What in the Sam Hill … ? | fiddlepeg: "Sam Hill. There was a real person by that name–at least two, actually–but both of them postdated the expression by a hundred years or more. Even so, the question “What in the Sam Hill … ?” was more than appropriate to describe the elder Sam’s ideas and activities. You’ll read a bit about him in Building the Columbia River Highway, but, as with many of the subjects in the book, he could be a study in himself. In fact, he has been. John Tuhy wrote a great biography of Sam Hill in 1983 and called it, “Sam Hill: the Prince of Castle Nowhere.” And others have written books about some of Sam’s “lady friends.”"
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Showing posts with label Samuel Hill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Samuel Hill. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Lancaster's Lodge and Retirement Cabin at Tanner Creek (UPDATED: March 20, 2014)
Originally posted on Rubble on September 20, 2013:
http://rubble.blogspot.com/2013/09/lancasters-logde-and-retirement-cabin.html
Several of us were discussing Lancaster's retirement during the weekend of the Yeon to Moffett Creek HCRH Trail Dedication... Apparently, I was combining two different stories. I was saying that Lancaster retired on Bell's property, but these were two different locations.
"Samuel Lancaster built a private 72-acre campground at Bonneville that overlooked Bradford Island and the lower Cascade rapids. He constructed a log dining hall and tent 'cabins' at camping areas. Lancaster used facilities he had observed in Switzerland as a model for his development. The log structure burned in the late 1920s and was not replaced. In 1928, Sam Hill built a 22-room house on a 35-acre estate at Bonneville for his 'friend' Mona Bell. Because the property was required for the construction of Bonneville Dam, the government purchased the estate in 1934." - Clarence E. Mershon, The Columbia River Highway: From the Sea to the Wheat Fields of Eastern Oregon
"...while across the road Lancaster established a campground and recreational facility, Camp Get-A-Way." - Clarence E. Mershon, East of the Sandy: The Columbia River Highway
"In the 20s, Sam Hill built a large home on top of the large rock formation north of I-84, east of exit 40. The house was razed in the late 50s." - Clarence E. Mershon, East of the Sandy: The Columbia River Highway
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Additional photos from Scott Cook / Curious Gorge:
The long-gone Mona Bell mansion built by Sam Hill for his mistress Mona Bell:
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/52098770
Mona Bell's one-time mansion atop Bonneville Rock:
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/74053683
Remnant foundation of Mona Bell Hill's mansion:
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/74053689
Bell's mansion was on the hill on the east end of the screenshot above, between I-84 and the railroad tracks. The relocation of the rail line to its current route when its former path was flooded by the dam apparently blasted away a large chunk of Mona's hill, and the construction of I-84 apparently took out another large chunk of it, leaving only a sliver of the land that once held her mansion and, consequently, only a small sliver remains of Bonneville State Park.
UPDATE: March 10, 2014
http://rubble.blogspot.com/2013/09/lancasters-logde-and-retirement-cabin.html
Several of us were discussing Lancaster's retirement during the weekend of the Yeon to Moffett Creek HCRH Trail Dedication... Apparently, I was combining two different stories. I was saying that Lancaster retired on Bell's property, but these were two different locations.
"Samuel Lancaster built a private 72-acre campground at Bonneville that overlooked Bradford Island and the lower Cascade rapids. He constructed a log dining hall and tent 'cabins' at camping areas. Lancaster used facilities he had observed in Switzerland as a model for his development. The log structure burned in the late 1920s and was not replaced. In 1928, Sam Hill built a 22-room house on a 35-acre estate at Bonneville for his 'friend' Mona Bell. Because the property was required for the construction of Bonneville Dam, the government purchased the estate in 1934." - Clarence E. Mershon, The Columbia River Highway: From the Sea to the Wheat Fields of Eastern Oregon
"...while across the road Lancaster established a campground and recreational facility, Camp Get-A-Way." - Clarence E. Mershon, East of the Sandy: The Columbia River Highway
"In the 20s, Sam Hill built a large home on top of the large rock formation north of I-84, east of exit 40. The house was razed in the late 50s." - Clarence E. Mershon, East of the Sandy: The Columbia River Highway
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Additional photos from Scott Cook / Curious Gorge:
The long-gone Mona Bell mansion built by Sam Hill for his mistress Mona Bell:
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/52098770
Mona Bell's one-time mansion atop Bonneville Rock:
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/74053683
Remnant foundation of Mona Bell Hill's mansion:
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/74053689
Bell's mansion was on the hill on the east end of the screenshot above, between I-84 and the railroad tracks. The relocation of the rail line to its current route when its former path was flooded by the dam apparently blasted away a large chunk of Mona's hill, and the construction of I-84 apparently took out another large chunk of it, leaving only a sliver of the land that once held her mansion and, consequently, only a small sliver remains of Bonneville State Park.
UPDATE: March 10, 2014
The Oregonian:
The architectural hash mansion of eccentric Mona Bell Hill was razed for the Bonneville Dam: Historic home series
The architectural hash mansion of eccentric Mona Bell Hill was razed for the Bonneville Dam: Historic home series
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