left with less than a full load or so the story goes. They were owned by The Port of The Dalles and became an attractive nuisance. I understand those who wish they could have been used for some other form, but that was not in the cards. Having said that, the pilings were not pulled up so as to leave a claim to the space. If you would wish to do something with that area, please contact Andrea at The Port and I'm sure she would like to discuss your idea.
Karl Vercouteren: "The pilings we see during low water jutting out to the northeast of the present dock supported Dock Building #1— a long warehouse. The building was constructed in 1936 when Bonneville Dam and locks were completed. There was much fanfare: The Dalles would now be an ocean port! An incident involving the building that made national news happened in 1949. West Coast longshoremen were on strike. A ship loaded with Hawaiian pineapple was turned away from other ports so it came to The Dalles where there was no longshoremen’s union local. But union members poured into town and put up a picket to prevent unloading. The ensuing ruckus became known as The Dalles Pineapple Beef. Portions of the dock and rail spur were damaged by the Vanport Flood (1948) and removed. The Dock Building fell out of use over the next decades and it was finally dismantled in the early 1990s."
Courtesy of Wasco County Pioneer Association
Courtesy of Wasco County Pioneer Association
