Accommodations Along the Columbia River Highway During the Heyday of the Scenic Road
Taken from The Sunday Oregonian written by H. W Lyman for the July 31, 1921 edition of the newspaper.

Much has been said of the beauties of the Columbia River Highway, while but little has been said of the accommodations awaiting tourists along the route back in the 1920's. The motorist coming into Oregon from a distant state may have been prone to tour the highway hastily in the belief that there were no adequate places throughout its length to stop for refreshments or to spend one night, or even several. Yet such were the accommodations on the highway in 1921 that even the most exacting tourist could make the trip up the highway, setting his own pace and determining upon his own time for returning to Portland.

If the tourist of the 1920's wanted to make the entire run in one day they would have found delightful places along the route where one could stop for lunch or dinner, while, if they wanted to spend more than one day, they would have found excellent accommodations, where they would be taken care of in the finest fashion and then sent on their way to view the beauties the highway has to offer. The Columbia River Highway is too grand a piece of roadway to be seen hastily, and Portlanders were urged see to it that tourists took ample time on their eastward trip up the Columbia and stop at the many beauty spots on the way and word was be spread that the highway was well supplied with hotels and inns comparable to those found along the highways in California, and that the motorist needed not to fear of night over-taking them at a point far from civilization.

On a trip up the Columbia River Highway, after the Columbia bluffs were reached and the trip had really begun to start up the Columbia, the first inn which would have been reached was the Chanticleer inn, set far out on a bluff overlooking the Columbia. Unfortunately the Chanticleer inn had burned down on October 8, 1930. A short distance further is the View Point inn which was built in 1927 and is still in operation today. Next was Margaret Henderson's Crown Point chalet, on the hill overlooking Vista house at Crown Point. Henderson would sell her place in 1927 and it was demolished in the 1950's.

These places commanded striking views. Both the Chanticleer Inn and the Crown Point Chalet were off the highway short distances, a hundred yards or more, but they both had excellent gravel roads leading to them. A few miles further eastward is Forest Hall, a striking and home-like place, directly on the highway, set in a forest of giant firs. It was once called "The Maxwell House" and today it is a private residence. Another trip of a few miles eastward carries the traveler to Mist Falls lodge, which was an attractive and cozy inn facing the highway, with its back to beautiful Mist fails.

Sadly the Mist Falls lodge burned down in 1929 and was never rebuilt. The last of the main inns and lodges of the 1920's on the old highway is the Columbia Gorge hotel, situated at Wau Gwin Gwin falls, directly on the highway, and out a few miles west is Hood River. This hotel, which is still in operation was the first of the distinctly tourist hotels on the highway, and was completed in 1921 by S. Benson and Henry Thiele. The hotel opened that summer.

There were many other lesser places along the highway, too numerous to mention, where the traveler could have stopped for refreshments or lunch, in addition to the hotels and restaurants at the towns along the route. Hood River is excellently supplied in this latter regard, and may be the objective of a day's trip up the old highway today. Numerous resorts and inns could be found but short distances off the highway where the tourist could secure excellent accommodations in the 1920's.

One of the most interesting of these was the Eyrie inn on the Washington side. If the 1920's motorist was planning to extend his Columbia River Highway tour to the other side they would have to take a ferry ride across the river, and a trip along the Washington shore which was worth the time even today. The inn was situated on the bluffs west of White Salmon, overlooking the Columbia river, at the mouth of the White Salmon river. The view is a striking one, including the Columbia gorge, the White Salmon valley, the entire broad valley of the Hood river and Mount Hood, as a fitting climax to the scene. The Eyrie Inn had closed down in 1924 and was put up for sale.

The Columbia gorge had developed fittingly along the lines of taking care of the tourists who visited this scenic highway in the 1920's. The most exacting motorist was taken care of in a way that made them continue on their way with a kind heart and good word for the Columbia. The Columbia River Highway carried more and more tourists as each year passed and all who have come from afar to view this greatest of all scenic automobile roads were not disappointed.