unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
and former
company town
A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...
Oregon
Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
,
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, on
Oregon Route 281
Oregon Route 281 is an Oregon state highway running from Hood River to the community of Mount Hood. OR 281 is known as the Hood River Highway No. 281 (see Oregon highways and routes). It is long and runs north–south, entirely within Hood ...
Oregon Lumber Company
The Oregon Lumber Company was a company west of Portland, Oregon, that claimed extensive land via the Homestead Act of 1862. The company was formed by Charles W. Nibley together with David Eccles and George Stoddard in 1889. The company had ...
built a
sawmill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...
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
The Mount Hood Railroad is a heritage and shortline freight railroad located in Hood River, Oregon, east of Portland, Oregon, United States.
The majority of the railroad's revenue is generated from passenger excursions although a few smal ...
. In addition to the large sawmill, Dee had a privately owned water works and electric lighting system, as well as a
general store
A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...
, 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
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksfruit-growing industry of the
Hood River Valley
Hood River Valley is the river basin of Hood River in northern Oregon, U.S. It is bounded by the Columbia River to the north, Mount Hood to the south, the Cascade Range crest to the west and an apparently unnamed ridge system to the east which c ...
. The area was one of the primary communities in the Hood River Valley farmed by ''Nikkei''—
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
ese 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.