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.[1]
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.[2] 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.[2] [3]
Dee had a population of 250 in 1915; 200 in 1919, and by 1940 the population had declined to 100.[2] [4] [5]
Dee was sold to the Edward Hines Lumber Company in 1958 and they dismantled the town.[4]
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.[3] The first Japanese in the area were hired as laborers on the Mount Hood Railroad.[3] 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.[3]
About 35 Nikkei families lived in Dee in the 1920s and they founded the Dee Japanese Community Hall.[3]
The area's fruit orchards lie between the east and west forks of the Hood River in an area known as Dee Flat.[6]
Oregon Democratic State Senator Wayne Fawbush operated a blueberry farm in Dee for 20 years; it is still in operation.[7]
. In Search of Western Oregon . Friedman, Ralph . Ralph Friedman . 1990 . 2nd . 343, 594 . . Caldwell, Idaho . 0-87004-332-3.